REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST FOR I924 9I 



Leptostromella Andropogonis Dearness & House, sp. nov. 



Pycnidia shining black, epiphyllous, plainly visible beneath, but 

 opening only on the upper side of the leaf, ovate to oblong-elliptic, 

 .75-1.75 X .5 mm, opening by an acute rift. Conidia hyaline, curved 

 to lunate, acute at both ends, mostly uniseptate, sometimes obscurely 

 triseptate, nucleate, not constricted, 25-45, mostly 30-33 fx long, 

 and 3 fx wide at the middle, on conidiophores 10-30 x 2 /x. 



On dead leaves of Andropogon hirtiflorus (Nees) 

 Kunth. Piedro de Lino, Panama. E. P. Killip, February 24, 1918. 

 ^ This approaches Leptostromella septorioides Sacc. 

 & Roum. but differs in having wider conidia, and lacks the con- 

 strictions of the conidia of L. anceps Pass. 



Leptostromella septorioides Sacc. & Roum. 

 On Panicum sp., Rio Parnasta, Panama. E. P. Killip, Feb- 

 ruary 9, 1918. Conidia filiform, 40-60 fi, mostly 45 x i /x. Ex- 

 ternally this looks exactly like Phyllachora graminis var. 

 P a n i c i Shear. 



HELICIA Dearness & House, gen. nov. 

 Leptostromaceous. Pycnidia dimidiate, surface becoming spirally 

 ridged ; ostiola depressed and more or less elongated ; spores bacillar. 

 hyaline, catenate. Distinguished from Crandallia by the well- 

 developed ostiolum. Type species : Helicia buccina. 



Helicia buccina Dearness & House, sp. nov. 



Pycnidia dimidiate, dark brown, scattered 75-600 /x at first 

 hemispheric, finally depressed hemispheric, adnate to the blackened 

 xylem of the host, in the mature examples exhibiting a spiral ridg- 

 ing of the upper third of the wall terminating in the ostiolum, the 

 wall consisting of a layer of quadrate cells about 8-10 fx in radiate 

 disposition; ostiolum in the mature examples turned down, trumpet 

 form, 80-340 IX long, 85 jx thick at the base, narrowing to 40 /x above 

 and slightly enlarging at the outwardly turned mouth, resembling 

 the tone-arm of a gramophone. The mature pycnidium with its 

 ostiolum is not unlike a curling stone in shape with the handle 

 pressed down. Spores hyaline, bacillar, catenate, 5-6 x 2 /x, on short 

 conidiophores, hardly distinguishable in the dense hymenial mass. 



On dead stems of Eupatorium urticaefolium 

 Reichard (E. ageratoides L.f.), Big Indian, C. H. Peck, 

 September 1877. Under the lens this might at first l>e taken for a 

 Corynelia. 



