254 



GRASSES OF IOWA. 



FlR. 123. Tilletia 

 moliniae on Phragml- 

 tis; a, spore; m, ped- 

 icel; o, oil bJdles. 

 (King) 



cardo* and Winter place it under Tilletia 

 Molinice (Von Tlium) Winter. Dr. Farlow, who 

 identified the fungus for me on Phragmitis, 

 states that it S9ems to agree with that species. 

 It was found by Mr. E. R. Hodson ia con- 

 siderable quantity on Phragmites comnmnis in 

 the vicinity of Colo. The ovaries are enlarged, 

 much longer than broad. The interior is filled 

 with a black powdery mass, the spores. The 

 spores are round or elliptical, seldom spheri- 

 cal, dark brown in color, rough, and sur- 

 rounded by a persistent thick-walled color- 

 less exospore, with the permanently attached 

 mycelium at one end, resembling a slightly 

 twisted pedicel. Massee, f in his recent mono- 

 graph of Tilletia, excludes this species from the genus Tilletia 

 The spores measure 16.6 to 20.8x24.9 to 29.1. It may be a good 

 species but cultural experiments will be necessary to determine 

 this point. In Europe it occurs on Molinia cwrulea. 



TIMOTHY SMUT. 



This fungus {Tilletia striaeformis (Westd.) Magnus) has been 

 known for a considerable length of time. It affects several 

 different species of grasses. It was first described as Uredo 

 striiformis, Westd. I The proper name for the fungus was given 

 it by Magnus. § This fungus has been quite abundant for a 

 number of years in Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa. The first 

 economic account of it was given by Trelease in his paper on 

 the smut of timothy. || He reported it as common in Wisconsin 

 on"] timothy and that it also occurred on Agropyron repens and 

 wild rye {Elymus canadensis var. glaucifolious). The writer gave 

 a short account of the fungus in a series of papers on Fungus 

 Diseases of Iowa Forage Plants,! referring to its common 

 occurrence on timothy and Agropyron repens, both in this state 

 and in Massachusetts. Since then the writer has frequently 

 fouDd it on blue grass and timothy in this state. In Europe 

 the fungus is quite common on a number of different hosts, 

 namely, perennial rye grass {Lolium perenne), tall meadow oat 



♦winter die Pllze 1: 109. 

 +Bull. Mlscl. Infor. Kew. 1899: 1S6. 

 $We8tend. Bull. Acad. Brux. 1851: 406. 



SWinter Die Pllze 1: 108. For other references see Saccardo. Syll. Fung. 7:484, 

 and Plowright Mon. British Bred, and UstU. 284. 

 IIRep. U. S. Dept. Agr. 1885: 87. 

 "^9. See also Jour. Myc. 7: 97. 



