160 



Illinois Natural History Survhy Bulletin 



\^)1. 27, Art. 2 



PAST AND PRESENT 



Early botanical research in Illinois was 

 concerned mainly with field surveys of 

 plants native to the state and with the 

 distribution of these plants in the state. 

 Althou,<:h botanical research in the state 

 is still concerned with native plants, it is 

 concerned also with the cause and control 

 of diseases affecting ornamental plants — 

 trees, shrubs, and floricultural crops — 

 and losses caused by diseases of economic 

 crops, including cereal, fruit, forage, pas- 

 ture, and vegetable crops. 



Much of the early work with plants 

 was done by amateur botanists who had 

 very little formal training in botany. 

 Some of these men were physicians who 

 were interested in plants that had medic- 

 inal values. These early botanists were 

 individuals, engaged in various profes- 

 sions or businesses, who were keenly inter- 

 ested in nature, especially in the plant life 

 around them. They usually studied plants 

 in local areas, as their modes of travel 

 were by foot, by horseback, or by car- 

 riage. Their equipment and reference 

 works were meager. Their efforts were 

 directed mainly toward the collection and 

 identification of plants. 



Many of these early botanists were 

 members of the Natural History Society. 

 Some of them became professional bot- 

 anists and were employed by the State 

 Laboratory of Natural History. 



Inheritors of some of the traditions of 

 these early botanists are the present mem- 

 bers of the Section of Applied Botany and 

 Plant Pathology of the Natural History 

 Surve\-. Unlike the early botanists, these 

 men have received specialized botanical 

 training in leading colleges and universi- 

 ties of the United States. Their fields of 

 specialization include botany, taxonomy, 

 plant pathology, plant physiology, mycol- 

 ogy, and biochemistry. 



They are provided with specialized 

 ec|uipment including high-powered com- 

 pound and phase microscopes, high-speed 

 centrifuges, pH meters, fluorescent lamps, 

 spectrophotometer, and Geiger counter, 

 and with excellent librar\ facilities in- 

 cluding numerous books on specializeil 

 subjects in botany and related fields. 

 They are able to study plants in all parts 

 of the state, as they can rapidly travel 



great distances by automobile, train, air- 

 plane, or helicopter. They study the tax- 

 onomy of plants, as the early botanists 

 did, and in addition the pathology, physi- 

 ology, mycology, and biochemistry of 

 plants, including fungi, and especially 

 the fungi that cause diseases of plants. 



UNSOLVED PROBLEMS 



The partially solved problems receiv- 

 ing major attention of the Section of Ap- 

 plied Botany and Plant Pathology at 

 the present include the control of glad- 

 iolus corm rots, oak wilt, elm phloem ne- 

 crosis, and Dutch elm disease. x'\lthough 

 these diseases have been investigated for 

 several years, continued research is needed 

 to develop more effective treatments for 

 their control. Other unsolved problems 

 include the abnormal growth, wilt, de- 

 cline, or death of trees, floricultural 

 crops, and shrubs used for ornamental, 

 shade, or forest purposes. Some specific 

 unsolved problems are a virus disease 

 complex of gladiolus, a general decline of 

 ash, elm, and oak in localized areas of 

 the state ; a rapid decline and death of 

 red pine in localized plantings in north- 

 ern Illinois; wilt, occasionally followed 

 by death, of ash, catalpa, fragrant sumac, 

 Japanese quince, and hard maple ; a 

 needle blighting of white pine; diseases 

 of hackberry, Norway spruce, and white 

 pine, with symptoms suggesting virus dis- 

 eases ; and wetwood of elm. 



Although a research program on the 

 control of diseases of fruit, grain, and 

 vegetable crops is conducted by the Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station at the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, some of the unsolved 

 or partially solved problems are men- 

 tioned here. Because of the continued ap- 

 pearance of new physiologic races of rust 

 on small grains, it is essential to develop 

 new varieties of grains resistant to these 

 races. Also needed are varieties of small 

 grains resistant to scab and loose smut. 

 Another disease of small grains that needs 

 further study is the \irus disease known 

 as yellow dwarf. 



Corn is affected by stalk rots caused by 

 several fungi ; varieties of corn are needed 

 that are resistant to the stalkrot caused by 

 each fungus. Other problems include 

 more effective control for bacterial spot 



