DISEASES 163 



Brown Root Disease 



(Hymenocliaete noxia^) 



The popular name, Brown Root Disease, given 

 by Fetch to the injury caused by this fungus, is 

 quite appropriate. 



The fungus was first noticed more than half a 

 century ago, as being very destructive to Bread- 

 fruit trees in Samoa. It is now known to occur in 

 many tropical countries, and is probably widely 

 distributed. Many kinds of economic trees are 

 attacked by it, such as Coffee, Cocoa, Hevea, Fun- 

 tumia, Tea, Camphor, and various forest trees. 



As in the case of Hevea, the root is the part 

 attacked by this fungus, and the symptoms of its 

 presence are so very marked that it cannot be mis- 

 taken. The mycelium, or spawn, is brown, and at 

 first forms a loose weft round the tap-root and its 

 branches. This mycelium binds together the soil 

 and stones into a compact incrusting mass, which 

 finally becomes sheathed with a blackish felt of 

 mycelium, and passes up the collar to a short dis- 

 tance above ground. The fruit of the fungus is 



