OHAPTEE V. 



FUSISPORIUM DISEASE OF POTATOES. 



Fusisporium Solani, Mart. 



WHEN potatoes are destroyed by parasitic fungi in the 

 autumn, it does not always happen that the parasite is 

 the dreaded putrefactive fungus of the murrain, named 

 Peronospora infestans, Mont. Another highly destructive 

 fungus, named Fusisporium Solani, Mart., is sometimes 

 equally damaging to potatoes with the Peronospora itself. 

 The name Fusisporium refers to the spindle-shaped crescent 

 form of the spores, fusus, a spindle ; Solani, of course, 

 refers to the genus Solanum, to which the potato belongs. 



It often happens that Fusisporium grows in company 

 with Peronospora on potatoes, at other times the two 

 fungi grow apart ; exactly the same phenomenon of con- 

 sortism occurs with Peronospora Schleideniana, Ung., and 

 Fusisporium atro-virens, B., on onions. The same con- 

 sortism also occurs with Peronospora parasitica, Pers., and 

 Fusisporium aurantiacum, Lk., on the cabbage tribe. 



Fusisporium Solani, Mart., although very common in 

 the southern and midland counties of England, has not 

 been recorded from Wales or Scotland. Two allied species 

 attacking the parsnip and turnip have been noticed in 

 the latter places ; and it appears strange that the Fusis- 

 porium of the potato should have been overlooked if it 

 really occurs. But however rare the fungus may be in 

 the north and north-west, it is certainly an extremely 

 common and highly destructive pest of potatoes over the 

 greater part of England. 



Like many other fungi, Fusisporium Solani, Mart., 



