1897.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 67 



This disease was first brought to notice by Prof. F. li. 

 Scribncr, in "Orchard and Garden," January, 1891, and 

 scientifically described at about the same time by Mr. J. B. 

 Ellis, from specimens sent by Professor Scribner. We find 

 no mention of it since that time, which seems to indicate 

 that it is not generally prevalent. Should it become so, it 

 cannot fail to become very troublesome, for it spreads with 

 considerable rapidity, and has a ruinous effect upon the 

 decorative value of the plant. It was introduced into our 

 houses, apparently, on a variegated- leaved Ficus elastica 

 purchased from an outside florist. From this plant it spread 

 to others of the ordinary green-leaved ty})e, and has practi 

 cally ruined several fine specimens. Great care should there- 

 fore be taken, m purchasing stock outside, that it be free 

 from disease. (Not infrequently we hear of Ficus plants 

 whose leaves turn yellow and drop off". This marks the 

 normal end of the existence of the leaf, or, if it occurs 

 extensively, an unhealthy condition of the plant, and is not 

 to be confused with the fungous disease. An eflect almost 

 exactly similar, su})erticially, to that of the latter, is some- 

 times produced by sunburn.) 



A Leaf-s])ot Disease of the Date and Similar Palms 

 (^Phoinix sp.). 

 {(Iraphiola I'/urnicis, Poit.) 

 This disease is l)y no means a new or unknown one, but it 

 has received little attention from an economic stand-point. 

 It attacks various species of Phoenix in cultivation, and in- 

 jures and disfigures them to a considerable extent. The 

 afiected parts of tiie leaf become mottled with yellow, and 

 upon the surface little black eruptions appear, which are cup- 

 shaped conce})tacles produced by the filaments in the interior 

 of the leaf, and in which the spores of the fungus are pro- 

 duced. These little eruptions are about one-fiftieth of an 

 inch high and twice as wide, — plainly visible, therefore, 

 to the eye. They consist of a firm, dark-colored exterior 

 layer, enclosing a more delicate inner covering, which con- 

 tains a mass of thread-like filaments on which the spores are 

 produced. The leaf becomes thickly dotted over on both 

 sides with the conceptacles and slowly shrivels away and 



