VIII 



PEPPERS 277 



The Canker. It was found that in the pepper 

 vines the tissues were soft and easily injured. The 

 slightest scratch produced a sore on the plant. This 

 occurred in both wild and cultivated plants, whether 

 healthy or not, but whereas in the wild plant the dead 

 cells were cut off by cork formation, so that the wound 

 was stopped, in cultivated plants masses of corky tissue 

 were formed which again became diseased, so that, from 

 a comparatively inconspicuous cause great cankerous 

 growths were formed. The readiness to form cankers 

 in all its parts appear to indicate a lack of vitality in 

 the cells. As would be expected, cankers are most 

 frequently and injuriously formed at the collar. In one 

 case the whole plant was found to be bursting out with 

 cankerous eruptions. Mites were found in the eruptions 

 and might possibly be the cause. 



Hyphae in the Vessels. This is another serious 

 disease described by Mr. Barber. It consists of fungal 

 hyphae in the fibro-vascular vessels. The hyphae are 

 found in every part of the plant from the youngest root 

 to the smallest shoot, and are confined to the fibro-vascular 

 bundles while the tissue is alive, and probably obtain 

 their food by haustoria or suckers from the neighbouring 

 starch-filled parenchyma. After the death of the tissue 

 they spread in all directions. Plants , affected with this 

 should not be used for cuttings. The hyphae can be 

 seen in a shoot with a low power microscope. 



Pepperwilt (Nectria sp.). In the Wynaad Mr. 

 Butler found the pepper attacked by a species of 

 fungus, which also did much damage to the pigeon-pea 

 or dall (Cajanus indicus), a crop largely grown in 

 India. 



This fungus occurred on every dying vine he 

 examined, and there is little doubt that it was the 

 cause of a large proportion of the pepper disease on the 

 Malabar coast. It becomes more intense during breaks 

 in the rains and immediately after the monsoon. 

 Exposed vines die more rapidly than those that are 

 shaded. The roots or part of them rot or become 



