376 DISEASES OF CULTIVATED PLANTS 



Gooseberry fungus (Fomes ribis, Fries.) is a wound- 

 parasite not uncommon on the stems of gooseberry and 

 currant bushes. Usually numerous pilei grow one above 

 another up the stem, and eventually kill the bush. 



Pilei growing horizontally, imbricated, flattened, rigid, thin, 

 margin acute, velvety, rusty, then umber ; flesh thin, tawny ; 

 pores minute, tubes about one line long. 



Distinguished by the imbricated mode of growth, 2-4 in. 

 across. Often tawny-yellow or rich tawny-brown, velvety. 

 Substance soft, indistinctly zoned. 



As the fungus only attacks old bushes, the best remedy is 

 to replace by young ones. Burn the old infested ones. 



Root rot of betel-nut palm Much loss is experienced in 

 many tracts of Sylhet, in India, from a root rot of Areca 

 catechu. The earliest symptom is a dropping of the nuts, and 

 nearly the whole of the produce of a palm may be lost in this 

 way, during the early stage of the disease. Soon afterwards 

 the swollen green part at the top of the stem, below the 

 leafy head, diminishes in size, and quite the most striking 

 symptom is the change from the graceful, curved swelling of 

 the coverings of the terminal bud, to an almost straight-sided 

 cone at the top of the tree. Withering of the leaves follows, 

 beginning from the outside, and eventually the whole head 

 dries up and falls off. The true source of injury resides in 

 the root, which rots and decays, due to the presence of the 

 mycelium of a fungus. The species was not determined, but 

 the presence of ' clamp-connections ' in the mycelium 

 suggested a member of the Basidiomycetes. Fomes lucidus 

 was often found at the base of the stem of a dead tree, and 

 mav eventually prove to be the source of mischief. 



A trench two feet deep and a foot broad should be dug 

 round the diseased patches of trees, sufficiently far away so 

 as to include all diseased ro9ts within the area. The soil 

 dug out should be thrown inside the infected area. Trees 

 inside the trench should be dug up and burned on the spot, 

 and the land allowed to remain fallow for over a year. 



Butler, Agric. Journ. of India ', L p. 302 (1906). 



Root disease of Hevea brasiliensis. A root rot of this 

 tree when cultivated, has been announced from Singapore and 

 Ceylon. The fungus concerned is Fomes semitostus (Berk.). 



