130 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | FEBRUARY 
discoloring the wood and killing the cortex, but rarely causing ad 
soft rot. The affected plants die gradually with yellowing and 
drying of the foliage. The fungus rarely fruits on the outside 
of the stems, but more frequently in the cambium and pith of 
stems long dead. : 
The Rhizoctonia causes the plants to wilt suddenly by rotting : 
the stem at or just below the surface of the soil. The cortex 
readily separates from the wood, the pith is attacked quite early, j 
becoming water-soaked in appearance (corky when dry) and 
~ filled with hyphe. 
