SCLEROTINIA LIBERTIANA, FUCKEL, WITH A BIB- 
LIOGRAPHY OF FUNGUS ROOT DISEASES. 
By L. H. PammMe.. 
During the months of July and August, 1890, I became 
interested in a disease which caused the common sunflower, 
Helianthus annuus, to wilt and die suddenly. In a note 
made at the Indianapolis meeting of the Society for the Pro- 
motion of Agricultural Science’ attention was called to this 
- disease. 
I designated the disease as Root-rot of Sunflower.? The 
external manifestations are similar to other root-rot diseases, 
especially those caused by Ozonium auricomum, Pammel,® 
and Leplosphaeria circinans.* 
A healthy looking plant suddenly wilts. Previous to this 
the plant appeared nearly normal except a little browning of 
the stem close to the ground. Closer examination of the 
stout tap root revealed a white mycelium over the surface, in 
the pith, and in the interior of the root and stem close to the 
ground. In some places this mycelium had collected in white 
masses. A root placed in a moist chamber caused the myce- 
lium to grow vigorously, and a yellow fluid oozed out from the 
surface. These masses slowly changed in color, becoming 
black. The hard solid sclerotia varied greatly in size and 
shape. The majority were about the size of a pea, round, 
elliptical, or elongated. In some eases the sclerotia filled the 
cavity occupied by the pith, and in that case they were flat- 
1 Proceedings Soc. Promotion of Agricultural Science, 1890, 
2 Saint-Gal mentions (Revue Mycologigue, di p- 122) Silirsines com- 
pacitum DC. on this species as well as H. tuberosus 
* Bulletin Nos, 4 and7, Texas Agricultural E i S : Atkinson 
3 
Method of obtaining pure Satbiees of Pammel’s rierak root-rot of outa, 
Bot. Gazette, Vol. XVIII, p. 
4 J. Kiihn, Krankheiten der Kaleargevishe, Berlin, 1858, p. 245; Sorauer 
Pflanzevkrankheiten, Vol. II, p. 3 : 
