Heart Rot of Ptseroxylon utile (Sneezewood) . 217 



Well is it that such a valuable timber tree is at present protected and 

 endeavours made to get back, by self-seeding or otherwise, some of the 

 forests of the past ; nor is it a bit too soon to call attention to the havoc 

 worked by Forties rimosus, Berk., which, as we shall see, causes a heart-rot 

 not only in' Ptseroxylon utile, but also attacks a large number of our other 

 forest trees. 



Distribution of Pomes kimosus. 



Von Schrenk, who described the heart-rot of Bobinia pseudacacia 

 (locust tree), caused by this fungus, gives its distribution in the eastern 

 United States, from New York southward along the AUeghanies to Alabama 

 and westward to south-east Missouri, and during the year 1900 in great 

 numbers on the southern shore of Long Island, N.T., where it destroyed 

 many of the fine old trees. 



Overholts* mentions it from Ohio as growing only on living trunks of 

 Rohinia. Lloydf mentions it as being most abundant in the United States 

 (Middle West) on the locust tree (Bobinia), and further states that although 

 Bobinia is very common as an ornamental tree in Europe, this Fomes is only 

 known in Europe from a single specimen. He has had the fungus from 

 Jamaica, Mauritius, South Africa, India, Samoa, and Ceylon. 



In South Africa the fungus appears most commonly on living trees of 

 Ptseroxylon utile (Sneezewood), but it has thus far also been reported on : 

 Gurtisia faginea (Assegai tree) ; Rhus laevigata (Red curTimt) ; Olea verrucosa 

 (Wild Olive) ; Olea laurifolia (Black Ironwood) ; Scholia lati/olia (Boer 

 bean) ; Flaeodendron croceum (Saffraanhout, Saffron-wood) ; Pleurostylia 

 Gapensis (CofEee Pear) ; Kiggelaria africana (Wild Peach) ; Acacia, sp. ; 

 Scolopia Mundtii (Eed Pear) ; Xymalos monospora (Wild Lemon). 



What is evidently the same fungus is described by MurrillJ under the 

 name Pyropolyporus Robiniae, Murr. "Virginia is given as the type locality 

 and the distribution Connecticut to Florida and west to Missouri and 

 Texas. The habitat is given as living trunks of Robinia pseudacacia. 



Genbkal AccorNT of the Disease. 



It is very common, especially in the Gxulu forest of the Eastern Con- 

 servancy, Cape Province, to find a large percentage of Sneezewood trees with 

 hollow stems. The fruiting bodies (Figs. 1 and 2) of Fomes rimosus. Berk., 

 usually appear at wounds and the scars of former branches, and there is no 

 doubt that it is especially through wounds that the fungus gains entrance. 



* Overholts, L. O., "The Poljrporaoeae of Ohio," Ann. Missouri Bot. Gdn., 

 vol. i, no. 1, p. 133. 



t Lloyd, C. G-., Synopsis of the genus Fomes, p. 248. 



J Murrill, Wm. A.; North Am. Flora, vol. ix, pt. 2, p. 105, Bull. Torrey Bot. 

 Club, vol. XXX, p. 114, 1903. 



