58 MISC. PUBLICATION 4 4 0, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



pathogen but unfavorable for the growth of celery, a loss of 50 

 to 80 percent of the crop was sustained. A contributing factor was 

 the occurrence of frost damage on the outer leaves. 



Decay may be expected to develop in transit or storage in celery 

 or other vegetable crops harvested from fields in which the sclero- 

 tica disease was an important factor, even though they appeared 

 to be free of decay at the time of harvest. Particularly is this 

 true if the commodity was wet when it was put into transit or 

 storage. 



Wounds are not essential for the entrance of the pathogen, but the 

 presence of fresh wounds favors immediate infection and may 

 result in an increased amount of decay. Plants not inoculated 

 with the pathogen previous to the time of harvest will not become 

 infected unless they later come into contact with infested soil or 

 diseased plants. 



Each of the species of Sclerotinia has a wide temperature range 

 for growth and for production of decay. Infection may occur at 

 temperatures as low as 32° to 34° F. and as high as 82°, with an 

 optimum of 70° to 78°. Low temperatures will retard the develop- 

 ment and spread of the decay in transit and storage but will not 

 completely control it. During long storage periods severe losses 

 are frequently noted at temperatures between 32° and 45°. 



CONTROL MEASURES 



There is no way of completely controlling watery soft rot. Field 

 sanitation practices which eliminate diseased plants and plant trash 

 from the field will tend to reduce the number of sclerotia and so 

 reduce the likelihood of infection. 



Celery harvested from fields where the disease is serious should 

 be trimmed carefully, shipped under as low a temperature as is 

 practicable, and sold for consumption as soon as possible. 



All vegetable commodities susceptible to watery soft rot should 

 be put into transit or storage in a dry condition and held at tempera- 

 tures as low as is practicable. 



(See 178, 188, 197, 198, 202. 203. 20^.) 



FlXOCCHIO 



Finocchio (Foerrieuktm vuJgore Hill. var. dulce Alef.), fre- 

 quently but erroneously 18 called "anise" or "sweet anise" on the 

 market, is grown and marketed for the edible bulblike enlargement 

 found at the base of the above-ground portion of the plant. This is 

 formed by the compact and overlapping arrangement of the thick- 

 ened leafstalk bases and appears as a well-branched fairly solid 

 structure 



Few diseases have been reported on finocchio. On the market it 

 has been found affected only with bacterial soft rot and watery 

 soft rot. 



u The tprm "anise" has long been recognized In horticultural literature .-is the common 

 name of an entirelj lifferenl plant, I L it has likewise been applied al 



times to sweet cicely I Wyrrhis <■■ another member of the family Umbelliferae, 



lis usage as a synonym for finocchio is unfortunate and should be discouraged, 



