The Botrytis Blight of Tulips 317 



showed that there are various causes of these " bad spots," but that 

 usually they are due to Sclerotium Tuliparum. Hence the term kwaden 

 plekken may not be applied specifically to this disease. 



Ritzema Bos (1903 a: 19) uses also the word Umfallen to designate 

 the disease as it occurs on tulip tops because it often causes the stem to 

 break over. The writer believes, however, that this name is better applied 

 to a physiological disease of tulips described by Sorauer (1903:265). 

 " Tulip mould" is the term used by Massee (1899:158) and also by 

 Halsted (1902:438). Later Jacob (1912) states that it is commonly 

 known as " fire." 



The writer would suggest the name Botrytis blight for this disease, 

 since it causes a typical blight, and although there is another Botrytis 

 disease of tulips, this is the more important one by far. 



HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION 



The Botrytis blight of tulips was probably first described in 1830 by 

 Madame Libert, in connection with an herbarium specimen (Crypt. Ard. 

 No. 36). She evidently observed only the sclerotia. She describes the 

 fungus from the sclerotia as Sclerotium Tulipae Libert. From her 

 description it is evident that she had studied the sclerotia of Botrytis 

 parasitica Cavara (Saccardo, 1888-89). 



The disease was first carefully observed by Cavara (1888), in upper 

 Italy. However, Ritzema Bos (1903 a: 26) thinks Wakker (1885:22) 

 had the same disease under consideration before Cavara's publication 

 appeared. He called it "tulpenziekte." Ritzema Bos (1903 a: 25) states 

 that the disease had been known in Holland for more than twenty 

 years, but that he is not certain when it first became seriously destruc- 

 tive there. In 1890 affected tulip bulbs were sent to him from Norway. 

 The work of Ritzema Bos, while in some respects not very accurate, 

 was valuable in that it attracted attention to the importance of the 

 disease. He began his studies in 1896 and published several papers 

 on the subject. 



Carruthers (1901 : 246) notes the occurrence of the disease in Northamp- 

 tonshire and Cambridge, England, in 1901. It was reported near St. 

 Petersburg in 1911 (Elenkin, 1911). Klebahn (1904:18) mentions its 

 appearance in Hamburg, Germany, in 1902, and in other parts of Germany 



