A NEW HOST FOR CLAVICEPS 



Herbert Groh 



While making an examination of a quantity of wild hay re- 

 ceived from Beauce County, in the province of Quebec, Canada, 

 in December, 1909, I discovered that occasional spikes of a 

 Carex, which constituted a large part of the hay, contained 

 sclerotia of Claviceps. Suspecting this to be an exceptional host 

 for the fungus, I made a search of the literature on the subject, 

 with the result that I was unable to discover any record of a 

 similar occurrence. Attempts were made to study the germina- 

 tion of the sclerotia, with a view to observing their further 

 development, but, unfortunately, without success. The speci- 

 mens were kept on moist, sterile sand in a Petri dish under 

 ordinary living-room conditions of temperature, but, even after 

 a lapse of several months, they had failed to develop stromata. 

 Nothing is known of the history of the hay with which they had 

 been gathered, and I have no doubt that age or the conditions of 

 storage had influenced their power of germination. As no 

 prospect remains now of gaining any more information about 

 this interesting species, it seems advisable to put on record at 

 least the fact of its discovery on Carex. 



The sedge on which the sclerotia were found was identified as 

 Carex stellulata Good. var. angustata Carey. Other Cyperaceae, 

 including a number of other species of Carex, Scirpus and Erio- 

 phorum, and also a number of agricultural and wild grasses, were 

 present, but on none of these were any sclerotia observed. 



The appearance of the sclerotia in situ is shown in the accom- 

 panying drawing of representative specimens. Both macroscopi- 

 cally and microscopically, they are not unlike those occurring on 

 grasses, and are undoubtedly Claviceps sclerotia. Their size 

 varies from scarcely larger than the healthy perigynia to 5 mm. 

 or more in length. Many of the smaller specimens appear to 

 retain the features of the displaced perigynia at their tips. 



With only this single stage of the fungus known, it is, of 

 course, impossible to reach any conclusion as to its specific posi- 



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