AMERICAN 
JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
Vol. IX July, 1922 No. 7 
A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF CLAVICEPS PURPUREA 
IN CULTURE 
Walter W. Bonns 
(Received for publication October 21, 192 1) 
Introduction 
The work with Claviceps purpurea Tul. herein considered had in its in- 
ception a purely physiological objective resulting from the pressure of econ- 
omic conditions. It is doubtful if the majority of botanists or laymen have 
a proper conception of the positive economic value of this fungus. To 
emphasize this point it will sufhce to say that the annual import of ergot 
into the United States for the six years ending with 191 9 has ranged from 
58 to 112 tons, with a valuation ranging as high as $208,000. Practically 
all of this, so far as we are aware, is used in the manufacture of pharma- 
ceutical preparations of great importance in obstetrics. 
The great commercial sources of the sclerotia in the past have been 
Spain and Russia. During the recent war American drug manufacturers 
experienced a great shortage of ergot, and as a result quotations rose by 
leaps and bounds. In the early part of 1914, high-grade Russian ergot 
could be bought for 43 cents a pound, duty paid. During the first part 
of 1920, quotations on this drug ranged between $5.00 and $6.00 a pound. 
Our objective, therefore, in undertaking this study was the growth of 
the fungus on artificial media to determine if under such conditions the 
physiological principles extracted from the natural sclerotium could be 
obtained. 
Literature 
The literature dealing with the physiology of Claviceps is scant. A 
fairly complete monograph of the genus by Atanasoff (i) gives but three 
citations of studies of the fungus in culture. According to this writer, 
Brefeld (7) is credited with being the first to study C. purpurea under 
artificial conditions. The latter grew his cultures from ascospores ger- 
minated on bread soaked in nutrient solution. A brief description of the 
conidial stage is given. Neither sclerotial formation nor anything appa- 
rently homologous thereto was obtained in cultures. 
About a dozen years after Brefeld's study, Meyer (12) repeated the 
experiment, starting his cultures, however, from the ''honey-dew stage" 
on infected rye. This paper gives the most detailed description of any 
[The Journal for June (9: 277-338) was issued July 12, 1922]. 
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