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 Fames rimosus, Berk., which, as we shall see, causes a heart-rot 
not only in Ptieroxylon utile, but also attacks a large number of our other 
forest trees. 
Distribution of Fomes rimosus. 
Yon Schrenk, who described the heart-rot of Bohinia pseudacacia 
(locust tree), caused by this fungus, gives its distribution in the eastern 
United States, from New York southward along the Alleghanies to Alabama 
and westward to south-east Missouri, and during the year 1900 in great 
numbers on the southern shore of Long Island, N.Y., where it destroyed 
many of the fine old trees. 
Overholts* mentions it from Ohio as growing only on living trunks of 
Bohinia. Lloyd f mentions it as being most abundant in the United States 
(Middle West) on the locust tree (Bobi^iia) , smd further states that although 
Bohinia 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 : 
Curtisia faginea (Assegai tree) ; Bhus laevigata (Red current) ; Olea verrucosa 
(Wild Olive); Olea laurifolia (Black Ironwood) ; Scholia latifolia (Boer 
bean) ; Elaeodendron croceum (Saffraanhout, Saffron- wood) ; Pleurostylia. 
Capensis (Coffee Pear) ; Kiggelaria africana (Wild Peach) ; Acacia, sp. ; 
Scolopia Mundtii (Red Pear) ; Xymalos monos'pora (Wild Lemon). 
What is evidently the same fungus is described by MurrillJ under the 
name Pyropolyporus Bohiniae, Murr. Yirginia 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 Bohinia pseudacacia. 
General Account of the Disease. 
It is very common, especially in the Grxulu 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 riwjosws, 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 Polyporaceae of Ohio/' Ann. Missouri Bot. Gdn., 
vol. i, no. 1, p. 133. 
t Lloyd, C. G., Synopsis of the genus Fomes, p. 248. 
X Murrill, Wm. A., North Am. Flora, vol, ix, pt. 2, p. 105, Bull. Torrey Bot. 
Club, vol. XXX, p. 114, 1903. 
