Notes and Brief Articles 
115 
Marasmius on Sugar Cane 
Fulton in Bulletin No. loo of the Louisiana Experiment 
Station reported Marasmius plicatus on sugar cane. His descrip- 
tion of “ stipe whitish ” differs so much from that of the original 
M. plicatus Wakker as to lead one to suspect another fungus. My 
own dried material of Marasmius on sugar cane from Louisiana 
and Texas answers to the description of M. stenophyllus or its 
synonym M. semiustis. As I recall the form in the field, the pileus 
occasionally presents a purplish color. This corresponds with 
material occurring on sugar cane in Cuba and common on certain 
varieties of banana. Dr. Murrill identified my material from 
sugar cane and banana as M. stenophyllus. 
Unfortunately, no one in this part of the world has been able to 
compare material with the original M. plicatus described by Wakker 
and Went, from Java, but nevertheless all the available evidence 
seems to show clearly that the species of Marasmius parasitic on 
sugar cane in the Southern United States and occasionally para- 
sitic on sugar cane and common on bananas in Cuba is M. steno- 
phyllus. 
The more common species of Marasmius on sugar cane is com- 
monly known as M. Sacchari. This answers well to the original 
description by Wakker and Went, and, moreover. Went identified 
material in Trinidad as such (see Went, “ Waarnemingen en op- 
merkingen omtrennt de Rietsuiker industrie in West Indie”). 
M. Sacchari appears to occur throughout the West Indies as a 
parasite of sugar cane and to its damage is assigned the main 
reason for giving up the Bourbon cane and the adoption of seed- 
ling and other varieties. M. stenophyllus is reported on bananas 
in many West Indian islands, but has not been reported before on 
sugar cane. 
These two species are very similar, although M. stenophyllus 
occasionally has a purplish pileus, while M. Sacchari never does 
so far as I know. The only safe criterion for separating the spe- 
cies is the spore form and size, the spores of M. stenophyllus 
being ellipsoid, 7-9 X 5-6 and the spores of M. Sacchari being 
irregularly elongate, often slightly curved, larger at one end than 
at the other, and 16-20 X 4~5 1^- 
J. R. Johnston. 
