68 
September, 1948, the blackish oval heads were protruding 
several inches above soil level in clusters, varying from 
several inches to three feet in diameter, around the bases 
of the trunks or adjacent thereto. In December of the 
same year the Balanophora was generally drying out. 
The flower stalks were black and shrunken, and the 
basal tuber was either partly decayed or completely 
decomposed, leaving only the stringly, radiating vascular 
strands. The pa paw roots affected showed a tendency to 
callus over and the trees themselves at this time showed 
little effect of the earlier attack except for a slight 
stunting in some cases. In the following year B. fungosa 
again appeared but its distribution was more scattered 
throughout the plantation. Only a small proportion of 
those plants attacked in the first year appeared to have 
been affected in the second. 
It was assumed that the Balanophora had originated 
on naturally occurring trees in the vicinity, and a search 
in December, 1948, showed that it was parasitising the 
young regrowth of 31. lanarius growing immediately up 
the slope from the plantation. Roots from an eighth to 
a quarter inch in diameter were attacked and the 
Balanophora appeared to arise From further below the 
surface than in the case of the papaw. Except in two 
instances the basal tuber was still living, but the stalks 
and flowers were drying out. In this area parasitism 
appeared to be restricted to 31. lanarius although the 
roots of this plant are of a distinctly woody nature. 
