VIII 
PEPPERS 
277 
The Canker .- — It was found that in the pepper 
vines the tissues were soft and easily injured. The 
slightest scratch produced a sore on the plant. This 
occurred in both wild and cultivated plants, whether 
healthy >r not, but whereas in the wild plant the dead 
cells were cut off by cork formation, so that the wound 
was stopped, in cultivated plants masses of corky tissue 
were formed which again became diseased, so that, from 
a comparatively inconspicuous cause great cankerous 
growths were formed. The readiness to form cankers 
in all its parts appear to indicate a lack of vitality in 
the cells. As would be expected, cankers are most 
frequently and injuriously formed at the collar. In one 
case the whole plant was found to be bursting out with 
cankerous eruptions. Mites were found in the eruptions 
and might possibly be the cause. 
Hyjphae in the Vessels . — This is another serious 
disease described by Mr. Barber. It consists of fungal 
hyphae in the fibro-vascular vessels. The hyphae are 
found in every part of the plant from the youngest root 
to the smallest shoot, and are confined to the fibro-vascular 
bundles while the tissue is alive, and probably obtain 
their food by haustoria or suckers from the neighbouring 
starch-filled parenchyma. After the death of the tissue 
they spread in all directions. Plants affected with this 
should not be used for cuttings. The hyphae can be 
seen in a shoot with a low power microscope. 
Pepperivilt [Nectria sp.). — In the Wynaad Mr. 
Butler found the pepper attacked by a species of 
fungus, which also did much damage to the pigeon-pea 
or dall {Cajanus indicus), a crop largely grown in 
India. 
This fungus occurred on every dying vine he 
examined, and there is little doubt that it was the 
cause of a large proportion of the pepper disease on the 
Malabar coast. It becomes more intense during breaks 
in the rains and immediately after the monsoon. 
Exposed vines die more rapidly than those that are 
shaded. The roots or part of them rot or become 
