210 
Vol. XXIX, No. 5 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
specifically recognized by F. K01pin 
Ravn, there exists in certain herbaria 
of the country convincing evidence of 
the existence of this rust in the United 
States for a period of at least 23 years 
prior to its discovery. Indeed, it is 
possible that stripe rust established it¬ 
self in western North America centuries 
ago. Its occurrence on certain grasses 
indigenous to Alaska has led the writers 
to consider more fully the distribution 
of the rust by these hosts up and down 
the Pacific Coast and throughout the 
tributary intermountain territory. 
During the summer of 1916 the 
writers made numerous collections of 
stripe rust on wheat and certain wild 
hosts in Skagit and San Juan Counties, 
Wash. Here they observed for the 
first time the occurrence of this rust on 
Bromus pacificus Shear and B. sitchensis 
Bong. Its occurrence on B. marginatus 
Nees had first been noted in June, 1915, 
at Pullman, Wash. Infected plants of 
Hordeum jubatum, H. nodosum L., and 
Elymus glaucus Buckl. have been col¬ 
lected frequently, the first collection 
on these hosts, as elsewhere noted, 
being that of E. and E. T. Bartholomew 
in 1911. H. caespitosum Scribn., Agro- 
pyron spicatum (Pursh) Rydb. and A. 
violaceum (Hornem.) Lange also are 
congenial hosts, and infected specimens 
have been collected by C. W. Hunger- 
ford. 
All of the hosts of P. glumarum 
recorded in the foregoing paragraph 
are, according to Hitchcock, common 
to Alaska. Although the writers have 
no record of the occurrence of this rust 
on any of these grasses in Alaska, it 
seems likely that it may be found there. 
The fact that it has been observed on 
certain of these hosts in such isolated 
localities as San Juan and Vancouver 
Islands would tend to support the 
assumption that this rust occurs also in 
Alaska. And if it be present in Alaska, 
it seems not unreasonable to infer that 
it may have reached this continent 
from Siberia by way of Kamchatka 
and the Aleutian Islands, or during an 
earlier period, while the two continents 
were yet one. 
COMMON NAME 
The disease caused by Puccinia 
glumarum is commonly known among 
most British botanists and plant 
pathologists as “golden rust,” though 
occasionally it is referred to as “yellow 
rust.” In Germany and Austria it is 
known as Gelbrost (yellow rust), while 
in Sweden and Denmark it is called 
Gulrost. According to Ferraris (5), 
stripe rust is commonly known in 
France as rouille jaune y and in Italy as 
ruggine striata del grano. Thus it is 
noted that in all cases, excepting that 
of Italy, the common name is based 
solely on a color character. 
To the writers it has seemed that the 
more descriptive common name, stripe 
rust, should be adopted, for certain 
other of the cereal rusts might quite 
properly be styled yellow or golden and 
thus prove confusing to the inexperi¬ 
enced student or observer. As an 
example of the need of greater attention 
to the descriptiveness of common 
names, the writers might cite their 
experience in attempting to determine 
just what rust is referred to by hun¬ 
dreds of voluntary crop reporters who 
record outbreaks of “rust,” “red rust,” 
“black rust,” “yellow rust,” etc. 
Many of the reports merely state 
“rust” and for this reason are of 
very doubtful, if, indeed, of any, value to 
the student interested in a specific rust. 
For this disease, therefore, the writers 
propose the general adoption of the 
name stripe rust. This is believed to 
be preferable to the name yellow rust, 
not only for the reason that it is more 
definitely descriptive but also that it 
has the merit of at once enabling the 
observer to distinguish it from all other 
cereal rusts. 
THE DISCOVERY OF STRIPE RUST IN THE 
UNITED STATES 
Stripe rust was discovered in the 
United States and definitely deter¬ 
mined as such by the late Dr. F. 
K0lpin Ravn, of Copenhagen. On 
May 25, 1915, while examining wheat 
fields near Sacaton, Ariz., he observed 
and collected the rust, recognizing it 
on the spot as P. glumarum. At the 
time of the discovery of this rust, the 
wheat near Sacaton was in the dough 
stage of development and no telio- 
spores were observed. This would 
seem to indicate a possible late or 
delayed initial infection, for it should 
be added that in none of the plants 
observed was there evidence of more 
than a mild attack. 
On the same day, May 25, 1915, one 
of the authors (Johnson) collected 
what was later identified as Puccinia 
glumarum on Hordeum murinum L. 
near Tehachapi, Kern County, Calif. 
Although a diligent search was made 
for the rust in the wheat fields of the 
lower Sacramento Valley and elsewhere 
in California during that year, it was 
not found. On June 10, of the same 
year, it was observed again at Corvallis, 
Oreg., by Dr. Ravn and others who 
noted its occurrence on Baart and 
