AN ASCIGEROUS STAGE AND SYNONOMY FOR FUSARIUM 
MONILIFORME 1 
By Grace O. Wineland 2 
Assistant Pathologist, Office of Cereal Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
Fusarium moniliforme was described by Sheldon (28) 3 , working in Nebraska, in 
1904. The fungus was of interest at that time because it was believed to be 
connected with an ergotism-like disease of domestic animals. State Pathologist 
Peters (17) and others investigating the disease found no ergot. They discredited 
other popular beliefs as to its cause. They found that the corn on farms where 
the disease existed was badly rotted with a pink fungus, while that on farms where 
the disease had not appeared was not so rotted. Feeding experiments were car¬ 
ried on, and from their results and because of the similar distribution of fungus 
and disease the conclusion was reached that a causal relationship existed. 
Sheldon’s contribution in this problem was a painstaking study and a careful 
description of the fungus itself. It was an unusual Fusarium in that it had 
microconidia in chains. His formal description follows: 
Sporodochium sub-effuse, salmon-pink; sporophores, simple or branched, usually opposite; microconi¬ 
dia continuous, oblong-ovoid, moniliform, 6-10 n long; macroconidia, falcate, acute, for the most part 
3-septate, 25-40/x long. 
Since 1904 Fusarium moniliforme has come up in the literature of this country 
again and again as a saprophyte or parasite on corn. Holbert and Hoffer (12) 
mention Gibberella acervalis (Moug.) Wr., as one of the factors in root, stalk, and 
ear rot diseases in Indiana. Norton and Chen (15) report Oospora verticilloides 
Sacc. as a corn seed parasite in Maryland, and associate it with barren distorted 
stalks and rootrot in the field. The relation of G. acervalis and 0. verticilloides 
to F. moniliforme will be discussed. 
Valleau (27, 28) considers F. moniliforme an active parasite capable of causing 
root and stalkrots of corn under laboratory and field conditions, and states that 
ear and seed infection with the fungus probably is universal. Manns and Adams 
(13) report the occurrence of F. moniliforme as an internal infection of seed corn 
in seventeen of twenty-one States from whi«h samples for examination had been 
received, the percentage ranging from 0.4 in North Dakota to 80 per cent in 
Louisiana. Sherbakoff (25) finds that in Tennessee, as well as in other States, 
the most common Fusarium of corn is F . moniliforme . A number of other inves¬ 
tigators, as Burrill and Barrett (1), Garman (7, 8), Hewitt (11), and Selby (22), 
mention a Fusarium of corn which may possibly be F. moniliforme. 
1 Received for publication Apr. 1,1924—issued Nov., 1924. The investigations on which this paper is 
based were conducted as a cooperative project between the Office of Cereal Investigations, Bureau of 
Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, and the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment 
Station. 
2 The writer wishes to acknowledge the benefit of Miss Helen Johann’s knowledge of Fusaria in general, 
and experience with Fusarium moniliforme in particular and to thank Dr. James G. Dickson for making 
the photomicrographs and Dr. A. G. Johnson for assistance in revising the manuscript. 
3 Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited," pp. 921-922. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XXVIII, No. 9 
Washington, D. C. May 31, 1924 
Key No. G-455 
96039—24f-5 
(909) 
