FUNDAMENTALS FOR TAXONOMIC STUDIES OF 
FUSARIUM 1 
By H. W. Wollenweber , 2 Pathologist, Biologische Ueichsanstalt fur Land- und 
Forstwirtschaft; C. D. Sherbakoff , 3 Pathologist, Agricultural Experiment 
Station, University of Tennessee; and O. A. Reinking, Pathologist, United 
Fruit Company; with the cooperation of Helen Johann, Assistant Pathologist, 
Office of Cereal Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, and Alice A. Bailey, 
Junior Pathologist, Office of Cotton, Truck, and Forage Crop Disease Investiga¬ 
tions , Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture 4 
INTRODUCTION 
There has been a long-felt need for 
a general conference of all workers on 
the Fusarium problem in order that a 
uniform taxonomy may be formulated 
upon which future work can be based. 
The various workers have always been 
fundamentally in reasonably close 
agreement regarding the principles of 
Fusarium classification, but there has 
been a number of points which were 
not clearly understood, possibly because 
the investigators have not been suffi¬ 
ciently in contact with each other. 
Variations in the methods employed in 
different laboratories have complicated 
the problem of species identification. 
The fact that the fungi vary according 
to the environment, age, and source of 
culture and the failure of different 
workers to understand one another has, 
it is believed, largely accounted for the 
differences arising from Fusarium 
studies. 
Recent investigations on the banana- 
wilt problem conducted by the United 
Fruit Co. in Central America showed 
the immediate necessity of a general 
conference on the Fusarium problem. 
Because of the large number of related 
Fusaria encountered in a study of the 
banana - wilt - producing organism on 
banana plantations, it was deemed ad¬ 
visable to complete the fungous inves¬ 
tigations with a final study in Europe 
or in the United States. The proposed 
studies of the United Fruit Co. were 
discussed at the meeting of scientific 
societies in Cincinnati, in December, 
1923, and through Dr. W. A. Orton a 
plan for an American conference on 
Fusarium was proposed. The idea in¬ 
volved the United Fruit Co.'s bringing 
Dr. H. W. Wollenweber over from Ger¬ 
many, and Dr. O. A. Reinking from 
Central America. The United States 
workers included Dr. C. D. Sherbakoff, 
of the University of Tennessee, Miss 
Helen Johann and Mrs. Alice A. Bailey, 
representing, respectively, the Offices 
of Cereal Investigations, of Cotton, 
Truck, and Forage Crop Disease In¬ 
vestigations, and of Pathological col¬ 
lections of the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, in a joint study of 
Fusarium classification. The United 
Fruit Co., through its director of agri¬ 
cultural research, Dr. John R. John¬ 
ston, adopted this liberal policy in 
supporting the scientific work to 
a greater extent than their purely 
economic interests required. It was 
agreed, on the invitation of Dr. L. R. 
Jones, to hold the conference at the 
University of Wisconsin, in Madison. 
The purpose of the conference was 
to give an opportunity to cooperate in 
a personal way, to compare cultures 
assembled from all possible sources, 
and in this manner to clear up the 
somewhat tangled taxonomy of this 
difficult genus. All the important 
European cultures, those being studied 
at present in the United States, and 
the collections made from the tropics, 
primarily from Central America, were 
assembled at the meeting for special 
study and comparison. The work of 
the conference covered, in so far as 
possible, the study, comparison, and 
identification of the specimens and 
cultures of the fungi then available. 
The main studies were made on the 
tropical collection, since it was agreed, 
because of the part taken by the 
1 Received for publication Sept. 29, 1924; issued June, 1925. 
2 Engaged in special investigations for the United Fruit Co. during the Fusarium conference at Mad¬ 
ison, Wis., in August, 1924. 
3 Present at the conference in cooperation with the Offices of Cotton, Truck, and Forage Crop Disease 
Investigations, of Cereal Investigations, and of Pathological Collections, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture. 
4 The writers are indebted to the Departments of Plant Pathology and of Botany of the University of 
Wisconsin for providing facilities with which to carry on the investigations during the period of the con¬ 
ference. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
19976—25f- 
Vol. XXX, No. 9 
May 1, 1925 
Key No. G-469 
(833) 
