Roderick Sprague

Some leaf spot fungi on western Gramineae-II.

The fungi discussed in this article represent incompletely known or undescribed species that may be encountered by workers dealing with diseases of western range and pasture grasses. The collections that are mentioned in this note are filed either at Oregon State College (O.S.C. numbers) or are in the Mycological Collections of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. The fungi will be discussed individually as follows:

Some Leafspot Fungi on Western Gramineae—VI

of ten western states during late July and early August, 1950. In late August, some 80 numbers were gathered on San Juan Island, Wash., and I also obtained material from the forested hills of north central Washington. As we continue to expand the known host range of some of the commoner fungi on western Gramineae, we encounter more minor to distinct variations in them. At least a preliminary discussion of some of these additions is needed to disclose the extent of variation in the species. In this, as in earlier papers, we have made no attempt to include mention of collections which merely add to the known host range. Such additions, because of the many species of grasses and fungi involved, become commonplace. Except in special cases, we have relegated such information to check lists (15) or general texts (12). The material we collected in 1950 and the collections from the San Juan islands contained many additions to the western fungus flora. We added almost 50 per cent to the known state host ranges from New Mexico, for instance, in about four days. Hitchcocks manual (4) was used for host identification, but in the Rocky Mountain area it was supplemented by Harringtons text on the grasses of Colorado (3).

Additions to the Fungi Imperfecti on Grasses in the United States

Hab. in foliis vivis Digitariae sanguinalis (L.) Scop., West Virginia. Spots elliptical, finally diffuse, brown or fuscous, later isabelline in the centers; pycnidia scattered, few to several to a lesion, seldom gregarious or two or three may be grouped, brown parenchymatous, erumpent, subglobose to subellipsoidal, 110-128, , ostiole small; pycnospores clavate-filiform, apex acuminate, base subobtuse, 3to 7often 5to 7-septate, contents somewhat coarse, hyaline, but with yellow or chlorine inclusions, 45-95 x 3.6-5.6 ,u, but mature spores are mostly 70-95 x 3.6-4.5 ,u. Mean spore size 84 x 4 u, ratio of length to width 21 to 1. In living leaves of Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop., A. D. Hop-. kins, Mineral Wells, W. Va. (Without date, 1943.) The spores of this species (FIG. 1, a) are much like those of Phaeoseptoria Urvilleana (Speg.) Sprague (12) except that they

Some Leafspot Fungi on Western Gramineae—III

Spots chocolate brown, 1-6 x 1-3 mm., mostly elongate or foirming irregular areas by fusion of several spots; pycnidia few, scattered, obscure, pseudoparenchymatous, brown, globose, ostiolate, 113-148 /; pycnospores elongate-elliptical or cylindrical but tapering to blunt ends, straight or more often bent or slightly lumpy in outline, contents yellow to nearly hyaline, guttulate to granulose, one-septate (median septation), not or scarcely constricted at the septum, large, 22.6-29.2 x 6.6-10 A,

The Status of Septoria Graminum

Septoria graminurm Desm. has been recognized as a cosmopolitan and plurivorous species with slender pycnospores averaging 5075 X 1-1.5 pu. It is reported on a wide range of hosts including wheat, oats, and a large number of field grasses (3, 7, 11). Studies by Weber on wheat (14, 15) and by Sprague on oats (13) have shown that S. graminum does not occur on these cereals. Current investigations further indicate that the species is narrowly specialized and apparently distinctly limited in geographic distribution.

Some leafspot fungi on Western Gramineae-VIII.

Leafspots round, less often elliptical, pale buff to straw color with definite brown border, scattered, small, 0.8-1.2 mm diam., perithecia 1-2 per leaf or absent, globose, parenchymatous, brown, ostiolate, 90150 fx; asci subcylindrical or thickly clavate, 45-60 X 13-15 fx; ascospores 3-septate, sub-cultiform, flattened on one side, yellow to yellow-brown, 17-22 x 5-6.5 /*. On living leaves of Poa annua in a sheltered, shallow depression on rocky Muir Island, Glacier Bay National Monument, A.S. 33,7573 (type), August 11, 1952 and also found on the seashore at Auk Village Recreation Area, A.S. 33,780 (paratype), July 16, 1952.

Some Leafspot Fungi on Western Gramineae. V

Macula aenea, margine aureo, centro pallido-aeneo, 4-20 X 2-4 mm.; hyphis hyalinis et in foliis et pulvinis tenuibus superficialibus 2-6 cellas crassis; sporulis tenues aeneas lentas massas, ultimo aridas habentibus, hyalinis, brevibus cylindraceis, apice rotundato, raro basi subacuminata, aseptatis, pseudo-multiseptatis (duas vel plures guttulas habentibus), (5.6)6-9(10) X (1.4)1.6-2.0(2.3)/*. Hab. in foliis vivis Poae amplac Merr., inter Loveland Pass et Silver Plume, Colo.; Amer. Bor. Typus est A.S. 20,538. Legit. Sprague, R., Fischer, G. W. et Meiners, Jack P. Aug. 8, 1948.

Inventory of Prehistoric Southwestern Copper Bells: Additions and Corrections I

ABSTRACTThirteen additions and seventeen corrections are made to the original inventory of copper bells. Among the additions are two types previously unreported for the Southwest. A list of all known published illustrations of copper bells is also presented.

Some Leafspot Fungi on Western Gramineae—XIII

The material collected by G. W. Fischer and the writer in the Southwest in late summer of 1957 has been discussed in part in the last paper in this series (17), but there proved to be too much noteworthy material in the 1957 collections to include all of it one issue of a periodical. Besides reports of noteworthy specimens collected by my colleagues and myself I have included a few specimens obtained from mounted sheets of grasses filed in the Department of Botany Herbarium, Washington State University, Pullman. Earlier I reported on about 130 specimens removed from grasses arranged alphabetically partly through the genus Bromus (15). The additions from this source include only through Bromus sitchensis Trin. The bulk of the phanerogamic specimen sheets remain unexamined. Because available time has not permitted any substantial study of this backlog, the writer prefers to include the small amount of additional data in the body of the current paper.

Some Leafspot Fungi on Western Gramineae. XI

The present article in this series (8) is based on recently made note? worthy collections from the Far West plus scattered material either sent for determination or left over from Alaskan collections (15, 16). One four-thousand-mile trip into the southwestern United States in June, 1955, encountered predominantly dry conditions. Another shorter trip in the Olympic National Park, Washington, and vicinity proved more profitable. Still later, in August, collections in the Wallowa Mts., Oregon, yielded a considerable number of interesting collections.