In 1931 , when the senior author was a graduate student at Cornell University, some tulip bulbs were sent to the Department of Plant Pathology by a florist in Utica, N. Y. These bulbs were completely rotted and densely packed with black sclerotia beneath the tunic and between the scales (FIG. 3). No conidia were present, there was little or no root growth, and in no instance was there any development of the apical shoot. The sclerotia measured up to 6 mm. in diameter and f rom their appearance it was presumed that the fungus was Scierotinia scierotiorum' (Lib.) de Bary. When isolations were made on potato-2% dextrose agar, it was evident, however, that this was not S. scierotiorum', f or it produced much smaller sclerotia, resembling those of S. minor Jagger (1920). Cultures of this f ungus and of S. minor growing on the same medium appeared to be identical. Af ter this initial isolation, no f urther work was done at that time. In 1935, a culture of what appeared to be the same fungus was received from Dr. M. W. Cormack of the Dominion Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Edmonton, Albe'rta. Cormack (1934) had reported this fungus as the cause of a destructive root rot of alfalfa and sweet clover in Alberta. He designated it as Scierotinia sp. on the basis of the appearance of the sclerotia, but he had not seen any apothecia. A f ew weeks later.9 Mr. H. N. Racicot of this laboratory collected some diseased tulips in a garden at Westmount, Que. The disease was confined to one bed of 32 square f eet and 70 per cent of the bulbs planted in it had either f ailed to grow or had devel-
Search from 250 M+ research papersSearch from 250 M+ research papers
Jul 1, 1983
G Semeniuk 
