DEVELOPMENT OF FRUCTIFICATIONS IN COLLETOTRICHUM GRAMINICOLA (CES.) WILS. AND RELATED SPECIES

Abstract

The development of fructifications in Colletotrichum graminicola (Ces.) Wils. is compared with that of other Colletotrichum species occurring naturally on graminicolous and non-graminicolous hosts. Two types are distinguished: (a) the pulvinate in which the outer epidermal wall and cuticle are ruptured at the same time by the developing conidiophores, setae, and stromatic tissue, and (b) the hypostromatic in which the outer epidermal wall is penetrated by fine hyphae from the epidermal stroma, the cuticle being ruptured separately by the setae and conidiophores. Colletotrichum graminicola on a wide range of graminicolous hosts exhibits only the pulvinate type, but other Colletotrichum species develop in either way depending on the nature of the substrate and the strain of fungus involved. The generic separation of C. graminicola from other species by this criterion is not accepted.