Sphacelotheca hydropiperis. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].
Abstract A description is provided for Sphacelotheca hydropiperis. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Polygonum hydropiper and many other species of Polygonum, mainly in section Persicaria. DISEASE: Flower smut of Polygonum. Infection is systemic. Hyphae in the flower stalk grow through the funicle into the ovule, from which the sorus develops leaving the perianth and stamens unchanged. Infected plants cannot normally set seed, but occasionally a portion of the inflorescence remains uninfected and some seed develops. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Widespread. Africa: Ethiopia; Asia: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, USSR (Central Asia, Turkestan); Australasia and Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea; Europe: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USSR, Yugoslavia; North America: Canada (Newfoundland, NT, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec); Greenland; Mexico; USA (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, ME, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington State, Wisconsin, Wyoming); South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador (33: 450 & 634). TRANSMISSION: Ustilospores dispersed by wind and water contaminate seed and soil and eventually germinate and infect new season's growth.