Smut
Origin: | ✈ | ? |
---|
Exposure: | ☼ | ?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property. |
---|---|---|
Water: | ◍ | ?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property. |
Read about Smut in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
|
---|
Smut. Diseases of many cultivated cereal grasses and other plants caused by the attacks of fungi of the order Ustilaginales. The mycelium sometimes produces swellings on various parts of the host (or attacked plant), the swellings being eventually filled with brownish or blackish spores known as chlamydospores, which emerge, as a fine dust-like powder, when the outer membrane of the tissues bursts or cracks. The chlamydospores produce upon germination a structure known as a promycelium (basidium) which gives rise to lateral or terminal sporidia (basidiospores). The smut on Indian corn may be taken as typic. The disease usually appears first on the leaves, afterward at the junction of leaf-sheath and blade; finally the ear of corn is attacked, and the tassel. On the leaves blisters are found; on the ear, large whitish polished swellings appear. As the spores mature, the swellings become darker in color, and the inclosing membrane finally ruptures, exposing the dark olive-green mass of spores which are 8 to 12 µ (Greek micron) and are beset with fine spines. Unlike most other cereals, maize can be inoculated at any age. Several smuts have been described, viz., loose smut of oats (Ustilago avenae), maize and teosinte smut (Ustilago zeae), loose smut of wheat (Ustilago tritici), smut of blue-stem grass (Sorosporium syntherismae), rye smut (Urocystis occulta), onion smut (Urocystis cepulae), and colchicum smut (Urocystis colchici). For the loose smut of oats and wheat, the treatment of the seeds with hot water before planting is efficacious. The corn smut is best controlled by destroying the affected plants before the spores mature. The onion smut is due to infected soil which may be treated with sulfur, or formalin. CH
|
Cultivation
- Do you have cultivation info on this plant? Edit this section!
Propagation
- Do you have propagation info on this plant? Edit this section!
Pests and diseases
- Do you have pest and disease info on this plant? Edit this section!
Species
Gallery
If you have a photo of this plant, please upload it! Plus, there may be other photos available for you to add.
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Smut. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Smut QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)