| # MICRO-FUNGI: WHEN AND WHERE TO FIND THEM by ## Thomas Brittain 1882

## MAY. AS we enter upon the month of May we find leaf-fungi come to the front in great numbers, especially the clustercups. The few named for April are still to be found in most cases, and if the season be a backward one, they will be now in better condition than they were in that month. The beautiful white clustercup, Aecidium leucospermum, is one of the first which makes its appearance in May, and is very common in some special districts; but I have only met with it in the Lake District and in Wales. Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 1 Fig. 4-6 It is only to be found upon the leaf of the wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa. It is easily recognised. Another of the early ones is the clustercup Aecidium allii, on the leaf of the garlic. This I believe to be very rare, for it cost me nearly twenty years' search before I was fortunate enough to find it when I was rambling on the shores of Windermere Lake, in May, 1877. The nettle clustercup, Aecidium urticae, is more common, but is still rare in many districts. Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 1 Fig. 10-11 I have met with it in the Bakewell Valley, in North Wales, and in various localities of the Lake District, and also in unusually fine condition in Sherwood Forest. Lapsana communis is a very common plant, and becomes the frequent home of one of the May clustercups Aecidium compositarum - variety, Lapsana. This I have found near Manchester whenever I have cared to look for it, and I doubt not it will be equally common elsewhere. I have another specimen of the compositarum clustercups found in May, but this I have never been able to meet with, it is Aecidium compositarum. - variety, Jacobae, and is upon the common ragwort. It was gathered by a scientific friend near to Lynn, in Norfolk. Another comparatively common cluster cup which may be found this month is the one on the field violet Aecidium violae. The probability is that wherever the botanist meets with a bank of these favourite plants, and has any strong desire to find the fungus, he can hardly fail to succeed in doing so. It would weary my reader were I to enumerate the many places where I have met with this very beautiful parasite, when in good condition it is one of the best specimens of the very interesting family to which it belongs. I think it is well that I should put upon record, for the information of the reader, the names of a few other clustercups which I have in my collection, which I have not been able to find, but are the contributions of friends. I look upon them as rare, but it is not impossible they may be, under special circumstances and under favourable conditions, comparatively plentiful. They were all found during this month. They are as follows : Aecidium ari, or Wake-robin clustercup, on Arum maculatum: Aecidium geranii, Cranesbill clustercups, on Geranium pratense; and Aecidium crassum, Buckthorn clustercups. I have also a specimen of the rare clustercups on Caltha palustris, Aecidium Calthae, sent from Scotland in May, 1874. Now, a so-called rust may be found upon the leaves of numerous plants. The fungi which assume this common name of rust are extremely numerous, and they are of all shades of colour, from nearly black, through brown and yellow to orange. The genus Trichobasis is of the rusty sort most common and conspicuous, and now the reader in his country rambles may readily find various specimen of it, if he be in a favourable district, away from a smoky atmosphere. Above we spoke of the clustercups on the Geranium pratense, we have also the Trichobasis on the same plant, which I have gathered in this month, and it will linger on for several months to come, as is proved by the fact that I have specimens gathered as late as September. Trichobasis rubego-vera, also rust, may now be found on grass, and is easily seen in consequence of its bright colour, as it gradually bursts the cuticle of the plant, and thus exposes itself to the passing traveller. Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 7 Fig. 140-142 The spores which form the chief mass of the plant are mostly simple rounded cells without a peduncle attached, and are thus easily distinguished from the genus Uromyces which possesses such an appendage of considerable length, as is at once demonstrated when the fungus is tested by microscopic examination. One of the commonest of these rusts is Trichobasis heraclei, of a bright orange colour, and grows upon numerous plants, and is but the early condition of a fuller developed organism known as Puccinia heraclei. It should be borne in mind that a large proportion of the rusts now beginning to make their appearance are not in any sense perfect fungi, but merely the early condition of those which will appear when the conditions of their development shall be perfected. Of various of these complicated organisms I shall have to speak hereafter, but I refer to the strange fact now, in order to give the student an idea of the marvellous world of interest he has to deal with. Another genus of the rusts also become plentiful in this month, and are known as Uredo. They infest a considerable number of plants, and like other rusts are not difficult to meet with. The spores are yellowish and vary in shade, and the simple cells of which they are composed are more irregular in form than the Uromyces or Trichobasis, and in no condition of their existence have they a peduncular attachment. During the month I have met with the fungi of this genus frequently in various parts of the country, but it is not desirable that I should even attempt to make out a list of the species which he should particularly look for, he cannot get wrong in gathering specimens, although he may for a time have a difficulty in naming them. There is, however, another genus of these rusts which come forth largely in May, and cannot be overlooked, the name of which is Lecythea. The general appearance of the various species which make up the genus is very similar to that of the other rusts of which I have spoken. and the student will only be able to make out the distinction on careful microscopic examination. The varying characteristics of the spores in this instance are such as to make it difficult to convey the true idea to the reader, and it appears to me that I cannot do better than copy the description given by Dr. Cooke in his admirable Hand Book. It runs thus : " Stroma surrounded or sprinkled with elongated abortive spores. Spores free, invested with their cell, or concatenate." I will now conclude this portion of my notes for May by referring to a few of the species which the reader may expect to meet with in his rambles at this season. Lecythea Rosae, Roserust, on leaves and stem of roses. Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 3 Fig. 37 Lecythea Poterii, Burnet rust, on Poterium sanguisorba and other plants. Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 3 Fig. 31 Lecythea saliceti, common Willow rust, although considered an autumn rust, I have met with in the present month. Some of the Pucciniaei may now be found, and are the advanced species of a large army of followers, of which I must speak more fully afterwards, and I think I may best close my paper for the month by naming a few I have met with in my May rambles. Puccinia umbelliferarum I have found during the month, I think I may say hundreds of times, for it is very common on the pignut plant. Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 4 Fig. 71-72 I have found it also on other umbelliferous plants. The Puccinia aegopodii on Goutweed, although looked upon as rare is very common in the Cheshire valleys, within about six miles from Manchester, and I meet with it every spring, and not infrequently far into the summer. There are others of the Pucciniaei which I have but once met with in this month, and I will close this paper by a list of them for the readers' information. Puccinia chrysosplenii, Golden Saxifrage brand; Puccinia vincae, Perywinkle brand; Rust, Smut, Mildew & Mould - M.C.Cooke - Plate 6 Fig. 132 and Puccinia truncata, or Iris brand. Later on in the year a crowd of members of this group of leaf-fungi will claim our attention.

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