Notes and Brief Articlesemergentia dense fasciculata, hyalina, sparse septata (vulgo 1-2), paulum curvata velftexa ad apicem vel recta, vulgo simplicia, raro sparse furcata, 13-24 x 2·5-5 P; stromapseudoparenchymaticum, constans cellulis brunneis, 20-52 p diam. Conidia elliptica velcylindrica, apicibus obtusis, interdum paulo angustiora ad apices, tenuiter apiculata adbasin, perpallida olivacea, 0-3 interdum ad 5septata, aerogene producta, 10-36 x 3-4 p:

In foliis Nyctanthis arbor-tristis L., 27. i. 1964, A. K. Roy, Borbheta, Assam (India).Typus positus in herbario HCIO sub numero 28329 et IMI 116150.

Yellow spots quickly turning to brown up to 6 em diam with a yellowhalo on the leaves which increase in size causing blight defoliation.Conidiophores develop from a stroma, hypophyllous, arise in densefascicules, hyaline, sparsely septate (generally 1-2) slightly curved orstraight, mostly simple, rarely sparsely branched, 13-24 x 2'5-5 P;stroma pseudoparenchymatous, composed of brown cells, 20-52 P diam.Conidia elliptical to cylindrical with obtuse ends, may be slightly apiculateat the base, very pale olivaceous, 0-3 septate, occasionally up to 5, ariseacrogenously, 10-36 x 3-4 p.

aI

2S p

20/1Fig. I. Cercospora nyctanthis sp.nov.: a, conidiophores arising from

stroma; b, conidiophores; c, conidia.

My thanks are due to Mr F. C. Deighton, Commonwealth Myco­logical Institute, for his help in identification of the fungus and to Rev.Fr Dr H. Santapau, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, forkindly rendering the Latin diagnosis.

A. K. ROY, Division of Mycology, Department ofAgriculture,Assam, Jorhat, India

XYLARIA JOHORENSIS SP.NOV. FROM MALAYSIA

In the course of collecting members of the Xylariaceae in Malaysia in1961 one ofus (G. L.) came across twelve stromata ofa fungus, tentativelyascribed at the time to Poronia, growing in sand on a beach. Repeatedvisits to the same beach to collect more material were unsuccessful, untilAugust 1966, when a large number of mature fructifications were found.Some of the stromata were growing in the sand, others on the rachis ofdead palm leaves immersed in sand.

After considerable deliberation concerning the generic disposition ofTrans. Br. mycol. Soc. 51 (I), Printed in Great Britain

166 Transactions British Mycological Society

this fun gus we have decided to concur with the narrow interpretation ofPoronia Willdenow ex Fr., propounded by Dennis (1957, 1958a), andexclude it from this genus since it does not exhibit a coprophilous habit.Dennis maintained that for Poronia to be held a coprophilous habit shouldbe stressed. For this reason the fungus under surveillance is described inXylaria Hill ex Grev. In gross morphological characters it bears resemblanceto species of Poronia, particularly P. oedipus (Mont.) Mont. Equally it alsoresembles a number ofspecies, such as X. doumetii (Pat.) Dennis, originallyascribed to that genus, but subsequently transferred to Xylosphaera.

Dennis (r958b) adopted the name Xylosphaera Dumortier since itpre-dates Xylaria Hill ex Grev., and the latter is a homonym of XylariaS. F. Gray. Holm & Muller (1965) have, however, proposed the con­servation of the name Xylaria Hill ex Grev., against Xylosphaera Dumortier.For this reason the former, well-known generic name is employed here.

Xylaria johorensis sp.nov. (PI. 13)Stromata solitaria vel faseieulata, non ramosa vel dichotome fureata, usque ad 1'2 em

lata, glabra, mollia, non earbonaeca, disco subtento stipite graeili, subeylindrieo,atrobrunneo usque ad 4 em longo, deer eseente radicante basi, earo alba; stromatispagina alba ad bubalinam, punetata numerosis atris ostioli papillis. Perithecia limitata adsuperfieiem planam vel leviter eonvexam, protuberantia, aggregata, globosa ad sub­globosa, atra. Asci cylindrici, oetospori. Aseosporae uniseriatae, parvae, spherieae,glabro-tunicatae, brunneae ad atrobrunneas , S-S'S,Udiametro, rima germinali eonspieua.

In arena littorali, Kuala Sedili, ]ohore, Malaysia, 1961, G . Lim, IMI 8801 3, holo­typus.

Stromata solitary or gregarious in clusters, unbranched or dichotomouslyforked, discoid, up to 1'2 ern across , smooth, soft, non-carbonaceous, thedisk subtended by a slender, subcylindric, dark-brown stalk, up to 4 emlong, with a tapering rooting base, flesh white; stroma surface white topale buff, dotted with numerous black ostiolar papillae. Perithecia confinedto the flat or slightly convex upper surface, protuberant, crowded,globose to sulglobose, black. Asci cylindrical, 8-spored, no reaction toMelzer's reagent. Ascospores uniseriate, small, spherical, smooth-walled,brown to dark-brown, 5-5"5 It diam, with prominent germ slit.

In sand on beach, Kuala Sedili, lohore, Malaysia, 1uly 1961, G. Lim,IMI 88013, holotype. Also found in sand and on rachis ofdead palm leavesimmersed in sand, Kuala Sedili, lohore, Malaysia, August 1966, G. Lim,IMI 128555.

Up to one-half or three-quarters of the length of the stalk may beburied in sand. Other species having a similar habit include Xylosphaeriadoumettii and X. ehrenbergii (P. Henn.) Dennis.

The species herein described is easily distinguishable by its small,spherical ascospores.

We wish to thank Mr D. Teow and Mr D. W. Fry for the photographsincluded in the plate, Mr B. B. Wee for help in collecting the fungus andMr P. Basu who kindly corrected the Latin diagnosis.

Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 51 (I), Printed in Great Britain

Tran s. Br. myco!. Soc. Vol. 5 I. Plate 13

(Facing p. r6 7)

Notes and Brief Articles

REFERENCES

DENNIS, R. W. G. (1957). Further notes on tropical American Xylariaceae. Kew Bull.1:1, 297-332.

DENNIS, R. W. G. (I958a). Some Xylosphaeras from tropical America. Revta Biol., Lisb.I, 175-208.

DENNIS, R. W. G. (I958b). Xylaria versus Hypoxylon and Xylosphaera. Kew Bull. 13,101-106.

HOLM, L. & MULLER, E. (1965). Nomina conservanda proposita. Proposals in fungi. 2.Xylaria Hill ex Greville. Regnum neg, 40, 13.

G. MORGAN-JONES, Commonwealth Mycological Institute,Keto, Surrey, England

and G. LIM, Department of Botany,University qf Singapore

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 13Xylariajohorensis

Figs. I, 2 and 4. Stromata on dead palm leaves.Fig. 3. Disk of stroma in surface view showing ostioles of perithecia. (Scale divisions figs. 1-4 =I mm.)Fig. 5. Section of a stroma showing perithecia embedded in the upper periphery of the disk. x 5.

Fig. 6. Hymeniallayer. x 175.Fig. 7. Vertical section of stroma. x 38.Fig. 8. Ascospores (arrows indicate germ pores). x 1000.

GROWTH RESPONSE TO BIOTIN BY FUSARIUM LATERITIUM

Several species ofFusarium have been grown satisfactorily on chemicallydefined media without the addition of vitamins, though sometimes withagar added (Carlile, 1956; Reid, 1958). Carlile (1956), using F. oxysporum,reported no significant growth response when growth factors, includingbiotin, were added to the medium.

A fungus isolated originally from a sooty mould complex on lime leavesin Exeter, Devon, and subsequently identified by the CommonwealthMycological Institute, Kew, as F.lateritium Nees ex Fr. (IMI 105884), wasgrown satisfactorily on a holidic medium and shown to be at least partiallyauxoheterotrophic for biotin. Preliminary experiments were carried outusing the synthetic medium of Ryan, Beadle & Tatum (1943), withaddition of 0'025 ppm of cobalt chloride and 2 % Difco Bacto-agar, andboth with and without added growth factors. The different media wereinoculated with a drop of a suspension of macroconidia and incubated at23 cC in Petri dishes in continuous artificial light with an intensity of170 fc. Germination of the conidia appeared similar in all cases but after 1week there was much more growth on media with added biotin, althoughin 4 to 6 weeks growth was similar on all media. There was no noticeablegrowth response to any of the other growth factors used (thiamine,pyridoxin, ferrichrome, inositol and calcium pantothenate).

The requirement of this fungus for biotin was then tested by growing itin liquid shake culture in the dark at 23°C and measuring the dry weight

Trans. Br, mycol. Soc. 51 (I), Printed in GreatBritain