Disease in plantsWard, H. Marshall (Harry Marshall)
Science
Disease in plants
Ward, H. Marshall (Harry Marshall)
Plant diseases
_Slime-flux._--The trunks of trees may sometimes be observed to pour out
a slimy fluid from cracks in the bark, or from old wounds, or branch
scars. In some cases, _e.g._ in Oaks, the slime has a beery odour and
white colour, and abounds in yeasts and other fungi to the fermentative
activity of which the odour and frothiness are due. In other cases the
slime is red _e.g._--Hornbeam; or brown--_e.g._ Apple and Elm; or
black--_e.g._ Beech, the colour in such cases being due to the mixture
of yeasts, bacteria, and fungi with which these slimes abound. The
phenomenon appears to be due to the exudation of large quantities of sap
under pressure--root pressure--and is primarily a normal phenomenon
comparable to the bleeding of cut trees in spring: the fungi, etc., are
doubtless saprophytes, but their activity is concerned with the
putrefactive processes going on in the diseased wood, and which may lead
to rotting of the timber.
The origin of the wounds in the bark and cortex, and which extend into
the wood and other tissues as the putrefactive and fermentative
processes increase, appears to be in some cases at least due to
lightning.
_Resin-flux_ or _Resinosis_.--The stems of Pines and other conifers are
apt to exude resin from any cut or wound made by insects, or by the
gnawing of other animals; but in many cases the flow is due to fungi,
_e.g._ _Peridermium_, the hyphae of which invade the medullary rays and
resin canals and thus open the way to an outflow through cracks in the
bark. _Agaricus melleus_ not only invades the resin passages, but
stimulates the tree to produce abnormal quantities of resin, which flows
down to the collar and roots, and exudes in great abundance at the
surface of the soil. Various other plants also exude resin from wounds,
and in some cases the flux seems to be increased by degeneration of the
tissues, _e.g._ _Copaifera_.
_Gummosis._--Cherries, Apricots, Acacias, and many other trees are apt
to produce abnormal quantities of gum, which flows from any wound or
exudes through cracks in the bark. Degeneration of the wood-cells, and
especially of the cell-walls of a soft wood formed by abnormal activity
of the cambium, points to its origin being due, in some cases at any
rate, to a conversion of the cellulose, and fungi are sometimes found in
the masses of gum; but beyond the fact that _gummosis_ is a pathological
phenomenon we know very little of the disease.
With regard to such gumming, it is significant how frequently pruned
trees--Cherries, Oranges, Lemons, Plums, etc.--suffer.
_Manna flux._--Certain trees, such as the Manna Ash, species of
Tamarisk, etc., yield manna from wounds, and in some cases the latter
are due to insects, _e.g._ _Cicada_.
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