Search

The group of seed-destroying Microbotryum species on caryophyllaceous hosts includes ten species, among which only M. alsines, on Stellaria nitens from USA, is known on Stellaria. Recently, a specimen of Stellaria media from Greece, infected by a seed-destroying Microbotryum species, was found in a phanerogams herbarium. Based on distinct morphology and phylogenetic evidence, this fungus was considered to represent an unknown species which is described and illustrated as Microbotryum graecum. It can be distinguished from M. alsines by having smaller spores, fewer meshes per spore diameter, a different spore ornamentation, wider meshes, and higher spore wall muri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbotryum marginale is reported for the first time on Bistorta plumosa, based on a collection from the Yukon coast, Canadian Arctic, at 68°55'N. This locality is a new northern limit for M. marginale in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven smut fungi belonging to the genus Microbotryum are reported for the first time from the following Balkan countries: M. heliospermatis, M. piperi, M. scabiosae, M. silenes-dioicae, and M. silenes-saxifragae from Bulgaria, M. reticulatum, M. silenes-saxifragae, and M. stygium from Greece, and M. silenes-saxifragae from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The finding of M. piperi represents the first Balkan record of this smut fungus which, elsewhere in Europe, is only known from the French Pyrenees and the Italian Alps. The finding of M. stygium in Crete considerably extends its distribution in Europe. Rumex tuberosus subsp. creticus is reported as a new host for M. stygium.

Copyright of Botanica Serbica is the property of University of Belgrade, Institute of Botany & Botanical Garden Jevremovac and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The group of the anthericolous Microbotryum species on Silene consists of narrowly host-specialized fungi. Despite intensive taxonomic and phylogenetic studies in this group over the past two decades, the actual species richness has not yet been fully uncovered. Thirteen of these species cause typical anther infection, with soral development restricted to the anthers. Three other species cause atypical infection, with soral development resulting in swollen and deformed flowers (completely filled with spores) and affecting both the anthers and the filaments. A comparative morphological study and molecular phylogenetic analyses, using ITS and LSU rDNA sequences, revealed a new species, Microbotryum arcticum, causing anther infection of Silene uralensis subsp. arctica. Microbotryum arcticum is described and illustrated on the basis of material from Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic. An emended description of M. savilei, which causes atypical infection of the same host plant in the eastern Canadian Arctic, is also given. Morphological characters of healthy flowers of S. uralensis subsp. arctica are compared with those of flowers with anther infection and with those of flowers with atypical infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]