Abstract
IN 1944 a sample of flax seed of the variety Newlands was received at this laboratory. The outstanding macroscopic feature of the sample was the dull colour of a very high proportion of the seed. When sown in pots in the glasshouse the seed germinated well, but the cotyledons of some seedlings showed brown lesions generally towards the margin but sometimes as minute spots towards the centre. When such seedlings were kept in a moist atmosphere, the lesions enlarged rapidly until the infected cotyledons were killed, and these became covered with an olivaceous mould. The fungus spread exteriorly to the hypocotyls of the diseased seedlings and also to the hypocotyls and cotyledons of healthy seedlings in contact with them. Death of such seedlings generally followed in a short time.
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LOUGHNANE, J. A Seedling Disease of Flax Caused by Macrosporium sp. Nature 157, 266 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157266d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157266d0
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