Ganoderma philippii. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

A description is provided for Ganoderma philippii. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Recorded from a wide range of phanerogams. Cause of lethal root disease ('root rot') of rubber, tea, coffee, cacao and cinchona; being particularly important on the first two crops. DISEASE: Red root rot, causing the death of the host, accompanied by rhizomorphic encrustation of the roots described above. This is accompanied by a decay of the roots which, in its early stages, is pale brown and firm and becomes pale buff, water-soaked and spongy later on. The distribution of the disease in plantation is typically patchy. In a similar African disease, sometimes attributed to G. philippii (= G. pseudaferreum), the advancing rhimomorphs are separate for 2-3 feet before forming the root sheath (R.A. Fox, pers. comm.). GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: South East Asia, from Burma through Malaysia and Vietnam in the north; Sri Lanka, Southern India through Indonesia to Papua New Guinea in the south (CMI Distribution Map No. 98, ed. 2. 1965: records in Africa are based on vegetative characters only and not confirmed by corresponding sporophore collections). TRANSMISSION: By root contact with neighbouring infected trees or with infected woody material in the soil. Where sporophores are formed, spread by air-borne basidiospores is possible, although attempts to infect stumps with these have been unsuccessful (49, 1467).