Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

Volume 2 - Smut fungi of New Zealand. Popular Summary

Two new combinations are proposed in the text, Tranzscheliella comburens (F. Ludw.) Vánky & McKenzie, and Tranzscheliella hypodytes (Schltdl.) Vánky & McKenzie.

Popular summary

Smut fungi are microscopic basidiomycetes (and thus distantly related to mushrooms) that grow as plant parasites. They are particularly common on grasses (including cereals), sedges and rushes. Their spores can be produced on all parts of plants, but usually in flowers, leaves, stems, and seeds. Most smut fungi produce powdery spores that are dark-coloured, similar to the smut, spot or smudge made by small flakes of soot. Some produce spores which are violet-tinted, yellow, or yellowish red, and these are closely related to rust fungi. 

In the past, smut fungi were the cause of serious plant diseases especially, in New Zealand, on cereal crops (e.g., bunt or covered smuts), while onion smut was an important disease of onions grown in Marshlands, near Christchurch. Today, modern fungicides and seed treatment generally provide adequate control. However, the recent introduction of a leaf smut on echinacea has caused problems for growers of this medicinal herb. Some economically important smut diseases (e.g., Karnal bunt of wheat, boil or blister smut of maize) do not occur in New Zealand and are considered to be major quarantine pests. 

The 93 species of smut fungi found in New Zealand are distributed among 25 genera, of which only four genera each have more than ten species in New Zealand. Approximately 60% of the smuts found in New Zealand are thought to have been introduced, in many cases incidentally with seeds. Many of the introduced smuts are widespread, cosmopolitan species. About 15% of the smuts are endemic to New Zealand, and 25% are indigenous, often occurring also in Australia. Three indigenous smuts are known to have South American affinities. Largish, black fruiting bodies of an Australasian smut (Farysporium endotrichum) may be strikingly evident on the flowers of Gahnia spp. throughout the country. This smut was first discovered in the Bay of Islands in 1841, during the voyage of the Antarctic Expedition of 1839?843, and described as a new species in 1855. Another smut, Restiosporium dissimile, found in the capsules of Apodasmia similis, is known only from the Chatham Islands, while the genus Restiosporium itself occurs only in Australasia. Mundkurella schefflerae on Schefflera digitata (pate) is one of only a few smut species worldwide that infects tree hosts. 

It is rare for an introduced smut to infect native hosts, or for a native smut to infect an exotic host. Four cosmopolitan grass smuts have been recorded on native hosts in New Zealand, while three other widespread exotic smuts also infect native plants in New Zealand.  

In this monograph all 93 species of smut fungi known from New Zealand (plus one species found only in a quarantine, containment glasshouse) are described, and most are illustrated with line drawings of their habit on the host plants and by photomicrographs of their spores, taken by both scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. There is a key to the 25 genera of smut fungi known from New Zealand, and the 216 host/pathogen combinations in New Zealand are listed.

He Whakarāpopoto

Ko te Harore Pua Pango, he momo basidiomycetes mōkitokito (he whanaunga nō te harore) ka tipu hei pirinoa tipu. Ka kitea nuitia i runga i te nuinga o ngā pātītī (tae atu ki ngā pata), toetoe, me ngā wīwī. Ka puta ō rātau pua ki runga i ngā wāhanga katoa o te tipu, engari ko te tikanga mō ngā putiputi, ki runga i ngā rau, i te tātā, me ngā kākano. Ko te pua o te nuinga o ngā harore pua pango, he nehu āhua pango e ōrite ana ki te ukupara awe. Ko ētahi ka whakaputa i te pua atua waerehe, kōwhai, kaho rānei, ā, he whanaunga tata nō te harore waikura.

I ngā tau kua hipa, ko te harore pua pango te pūtake o ngā mate tipu kino ake i Aotearoa nei, i pā ki ngā pata huanga kai, (hei tauira, te mate tipu bunt, covered smut rānei), ko te ukupara riki te mate nui i pā ki ngā riki i whakatipuria ai i ngā whenua repo i Ōtautahi.

I tēnei wā, he rawaka te whakahaere o ēnei mate nā te whakamahinga o ngā matū patu harore me te āta mahi i ngā kākano. Ahakoa tērā, nā te whakaurutanga mai o tētahi ukupara rau echinacea i ngā rā tata nei i raruraru ai ngā kaiwhakatipu o tēnei amiami rongoa. Ko ētahi mate ukupara i pā nui ki te ohanga (hei tauira, te ukupara e pā ana ki te pata, te ukupara e pā ana ki te kānga), kāore anōō kia kitea i Aotearoa nei, ā, e whakaarohia ana hei tino orotā taratahi.

E 93 ngā harore pua pango e kitea ana i Aotearoa, kei raro i ngā karangatanga e 25. O ēnei karangatanga, e whā noa iho e mau ana i ngā momo nui atu i te tekau. E whakaarohia ana, āhua 60 ōrau o ngā harore pua pango he momo rāwaho, i rokohanga atu rā nā te kākano i tipu mai i te nui o ngā wā. Ko te maha o ngā momo rāwaho i kitea whanuitia, mai i ngā tōpito e whā o te Ao. Ähua 15 ōrau o ngā harore pua pango, he tūturu ki Aotearoa ake, ā, 25 ōrau he taketake nō Aotearoa, engari e kitea ana i Ahitereiria. E toru ngā momo harore pua pango e mōhiotia ana, he whanaunga ki ērā o Amerika ki te Tonga. Ko te tinana āhua rahi, pango, whakaputa hua ana o te harore pua pango o Australasia (Farysporium endotrichum) ka kitea i runga i ngā putiputi o te tākahikahi huri noa i te motu. I kitea tuatahitia tēnei harore pua pango i Pēwhairangi i te tau 1841, i te wā haerēre o te Antarctic Expedition mai i te tau 1839 ki te tau 1843, ā, i kīa ai he momo hou i te tau 1855. Ko tētahi atu harore pua pango, Restiosporium dissimile, i kitea i ngā hua maroke o te Apodasmia similis, e mōhiotia ana nō Wharekauri ake, ko te momo Restiosporium e kitea ana i Australasia anake. Ko te Mundkurella schefflerae i runga i te Schefflera digitata (pate) tētahi o ngā harore pua pango ruarua nei huri noa i te ao, ka whakapoke i te rākau e manaaki ana i a ia.

Kāore i te tino kitea te whakapoke o te momo rāwaho i ngā rākau taketake, te whakapoke rānei o te harore pua pango taketake ki te rākau momo rāwaho. E whā ngā harore pua pango pātītī e kitea whānuitia ana i te ao, i tuhia i runga i ngā rākau taketake o Aotearoa, e toru ake ngā harore pua pango momo rāwaho ka whakapoke i ngā tipu taketake o Aotearoa.

I roto i tēnei putanga, ko ngā momo e 93 katoa o ngā harore pua pango e mōhiotia ana nō Aotearoa (tāpiri atu ki tēnei ko te momo kotahi e taratahitia ana) e whakaaturia ana, ā, ko te nuinga e whakatauiratia ana ki te whakaahua rārangi, e tohu ana i tō rātau ritenga i runga i ngā rākau manaaki, ā, mā ngā whakaahua hoki o ō rātau pua mōkitokito i mahia mā te whārahi irahiko me te whārahi tūrama. kei tēnei putanga hoki te aratohu ki ngā momo harore pua pango e 25 e mōhiotia ana nō Aotearoa, me te rārangi o ngā huinga rākau manaaki/pirinoa i Aotearoa nei.