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Disease Note Glebal Masses of Sphaerobolus stellatus on Foliage Plants in Texas. M. E. Miller, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Weslaco 78596. L. W. Barnes, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, and R. A. Taber, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843. Plant Dis. 68:450. Accepted for publication 7 February 1984. Copyright 1984 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-68-450f. Glebal masses of the gasteromycetous fungus Sphaerobolus stellarus Tode ex Pers. Fischer were found on containers and leaf surfaces of foliage plants in greenhouses in Brownsville and Luckenbach, TX. The masses were brownish black and 1-1.5 mm in diameter and resembled scale insects. Fruiting structures formed on organic matter on greenhouse floors. The glebal masses were ejected up to 4 m away. Foliage plants were undamaged but had to be hand-cleaned for marketing. The fungus has recurred several years. Similar problems with glebal masses on Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema simplex Blume) have been reported in Florida. Suggested control measures are removal of organic matter from the floors and treatment of affected areas with a broad-spectrum soil fungicide. |