A New Phytophthora Causing Root and Collar Rot of Cinchona in Peru

In the course of investigations on the root and collar rot of cinchona in Peru (3) a Phytophthora was isolated consistently from the advancing margins of decay lesions in the basal portions of the roots and in the collar of plantation age trees and occasionally from all parts of the stem of nursery age seedlings and transplants. There are practically no published accounts of cinchona root disease in the Western Hemisphere, but from the Asiatic regions the investigator is almost overwhelmed by the amount of material published on root diseases of cinchona. However, only recently and in but few instances has Phytophthora been described as the cause. Coster (2) in 1940 reported an undesignated species of Phytophthora associated with cinchona stripe canker in Java. Also in 1940 Thompson (6) reported P. cinnanmomni Rands causing cinchona root rot in British Malaya. In 1936 Sawada (9) described a new species, P. cinchonae Saw., which he considered to be the cause of a top dieback. This dieback differed from other described dieback diseases of cinchona in that the infection court was apparently in the stem, with the fungus subsequently spreading upward to infect the top. Celino (1)3 and Kheswalla (8), in reporting P. palmivora Butler as the cause of seedling