Agrostis "pumila L.", three different kinds of dwarfed appearing grasses from Finland (three plants to the left: Lohja, Jalassaari, 2000; three plants to the right: Lohja, Hermala, 1991). – Image: Harri Harmaja (scanned from dried specimens). – The ovaries of the plants from Hermala are filled with spore mass due to infection by the very infrequent, southern smut fungus Tilletia sphaerococca (Rabenh.) A.Fisch. v. Waldh. The Hermala plants are probably A. capillaris L. (Poaceae) deformed (dwarfed) by the infection. It is interesting that different kinds of infected plants were found in the Hermala locality: the two small plants (height up to 4.5 cm) have unusually broad glumes and the infected ovary is ellipsoid, while the taller plant (height up to 11 cm) has narrow glumes and a fusiform infected ovary. The plants from Jalassaari (height up to 8 cm), likewise appearing a dwarfed Agrostis, are not infected; it is not even quite sure whether they belong to A. capillaris as their leaves and the inflorescence deviate from both kinds of the Hermala plants
Created August 29, 2004.