[Enclosure]

Bot Zeitung 1867 p257

A de Bary Ueber den Krebs und die Hexenbesen der Weisstanne Abies pectinata⁹

The Krebs consists of a lump on the stem or branches, the swelling is about twice the diameter of the stem above & below it. Remarkable for very thick bark which is externally deeply cracked. Ultimately the bark comes off the & wood rots extensively. The wood & especially bark is crowed with mycelium which is continued into the branches that grow out of the swellings & reproduces itself in the young leaves. The branches growing out of the swellings are the little upright trees or Hexenbesen. He speaks also of hexenbesen growing out of the stem— {for Hexenbesen he quotes De Bary Ann Sc Nat 4 Sér, Tom XX p 90}.¹⁰ The fungus is Æcidium elatinum:¹¹ he speaks of the mycelium growing from a swelling into “side branches” without producing reproductive organs, which latter are only in the true hexenbesen. The hexenbesen is only formed when the mycelium grows from the swelling into a bud beginning to elongate   If it grows into already unfolded though still young shoots it does not produce a hexenbesen, only another swelling   One and the same swelling may produce hexenbesen and normal branches   Normal shoots free from mycel may come from hexenbesen. The hexenbesen are found all over the tree, most rarely at the summit of a young tree. The hexenbesen-shoots may either grow from the very first vertically up, or bend upwards with a bent piece. The first year they are simple shoots, & form a winter bud at the top. The branches which grow from the main hexenbesen axis are like the primary branches of a young fir tree & grow out on all sides

Hexenbesen—

The leaves fall off in autumn & are rather smaller than normal, “Krautartig-fleischig”¹² & light yellow green in colour. If the fungus does not fructify which is very rare they the leaves live over the winter   “The hexenbesen sits on the branches like a strange looking bush in winter bare, in summer light green”   Imitating a a little fir tree if it grows regularly or looking like a confused bush if it has grown irregularly. The hexenbesen are usually more regular in growth when only one grows out of a swelling. They usually die in a few years but may live in one case 16 years   In the hexenbesen, as in the swellings, the bark is very thick. “Very rarely one finds side shoots on the hexenbesen free from mycelium which then assume all the properties of normal fir branches”¹³

(I dont understand this as I thought the side branches of the hexenbesen were always like normal branches of a young fir tree. F D)