Variation and Speciation in the Genus Fusarium

For 150 years, since the genus Pusarium was first described, man has puzzled over the problem of identification and classification of Fusarium species.By no means has Fusarium been unique in this respect, but the world-wide distribution of the genus and its great economic importance have demanded exceptional attention.Its ubiquitous occurrence in soil, water, and on all sorts of substrates and, especially, its role in the destruction of wild and cultivated plants have led to claims that Fusarium causes more damage to world agriculture than any other genus of the fungi.Whether or not these claims are true, they serve to make clear why plant pathologists and microbiologists, out of the sheer necessity of having to deal with such economic fungi, have required * Presentation of this paper was mdde possible by the generosity of The New York Academy of Sciences, during the senior author's tenure of a European travel grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.