Lupines are susceptible but are seldom conspicuously injured by root knot nematodes. Occasionally swelling of the roots and dwarfing of the tops of affected plants are seen, especially in areas where the nematodes are abundant.

THE SO-CALLED ROUGHPEA, singletary pea, Caley-pea, or wild winter pea is grown in small areas in the Southeast for soil improvement and pasture. The plant is more resistant to diseases than are most legumes. It may be attacked by some of the diseases described for field peas, such as the Ascochytas, but it seldom is seriously injured by them. Roughpea is susceptible to root knot nematodes but is seldom seriously damaged by them.

SEVERAL SPECIES OF BUR-CLOVER are grown to some extent in the Southeast for soil improvement, forage, and seed. All are susceptible to anthracnose, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum trifolii, which also attacks other clovers. The disease may girdle the petioles, thereby killing the leaves and eventually the entire plant.

Another clover disease that sometimes causes considerable injury to bur-clover is cercospora leaf spot, caused by the fungus Cercospera zebrina, which produces dark, circular spots on leaves and linear lesions on the petioles. Many leaves are killed during wet periods.. Rotation is the only control Method known for the diseases.

Bur-clovers are also susceptible to the root knot nematodes, but, like most other winter annuals, are not seriously retarded by them.

LESPEDEZA is grown extensively in many of the Southeastern States as a summer annual. It is commonly grown intermixed with a main crop but subsidiary to it. Lespedeza is utilized as a hay, pasture, seed, and soil-improvement crop. It is host to several diseases.

Dodder (Cuscuta arvensis) is a parasitic seed plant that attacks lespedeza and frequently overruns entire fields in late summer. It retards normal plant growth. Once dodder is introduced into the soil it persists for many years. Rotation with crops that it does not attack is the only known method of control.

Southern blight, discussed earlier as a disease of lupines, also attacks lespedeza and destroys many plants in late summer. Hot, wet weather favors its development and spread. We know of no way to control it.

Powdery mildew, caused by Microsphaera diffusa, is also common on lespedeza. Resistance to powdery mildew has been incorporated into Rowan, a new variety.

Root knot nematodes attack lespedeza throughout its entire range and frequently cause severe stunting and yellowing of infested plants. During drought periods such plants die as their root systems are so completely knotted by the multiplying nematode population that they can no longer function properly. Rowan is resistant to root knot nematode and will likely replace susceptible varieties wherever it is adapted.

COWPEAS have been grown in most of the Southeast for many years. The many varieties are utilized for hay, soil improvement, and food. Diseases were recognized as a limiting factor in the production of cowpea at an early date, and some of the first selection for disease resistance was done with this crop.

Wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. tracheiphilum, probably is the most serious disease. It affects the vascular systems and causes the plants to wilt and die. Brabham, Buff, Iron, Victor, and Groit are resistant varieties.

Powdery mildew, described earlier as a fungus disease of winter pea and lupine, also attacks cowpeas. White spot, caused by Aristastoma oeconomicum, is another fungus disease very common on cowpeas. It often does severe damage to leaves. No control for either disease is known.

Bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas vignicola, a destructive disease of cowpeas in some areas, produces stem cankers, which blight and often kill infected plants. Brabham, Buff, and Iron are resistant varieties and should be grown in the areas where blight is known to occur.

Cowpeas are host to several viruses, about which little is known.

Root knot nematodes commonly attack cowpeas and retard their growth. The cowpea is a host on which the nematodes multiply rapidly.

VELVETBEANS are grown extensively in limited areas in the Gulf Coast States and are utilized primarily for pasture and soil improvement. Diseases have not been reported destructive on any of the many species that are grown, although several are known to attack velvetbeans. They are susceptible to the southern blight fungus, which has been mentioned as attacking other annual legumes. Two leaf spots, one caused by a bacterium, Pseudomonas svringae, and the second caused by a fungus, Cercospora stizolobi, are common diseases on velvetbeans. Root knot nematodes attack velvet-beans but are considered less severe than on many other legumes.

CROTALARIA is a summer annual grown on very sandy soils in limited areas in the Southeast. It is commonly planted following an early crop and is used quite extensively to improve soil in peach orchards. It is the only annual legume grown in the region that resists root knot nematodes. This resistance accounts for its specialized use as a cover crop in orchards and with other perennial plantings that are susceptible to root knot.

Although resistant to root knot, crotalaria is susceptible to several fungus diseases. Stem canker, caused by Rhizoctonia solani, destroys many young plants in hot, dry weather. Leaf spot, caused by Cercospora crotalariae, is common on crotalaria wherever it is grown and frequently causes severe defoliation. No control methods are known.

ALYCECLOVER is a summer annual grown only in limited areas in the Gulf Coast States. It is utilized as a pasture, hay, and soil-improvement crop. It is very susceptible to root knot nematodes and is quickly killed by them. No other diseases are known to be destructive to alyceclover.

KUDZU, a perennial, is grown quite widely in the Southeast for the control of soil erosion and for pasture and hay. It is a vigorous grower and seldom is injured severely by disease. Small plants are sometimes killed by a root rot caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani. Leaflets are commonly affected with halo blight, caused by the bacterium Pseudomonasphaseolicola, a disease that also attacks the garden bean plant. On kudzu it produces a small, brown center, surrounded by a wide yellow band or halo. Sometimes the halo is several times as large as the brown center. Only when the spots are numerous does much defoliation occur. New leaves are produced so rapidly that the loss of a few of the older ones is of minor importance.

A disease more limited in its distribution but more destructive when it does occur is caused by the fungus Mvcosphaerella pueraricola. Lesions are confined to the leaves and are dark brown and often have a yellowish margin. Lesions may coalesce over large areas of the leaf, and defoliation results. Leaves having many lesions gradually die and fall off. Kudzu is susceptible to root knot nematodes but seldom is damaged by them.

SERICEA LESPEDEZA is a perennial grown throughout the Southeast. It is widely utilized for hay, pasture, soil improvement, and erosion control. Many of the diseases that attack annual lespedeza also attack sericea. None is considered destructive, however, and on the whole sericea lespedeza is quite free from disease troubles. It is somewhat susceptible to root knot nematodes but is not seriously retarded by them.

BIG TREFOIL is a perennial legume. It is well adapted on the low, wet soils in the coastal areas of the entire region and it is planted with grasses for pasture purposes.

Trefoil is susceptible to a foliage blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani. Blight is most destructive during the hot, wet summer season on rank, dense growth. Proper management through grazing is the only means of checking extensive damage from the disease. That does not eliminate the fungus from the soil but does check its destructiveness as a foliage disease of trefoil.

Big trefoil is also susceptible to root knot nematodes. It does not suffer extensive damage from them, however, as it is grown on low, wet land; secondary drought effects frequently associated with root knot damage do not occur.

J. L. WEIMER was a pathologist in the division of forage crops and disease, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, until he retired in 1952. He was engaged in research on forage disease problems in the Southeastern United States for several years.

J. Lewis ALLISON is a pathologist in the same division and research professor in North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering. In 1952 he was on leave of absence in Iraq with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.