The fungus affects the flowers of the plant, turning the contents of the ovary into a mass of spore balls: clumps of
ustilospores wrapped in a layer of sterile cells.[1] It also produces white, powdery
conidia in the anthers.[2]
Gallery
A dissected flower of Primula vulgaris infected with Urocystis primulae.
Conidia are visible as a white powder around the anthers and
ustilospores as a blackish brown mass in the ovary.
Spore balls of Urocystis primulae under the microscope. These are the
ustilospores visible in the ovary in the image above.
^Woods, R. G., Chater, A. O., Smith, P. A., Stringer, R. N., Evans, D. A. (2018). Smut and allied fungi of Wales: a guide, red data list and census catalogue. A. O. Chater.
ISBN978-0-9565750-2-9.
The fungus affects the flowers of the plant, turning the contents of the ovary into a mass of spore balls: clumps of
ustilospores wrapped in a layer of sterile cells.[1] It also produces white, powdery
conidia in the anthers.[2]
Gallery
A dissected flower of Primula vulgaris infected with Urocystis primulae.
Conidia are visible as a white powder around the anthers and
ustilospores as a blackish brown mass in the ovary.
Spore balls of Urocystis primulae under the microscope. These are the
ustilospores visible in the ovary in the image above.
^Woods, R. G., Chater, A. O., Smith, P. A., Stringer, R. N., Evans, D. A. (2018). Smut and allied fungi of Wales: a guide, red data list and census catalogue. A. O. Chater.
ISBN978-0-9565750-2-9.