Abstract

Infection of emasculated flowers occurred in the lab. when dry conidia were dusted on to receptive stigmas. The conidia germinated in the stigmatic fluid of both non-pollinated flowers and flowers pollinated before inoculation; their germ tubes then penetrated the stigma and hyphae grew intercellularly through the transmitting tissues of the style to enter the carpel within 7 d. The possible roles of stylar infections and endophytic mycelium are discussed in the context of grey mould development.