JARS v36n2 - Research Committee Report

Research Committee Report
Dr. August E. Kehr, Hendersonville, NC

The Research Committee and the trustees of the ARS Research Foundation have just recently made two grants of $1,000.00. The first was made to Dr. Robert C. Lambe, Plant Pathologist at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. This grant is being used to find an improved control of azalea petal blight, one of the most disfiguring diseases of rhododendrons and azaleas. Although evergreen azaleas are most susceptible to the fungus which causes petal blight, it will also attack all other members of the Genus. Dr. A.R. Fitzburgh of Garfield, New Jersey, will monitor this research project.

The second $1,000 grant has been awarded to North Carolina State University to support their "Biosystematic Studies in the Lepidote Rhododendrons of the Southeastern U.S.A." The studies are directed at achieving a better understanding of the geographical and cytological relationships in the R. carolinianum — R. chapmanii complex. The research will be conducted by Mr. William Gensel, a graduate student, who will use this study as the basis for his doctoral thesis.