Pearl millet rust

The life-cycle of this rust variety remains somewhat obscure and the connection between the telial stage on pearl millet and the aecial stage on Solanaceae has never been experimentally demonstrated. Natural infection and inoculations under controlled conditions allowed for a complete description of all stages of this rust and the elucidation of its life-cycle, confirming that Solanum aethiopicum and Solanum melongena are aecial hosts. This coincidence for the alternate host and the limited and ambiguous morphological basis for the distinction of the varieties penicillariae and indica support the view that they are synonyms. Var. indica should be regarded as a late synonym of var. penicillariae.