When we first observed this organism during our early germination work with cheatgrass, almost 20 years ago, we did not know what it was, but we saw that it might be important, so we collected data on its abundance.  We gave it the nickname "Black Fingers Of Death," for the fingerlike stromata that emerge from dead seeds.  This soon got shortened to BFOD (pronounced "bee-fod".) 

 

The BFOD Story

       When we finally decided we needed a positive identification, all roads led to a retired mycologist, Dr. Robert Schumaker.  We sent him a photo of killed seeds with protruding stromata--and he identified the fungus ten minutes later!  Thanks to his gracious response, we learned BFOD's real name, Pyrenophera semeniperda (also known as Drechslera campanulata.)  Not surprisingly, for everyday use we stuck with "BFOD."