Salmacisia

The genus name is derived from Salmacis, who, according to Greek mythology, transformed the boy Hermaphroditus into an individual with both male and female sexual characteristics.

[1] Salmacisia species are defined as those with fruiting structures (technically known as sori) that originate only in the ovaries of infected plants, where clumps of dirty-brown agglutinated spores are formed.

The spores are covered with surface ornamentations (spines or reticulations), and arise from cells of spore-creating mycelia, frequently encased in a translucent jelly-like sheath.

[1][2] The morphological characteristics of Salmacisia are indistinguishable from species of Tilletia, they may be distinguished from this genus and other genera of the Tilletiaceae family by differences in their ribosomal DNA sequences.

Consequently, both male and female reproductive organs within induced hermaphroditic flowers of buffalograss become parasitically castrated, but for different reasons.