many trees were diseased, no gross anatomical or physiological differences were observed on leaves infected with A. niger. Nevertheless, the organism was examined for plant growth regulator metabolites. Subsequent isolation and extraction of the fungus, from shredded wheat cultures, yielded a crystalline metabolite that inhibited the growth of etiolated wheat coleoptile sections. The metabolite, when compared with the plant growth inhibitor (±)-abscisic acid was as active at 10™3 and 10™4 M in the coleoptile bioassay, but was less active at 10"5 M. (+)-Abscisic acid has been found in many higher plants (Addicott and Lyon, 1969;Milborrow, 1974) and was initially isolated from immature cotton fruits, Gossypium hirsutum L. (Ohkuma et al., 1963) and sycamore leaves, Acer pseudoplatanus L. (Cornforth et al., 1965). Chemical and physical analyses showed that the new metabolite was bis [8,8'-(7-hydroxy-4-methoxy-5-methylcoumarin) ] which we have given the trivial name orlandin (I) (Figure 1).The simple coumarins have shown a wide range of growth regulating responses in plants from growth promotion to growth inhibition depending on the plant species or plant part treated (Mayer and Poljakoff-Mayber, 1961).