Stem rot and wilt on <em>Euonymus</em>

Authors

  • Ulrike Brielmaier-Liebetanz Julius Kühn-Institut – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forests
  • Sabine Werres Julius Kühn-Institut – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forests
  • Stefan Wagner Julius Kühn-Institut – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forests
  • Roswitha Ulrich District Government of Giessen, Dez.51.4 Plant protection service Hesse

Keywords:

Calonectria, Cylindrocladium, Euonymus, ornamental shrub, symptoms, morphology, sequence analysis

Abstract

In August 2008, stem rot and wilt symptoms of unknown origin were observed on Euonymus japonica. From the symptomatic stem base a fungus belonging to the genus Calonectria (anamorph: Cylindrocladium) was isolated (isolate JKI 2140). The isolate was morphologically very similar to Calonectria colhounii as well as to Ca. fujianensis and Ca. pseudocolhounii, except for the larger conidia. Sequence analysis of genes (ITS, BT, TEF-1α, HIS3) showed high similarity to Ca. colhounii, Ca. eucalypti, Ca. fujianensis and Ca. pseudocolhounii. The taxonomic status of the fungal isolate from E. japonica is not yet clear. It belongs to the complex Ca. colhounii but a definitive allocation to or separation from a known Calonectria species is not possible on the basis of a single isolate. The fungus is provisionally named Calonectria colhounii compl.

The pathogenicity of the fungus was tested on E. japonica and E. fortunei. The disease symptoms originally observed on field plants of E. japonica were reproduced and the fungus was re-isolated. Thus the pathogenicity of isolate JKI 2140 on both Euonymus species is proved. Since the first occurrence of this infestation there were no further notifications of stem canker and wilt on Euonymus spp. in Germany. Therefore the importance of this pathogen on Euonymus is considered to be low.

DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2015.10.01, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2015.10.01

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Published

2015-10-01

Issue

Vol. 67 No. 10 (2015)

Section

Original Article

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