New Disease Reports
New Disease Reports (2009) 19, 47.
Next > < Prev

First finding of Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae causing rust disease of Duchesnea indica in Poland

A. Wołczańska 1* and M. Piątek 2

*agata.wolczanska@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl

Show affiliations

Accepted: 18 Jun 2009

False strawberry (Duchesnea indica), originating from southeast Asia, is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens and parks in Poland. It often escapes from cultivation and becomes naturalised, especially in shady places under cover of shrubs and trees. In August 2004, numerous plants of D. indica infected by a rust fungus were found in Kraków (MałopolskaProvince). Later similar disease symptoms were observed in more distant regions of Poland, Bielsko-Biała, ŚląskieProvince (July 2006) and Lublin, LublinProvince (October 2008). The rust caused severe infection of false strawberry including curling of leaves and necrosis of plant tissues (Fig. 1). The lower leaf surfaces and bracts were covered with small orange pustules of erumpent uredinia, approximately one mm in diameter (Fig. 1). Uredinia (Fig. 2E) were composed of peripheral hyaline paraphyses, 20–40 x 7–11 µm (Fig. 2D, F) and central mass of urediniospores. Urediniospores were ellipsoidal, obovoid or globose, 15–24(–26) x 12–18 µm, with a thin (approximately 1 µm), finely echinulate wall (Fig. 2A–C, F). Telia were not observed. These characters match the description of Frommeëlla mexicana (McCain & Hennen, 1990). The presence of diagnostic paraphyses confirms this as F. mexicana var. indicae. The collected specimens are deposited at KRAM and LBL herbaria (KRAM F-47121, 47122, 47123; LBL M-8654).

Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae is expanding throughout Europe, evidently migrating from the southwest towards the northeast part of the continent. It has previously been recorded in France (1952 – the earliest report on the continent), Austria, Belgium, the CzechRepublic, Germany and Portugal (theAzores and Madeira) (Farr & Rossman, 2009; Fraiture & Vanderweyen, 2007). This is, however, the first finding of false strawberry rust in Poland.

Figure1+
Figure 1: Rust disease of Duchesnea indica caused by Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae. A – fresh uredinia on a living plant, B – dried uredinia on a herbarium specimen.
Figure 1: Rust disease of Duchesnea indica caused by Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae. A – fresh uredinia on a living plant, B – dried uredinia on a herbarium specimen.
Figure2+
Figure 2: Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae from Duchesnea indica as seen by light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A–C – urediniospores as seen by LM (scale bars = 10 µm); D – paraphyses as seen by LM (scale bar = 10 µm); E – a uredinium as seen by SEM (Scale bar = 100 µm); F – urediniospores and paraphyses as seen by SEM (scale bar = 30 µm).
Figure 2: Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae from Duchesnea indica as seen by light (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A–C – urediniospores as seen by LM (scale bars = 10 µm); D – paraphyses as seen by LM (scale bar = 10 µm); E – a uredinium as seen by SEM (Scale bar = 100 µm); F – urediniospores and paraphyses as seen by SEM (scale bar = 30 µm).

Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. W. Wojewoda and G. Dubiel for donating the specimens of Frommeëlla mexicana var. indicae to KRAM herbarium.

References

  1. Farr DF, Rossman AY, 2009. Fungal Databases, Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, ARS, USDA, retrieved March 4, 2009 from http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/
  2. Fraiture A, Vanderweyen A, 2007. Frommeëlla mexicana,nouvelle rouille pour la flore belge, et trois hyperparasites vivant à ses dépens. Reuve du Cercle de Mycologie de Bruxelles 7, 5-20.
  3. McCain JW, Hennen JF, 1990. Taxonomic notes on Frommeëlla (Uredinales) – 1. Mycotaxon 39, 249-256.
This report was formally published in Plant Pathology

©2009 The Authors