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Title: AECIDIUM KALANCHOË, A NEW SPECIES OF RUST ON KALANCHOË BLOSSFELDIANA (CRASSULACEAE)

Author
item HERNANDEZ, JOSE - TUCUMAN, ARGENTINA
item Aime, Mary
item NEWBRY, BRAD - TWIN FALLS, ID

Submitted to: Mycological Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/26/2004
Publication Date: 7/1/2004
Citation: Hernandez, J.R., Aime, M.C., Newbry B. 2004. Aecidium kalanchoë, a new species of rust on Kalanchoë blossfeldiana (Crassulaceae). Mycological Research 108(7):846-848.

Interpretive Summary: Plants imported from other countries may harbor fungi inside the living material that is used to propagate plants. Such fungi are not easily detected when plants are brought into the United States. A new species of rust was discovered on plants of Christmas kalanchoe that had originated in Costa Rica but were growing in a greenhouse in Idaho. This new species was described and illustrated. In addition, DNA of the rust fungus was sequenced and the rust was determined to be related to species of Puccinia. This work will be used by plant pathologists and plant quarantine regulators to prevent the entry of additional infected plant germplasm and to control the disease caused by this rust fungus.

Technical Abstract: Plants of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelln. (Crassulaceae) growing in a greenhouse in Idaho were parasitized by a rust fungus. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, also known as 'Christmas kalanchoe', is native to Madagascar. It is grown extensively in the United States and Europe as a prized perennial that has succulent leaves and bears yellow, orange, red, pink and purple flowers. These plants of K. blossfeldiana were propagated in greenhouses in Costa Rica and imported as small plants in spring for sale and distribution throughout North America. Although a number of diseases are known on K. blossfeldiana and other cultivated species of Kalanchoe, only one rust fungus, Aecidium umbilici, has been described on this genus. The rust on plants from Idaho is unlike A. umbilici nor does it fit the description of any of the sixteen other species of Uredinales previously reported on Crassulaceae. This rust fungus is described and illustrated as a new species, Aecidium kalanchoe. An ITS sequence of this fungus suggests that it is related to species of Puccinia.