Ploioderma hedgcockii. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].
Abstract A description is provided for Ploioderma hedgcockii. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Recorded from Pinus caribaea, P. clausa, P. echinata, P. palustris, P. rigida, P. tueda and P. virginiana. DISEASE: Causes needle blight of pines. The anamorph develops on green needles, and may be responsible for premature shedding (30, 131). This is substantiated in a later report (38, 629), which states that ascomata occur on green needles which turn yellowish throughout their length and are shed prematurely. Ploioderma hedgecockii was implicated in a severe outbreak of needle blight of Pinus caribaea (syn. P. elliottii) and P. tueda in the southern USA in 1970-1 (51, 1989), but was thought to be secondary in importance, the damage principally being caused by Ploioderma lethale (Dearness) Darker and Lophodermella cerina (Darker) Darker. The symptoms described in this report were different, distal portions of the leaves dying, and later becoming brown over their whole length and falling from the tree. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: USA: reported from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. TRANSMISSION: Unknown. Needles are probably directly infected by the air-dispersed ascospores.