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Phytophthora austrocedri is causing widespread mortality of Austrocedrus chilensis in Argentina and Juniperus communis in Britain. The pathogen has also been isolated from J. horizontalis in Germany. Isolates from Britain, Argentina, and Germany are homothallic, with no clear differences in the dimensions of sporangia, oogonia, or oospores. Argentinian and German isolates grew faster than British isolates across a range of media and had a higher temperature tolerance, although most isolates, regardless of origin, grew best at 15°C and all isolates were killed at 25°C. Argentinian and British isolates caused lesions when inoculated onto both A. chilensis and J. communis; however, the Argentinian isolate caused longer lesions on A. chilensis than on J. communis and vice versa for the British isolate. Genetic analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial loci showed that all British isolates are identical. Argentinian isolates and the German isolate are also identical but differ from the British isolates. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms are shared between the British and Argentinian isolates. We concluded that British isolates and Argentinian isolates conform to two distinct clonal lineages of P. austrocedri founded from the same as-yet-unidentified source population. These lineages should be recognized and treated as separate risks by international plant health legislation.

A non-papillate, heterothallic Phytophthora species first isolated in 2001 and subsequently from symptomatic roots, crowns and stems of 33 plant species in 25 unrelated botanical families from 13 countries is formally described here as a new species. Symptoms on various hosts included crown and stem rot, chlorosis, wilting, leaf blight, cankers and gumming. This species was isolated from Australia, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and United States in association with shrubs and herbaceous ornamentals grown mainly in greenhouses. The most prevalent hosts are English ivy (Hedera helix) and Cistus (Cistus salvifolius). The association of the species with acorn banksia (Banksia prionotes) plants in natural ecosystems in Australia, in affected vineyards (Vitis vinifera) in South Africa and almond (Prunus dulcis) trees in Spain and Turkey in addition to infection of shrubs and herbaceous ornamentals in a broad range of unrelated families are a sign of a wide ecological adaptation of the species and its potential threat to agricultural and natural ecosystems. The morphology of the persistent non-papillate ellipsoid sporangia, unique toruloid lobate hyphal swellings and amphigynous antheridia does not match any of the described species. Phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of the ITS rDNA, EF-1α, and β-tub supported that this organism is a hitherto unknown species. It is closely related to species in ITS clade 7b with the most closely related species being P. sojae. The name Phytophthora niederhauserii has been used in previous studies without the formal description of the holotype. This name is validated in this manuscript with the formal description of Phytophthora niederhauserii Z.G. Abad et J.A. Abad, sp. nov. The name is coined to honor Dr John S. Niederhauser, a notable plant pathologist and the 1990 World Food Prize laureate., (© 2014 by The Mycological Society of America.)

Three species of powdery mildew, Erysiphe elevata, E. catalpae, and Neoerysiphe galeopsidis were identified on Catalpa species in England in 2004. A new disease record, N. galeopsidis was the first Catalpa mildew to appear (in June), but it was later out-competed by E. elevata that caused the most serious damage. Both mildews also attacked C. speciosa, C. xerubescens and a new host, xChitalpa tashkentensis, a Chilopsis xCatalpa hybrid. No powdery mildew was detected on C. bungei, C. ovata, or C. fargesii. Identifications of the pathogens using morphological data were fully supported by DNA analysis yielding characteristic rDNA ITS sequences. The sequences placed E. catalpae within the E. aquilegiae clade. The sequences for E. elevata from southern England and France closely matched those from Hungary and North America, confirming the recent spread of this pathogen from the USA. It eventually overran N. galeopsidis and its sudden appearance in the UK could be due to greater aggressiveness and to the production of more ascomata especially during autumns with delayed leaf fall as in 2001. A further species, Oidium hiratae (i.e. Podosphaera sp.), though described from a 1978 UK collection on C. bignonioides, was not detected in the field.