First Report of Bismarck Palm Anthracnose Caused by <i>Colletotrichum siamense</i> in China

Bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis Hildebr. & H. Wendl.) is one of the most sought after palms. A severe disease was discovered in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, July 2010. The main symptoms were russet to gray-white lesions at tip leaflets, and irregular-shaped surrounded by reddish brown halos. gradually extended base compound leaf, entire infected leaves dried up advanced stage. fungus consistently obtained on potato dextrose agar medium colonies grayish white, cottony aerial mycelia, with peach orange conidial masses. conidia hyaline, one-celled, cylindrical obtuse slightly rounded ends. multi-locus approach utilized identify casual pathogen. Molecular phylogenetic trees constructed using six combined loci, strain BWZ2 clustered ex-type strains C. siamense (CBS 112983) maximum likelihood tree. pathogenicity test indicated that typical halos observed all inoculated leaflets 7 days post inoculation. On basis biological characteristics, pathogenicity, analyses concatenated sequences ACT, CHS1, GAPDH, HIS, ITS, TUB2 genes, causal agent identified as Colletotrichum siamense Prihastuti, L. Cai K. D. Hyde. This first report anthracnose caused siamense.