Elsinoe Leaf Spot of ‘Ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum)

We described a species of Elsinoe, which causes a defoliating leaf spot disease of the endemic forest shrub‘ohelo, as E. vaccinii (Gardner and Hodges, 1986).  Occurrence of the fungus on an endemic host, with no indication that it was recently introduced, suggests that it is an endemic pathogen.

elsinoe leaf spot of ohelo.JPG (317334 bytes)    Elsinoe leaf spot of ‘ohelo.

elsinoe leaf spot of ohelo ascostroma.JPG (197753 bytes)   Section through an ascostroma of E. vacinii, showing spherical asci (arrow) containing septate ascospores.