Podosphaera minor

Podosphaera minor
Podosphaera minor on Spiraea in Canada.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Leotiomycetes
Order:	Erysiphales
Family:	Erysiphaceae
Genus:	Podosphaera
Species:	P. minor
Binomial name
Podosphaera minor Howe, 1874
Synonyms
Microsphaera fulvofulcraCooke, 1877 Podosphaera oxycanthae f. spiraeaeJacz., 1927

Podosphaera minor is a species of powdery mildew in the family Erysiphaceae. It is found in the Americas and Eurasia, where it affects plants in the genus Spiraea . ^{[1] [2]}

Description

The fungus forms greyish, thin mycelium on host leaves. Podosphaeraminor, like most Erysiphaceae, is highly host-specific and infects only Spiraea . ^[1] Other species also infect the same genus, including Podosphaera spiraeae which is common on cultivated Spiraea in the same regions as P. minor, but rather causes dense, whitish, shoot-distorting growth. Podosphaera spiraeae-douglasii can be found on Spiraea douglasii . Podosphaera spiraeicola is found in East Asia.

Taxonomy

The fungus was formally described in 1874 by Howe. The species comprises two varieties: var. minor and var. longissima. The former has shorter chasmothecial appendages than the latter, which is found in North America. ^[1]

References

1. Braun, Uwe; Cook, Roger T. A. (2012). Taxonomic manual of the Erysiphales (powdery mildews). CBS biodiversity series. Utrecht: CBS-KNAW fungal biodiversity centre. ISBN   978-90-70351-89-2.
2. Khodaparast, Seyed Akbar; Darsaraei, Hamideh; Pourmoghaddam, Mohammad Javad (2023). "Morphological and molecular characterization of Podosphaera minor on Spiraea in Iran". Mycologia Iranica. 10 (1). doi:10.22092/MI.2023.361225.1249.