MYCODIDYMELLA-AESCULI GEN. ET SP. NOV. AND ITS SYNANAMORPHS BLASTOSTROMA-AESCULI GEN. ET SP. NOV. AND MYCOPAPPUS-AESCULI SP. NOV. ON AESCULUS-TURBINATA IN JAPAN

A new disease was recognized on leaves of Aesculus turbinata in northe astern Japan. The disease is characterized by large concentric ring sp ots on which numerous multicellular and frequently non-sporiferous pro pagules are produced. The multicellular propagules are considered to b e sporodochia because conidia of the fungus were found on artificially infected and naturally diseased leaves and culture experiments demons trated that the propagules are conidiomata from which conidia are prod uced at low temperatures. The sporodochia may play a main role in seco ndary infection of the disease as infective bodies in summer because c onidia only appeared in late autumn (October) on fallen diseased leave s. Conidia form in two ways, one on sporodochia, another from the stro matic sporodochia after the sporodochia detach themselves from the lea ves. The teleomorph of the fungus is described as Mycodidymella aescul i, a new genus and species in the Phaeosphaeriaceae Barr. Mycopappus a esculi and Blastostroma aesculi are proposed as synanamorphs of Mycodi dymella aesculi for the sterile sporodochial and conidial states, resp ectively The teleomorph-anamorph connection and the sporodochial and c onidial relationship of Mycopappus aesculi and Blastostroma aesculi we re confirmed by inoculation and culture experiments.