Boxwood Blight Update

New Host: Pachysandra

Plant pathologists at The Connecticut Agricutural Experiment Station recently identified Pachysandra terminalis (common names: pachysandra, Japanese spurge) as a new host of Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum, the fungus that causes Boxwood Blight. Healthy pachysandra plants were inoculated with spores of C. pseudonaviculatum and lesions developed on the leaves ten days after inoculation.  Three weeks after inoculation, many of the leaves with lesions yellowed and dropped. Heavy sporulation of the fungus was observed.  This raises significant concerns about pachysandra as a potential source of inoculum for infection of boxwood and vice versa.  More information will be forthcoming.

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