Pine needle cast
- French disease name: Rouge du pin
- Pathogen name: Lophodermella concolor (Dearn.) Darker
- Kingdom: Fungi
- Phylum: Ascomycota
- Class: Leotiomycetes
- Order: Rhytismatales
- Family: Rhytismataceae
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Partial list of synonyms:
- Hypodermella concolor (Dearn.) Darker
- Hypodermella montivaga (Petr.) Dearn. f. concolor Dearn.
Distribution
Canada
Damage, symptoms and biology
Significant levels of defoliation occur in years following periods of moist summer weather favourable for infection. Increment loss and mortality may occur after repeated epidemics, particularly in young trees.
Other information
Other fungi, including Hemiphacidium longisporum Ziller and Funk and Hendersonia pinicola Wehm., often invade needles infected with L. concolor, competing with, or parasitizing the Lophodermium (Fig. e). A related species of Lophodermella, L. montivaga Petre., can be distinguished from L. concolor by its elongate, brown fruiting structures, and it tends to have a more northern distribution.
Canadian Forest Service Publications
Information on host(s)
Main host(s)
Jack pine, lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, scots pine, shore pine
Photos
"Lion's tail" appearance of branches after infected needles are shed
Bob Erickson
Lodgepole pine infected with L. concolor
Eric Allen
Lodgepole pine infected with L. concolor
Eric Allen
Concolorous fruiting bodies of L. concolor
Bob Erickson
Lodgepole pine needles infected with both L. concolor and Hendersonia pinicola (black spots)
Bob Erickson