Abstract
A new disease was recognized on leaves of Aesculus turbinata in northeastern Japan. The disease is characterized by large concentric ring spots on which numerous multicellular and frequently non-sporiferous propagules are produced. The multicellular propagules are considered to be sporodochia because conidia of the fungus were found on artificially infected and naturally diseased leaves and culture experiments demonstrated that the propagules are conidiomata from which conidia are produced at low temperatures. The sporodochia may play a main role in secondary infection of the disease as infective bodies in summer because conidia only appeared in late autumn (October) on fallen diseased leaves. Conidia form in two ways, one on sporodochia, another from the stromatic sporodochia after the sporodochia detach themselves from the leaves. The teleomorph of the fungus is described as Mycodidymella aesculi, a new genus and species in the Phaeosphaeriaceae Barr. Mycopappus aesculi and Blastostroma aesculi are proposed as synanamorphs of Mycodidymella aesculi for the sterile sporodochial and conidial states, respectively. The teleomorph-anamorph connection and the sporodochial and conidial relationship of Mycopappus aesculi and Blastostroma aesculi were confirmed by inoculation and culture experiments.