LEAF SPOTS
ACERVULI round or oval in outline, up to 1 mm diam, covered by colourless to salomon-orange conidial masses and bristling setae.
Setae arising from acervuli or sclerotia, smooth, stiff, septate, slightly swollen and dark brown at the base and tapering to sharpened and paler apices, up to 100 µm long.
CONIDIOPHORES (cp) hyaline, cylindrical, occasionally septate and branched at their base.
CONIDIA (c) of the phialoconidia type, hyaline, aseptate, smooth, thin-walled, guttulate, fusiform and straight, with rounded apices, frequently with a slight median constriction, 16-22 x 3.0-3.5 µm.
PLANT HOST AND DISTRIBUTION. Colletorichum coccodes commonly affects solanaceous crops (tomatoes, potatoes, ect.), as well as cabbage, lettuce, chrysanthemums, and many weed plants .
This fungus has a worldwide distribution.
NOTES. Colletorichum coccodes causes anthracnoses of many cultivated and uncultivated plants (Agrios 1988; Brooks 1953). The most known anthracnoses developed by this fungus are the anthracnose of potatoes and tomatoes. The anthracnose of these plants results in serious losses of fruit and in damage to stems and foliage.
Colletorichum coccodes overwinters in infected plant debris and in or on seeds (Agrios 1988; Brooks 1953). The favouring weather conditions for infection and spread of the fungus are high temperatures and high relative humidity at the time of ripening.
REFERENCES
Agrios 1988. Plant pathology, 3rd edition, Academic Press, INC. San Diego, New York, Berkeley, Boston, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto.
Brooks F. T. 1953. Plant diseases. Geoffrey Cumberlege. Oxford University Press. London, new York, Toronto.