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First Report of Anthracnose of Gaultheria procumbens Caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

In 2001, a stem canker and dieback associated with a Colletotrichum sp. was observed on Gaultheria procumbens L. (wintergreen) seedlings grown from seed in soilless potting mix at four commercial nurseries in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Black, water-soaked lesions developed into tan cankers girdling stems and petioles, and a black rot extended into the base of leaves. In 2002, a Colletotrichum sp. was isolated from similar stem cankers from wintergreen plants. One flat of healthy, 13-week-old seedlings of G. procumbens (one- to three-leaf stage; approximately 380 seedlings per flat) was inoculated with a mycelial and spore suspension of one of the Colletotrichum sp. isolates at 10⁸ CFU/ml using a hand atomizer. The flat was covered with black plastic for 24 h after inoculation and maintained in a growth chamber at 22°C with overhead watering. After 7 days, 98% of seedlings in the inoculated flat were necrotic with abundant sporulation of the Colletotrichum fungus on stem and petiole lesions. Plants in noninoculated flats remained healthy. Reisolation of the fungus from symptomatic tissues confirmed the causal agent to be Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. in Penz, based on morphology (1,2) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the species-specific primer CgInt (3). Cylindrical, hyaline, aseptate conidia measuring 16 to 20 × 4 to 6 μm were produced in acervuli with setae. Perithecia of the teleomorph, Glomerella cingulata, observed on the plants and in culture, measured 100 to 128 μm in diameter and contained acsi measuring 56 to 60 × 8 to 10 μm. Ascospores were hyaline, unicellular, slightly curved, and measured 18 to 20 × 4 to 6 μm. Subsequently, a single-spore isolate of the fungus was used to inoculate 21-week-old seedlings in the greenhouse as described above. Four inoculated and four noninoculated half-flats containing an average of 160 seedlings each were randomized on the greenhouse bench and maintained at 22°C with daily overhead misting. Stem and petiole cankers appeared on 65.1% of inoculated seedlings at 10 days after inoculation (mean of four inoculated half-flats); increasing to 90.5% at 14 days. At 14 days, 5.9% of seedlings in four noninoculated half-flats were also symptomatic, possibly from spore contamination as a result of overhead watering. To our knowledge, this is the first confirmation of the causal agent of wintergreen seedling death in seed propagation nurseries in British Columbia.

References: (1) J. E. M. Mordue. Glomerella cingulata. No. 315 in: Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. CMI, Kew, Surrey, UK, 1971. (2) B. C. Sutton. The Coelomycetes. CAB International Publishing, New York, 1980. (3) P. Talhinhas et al. Phytopathology 92:986, 2002.