Disease Note

Cardamom Rust (Uredo elettariae) New in the Americas. E. Schieber, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92521. Antigua, Guatemala, and G. A. Zentmyer, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92521. Plant Dis. 69:1100. Accepted for publication 29 July 1985. Copyright 1985 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-69-1100f.

In 1981 we found cardamom rust (Uredo elettariae Thirum.) on cultivated cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Mat.) in a cloud forest (altitude about 1,300 m) between Zunil and El Palmar in the province of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. This is the first report of this rust in the Americas. Thirumalachar discovered the disease in cardamom plantations in Mysore State, India, in 1943. The uredia we observed on cardamom were subepidermal, erumpent, pulverulent, and white; we could not obtain other samples at that time to add more detailed data to our description. Another rust (Phakospora eletteriae (Rac.) Hoehn.) reported by Boedjin on E. speciosa and other genera of Zingiberaceae in Indonesia may be related.