Neopestalotiopsis clavispora Causing Leaf Spot on Phedimus aizoon var. latifolius, a New Disease in China

Phedimus aizoon var. latifolius (Sedum aizoon), a crassulaceae herb, is widely cultivated in northern China, including Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong provinces, as well as in Korea and Russia. In the middle of August 2015, approximately 40% plants with leaf spots were observed on the campus of Jilin Agricultural University, China. The leaves of P. aizoon var. latifolius were browned from the edge to inside with round or irregular lesions. Brown spots enlarged and coalesced later and resulted in early leaf fall. Plant symptomatic tissues were surface disinfested with 75% ethyl alcohol for 30 s, followed by 0.1% NaOCl for 1 min, washed with sterile distilled water three times before plating onto potato dextrose agar (PDA). Six pure cultures with similar morphology were obtained through single spore isolation. The representative isolate (FC-DB1) cultivated on PDA at 25°C with a 12-h alternate light and dark period for 5 days. The fungal colonies were white to luteous, edge irregular and surfa...