A re-evaluation of Aecidium crassocephali

The status of Aecidium crassocephali is re-examined with the discovery of an Aecidium -like rust on Emilia sonchifolia , growing in the vicinity of Crassocephalum guineense infected with A. crassocephali , and observation of germinated spores of A. crassocephali that gave rise to metabasidia bearing basidiospores. Examination of herbarium specimens of Endophyllum emiliae-sonchifoliae on E. sonchifolia from India, A. crassocephali on Crassocephalum sp. from Zambia, A. gynurae on E. sonchifolia from Sri Lanka and A. formosanum on E. sonchifolia from the Philippines revealed that they are all the same fungus, Endophyllum sonchifoliae .