Cryptostroma corticale and sooty bark disease of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)

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Sooty bark is a lethal disease of Acer pseudoplatanus. It is characterized by wilt, die-back, bark shedding and by the production of a thick layer of brownish black, dry phialospores in the bark by a fungus invading the cambium and phloem of affected trees. It has spread continuously in and around Wanstead Park, Essex, since 1945. The fungus has been identified as the North American species Coniosporium corticale Ell. & Ev., which is now made the type of a new genus Cryptostroma, because of characters of the stroma, conidiophores and conidia.

Conclusive evidence of pathogenicity is lacking, but there is strong circumstantial evidence that the fungus is an aggressive parasite. Preliminary inoculation experiments suggest that the fungus is normally spread by air-borne spores entering through wounds and broken ends of branches. The fungus appears to be a new introduction into England.

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