Abstract
Sudden wilt of passion fruit trees (Passiflora sp.) was observed on Okinawa Island, Okinawa, and Hachijo Island, Tokyo. The disease occurred on two or three-year-old stock of passion fruit trees. From the collar-rot lesions, reddish perithecia and white mycelia were observed and identified as Haematonectria ipomoeae (Halst.) Samuels & Nirenberg and Fusarium striatum Sherb., respectively. From the monoascospore and monoconidium isolation, the former was confirmed to be the teleomorph of the latter. Typical collar-rot lesions were incited after artificial inoculations using monoascospore and monoconidium isolates. Inoculation of Passiflora species revealed that P. caerulea was especially susceptible. The pathogen was recovered from apparently symptomless cuttings of scion tissue. It is possible that cuttings taken from latently infected cutting plant scions may perpetuate the disease.
