The First Record of Southern Blight on St John's Wort, Japanese Valerian, Common Verbena, Fairy Bells and Chives in Japan

Abstract

In June and July 2013, Southern blight symptoms were observed on St John's wort, Japanese valerian, common verbena, fairy bells and chives in Kodaira, Japan. From each symptom, one fungus was isolated. Koch’s postulates were conducted by inoculating these healthy plants with the isolated fungi and indicated that the isolated fungi have pathogenicity to the plants. Based on detail morphological examination and ITS homology test, the pathogens were identified as Sclerotium rolfsii Saccardo. To our knowledge, this is the first report of S. rolfsii causing this blight on the five plants in Japan.