occurence of cryptocline taxicola (all.) petr. on needles of taxus spp. – symptoms and morphological features

In comparison with other European trees species Taxus spp. is not often prone to phytopathological problems. The fungus Cryptocline taxicola (All.) Petr was found on needles of cultivars of Yet (T. baccata L., T. cuspidata S. & Z., Taxus × media Rehd.) in Brno in the summer and the autumn of 2007. The article attemps to describe the disease symptoms and morphological features. Infected needles and whole shoots turn brown. Fruiting bodies were observed on upper and lower surfaces necrotic and chlorotic needles. Acervuli of the fungus were black, subepidermal, ∅ 160–370 × 90–145 μm, surrounded by brown circles epidermis, and the epidermis ruptures as they brake through. Conidia were smooth-walled and hyaline, without septa, ellipsoid to oval, 10–18 × 4,5–8,4 μm. Conidiophores were hyaline, cylindrical, with phyalides, 12–18 × 2,8–3,4 μm. The fungus forms dark colonies wish greyish aerial mycelium on potato-dextrose agar (PDA).