Identification of a rust disease of giant knapweed in the Czech Republic – short communication

Abstract

During the vegetation seasons 2012–2015, symptoms of severe infections by a rust disease were recorded on plants of the ornamental species Centaurea macrocephala. Based on morphology, the pathogen was identified as Puccinia jaceae or Puccinia hieracii, which have recently been considered as synonyms. However, substantial differences between P. jaceae and P. hieracii in nucleotide sequences of the ITS2 region provide evidence for the molecular identification of the specimen as P. jaceae.