Influence of simulated acid rain on the flowering dogwood (Cornusflorida) leaf surface

Abstract

Acidic rainfall has the potential to influence anthracnose incidence and severity in flowering dogwood (Cornusflorida L.) of the eastern United States. One-year-old, nursery-grown flowering dogwood seedlings were exposed to 1 cm of simulated rain 10 times over a 42-day period in 1990. Simulated rains were composed of a mixture of salts typical of ambient rainfall in the eastern United States and pH was adjusted to 5.5, 4.5, 3.5, and 2.5 with sulfuric and nitric acids. Samples were cut from the leaf tip, margin, and midvein of rain-treated trees and prepared for scanning electron microscopy. Cuticular cracking, desiccation, and erosion of trichome surfaces was observed in response to acid rain treatment. Increased degradation of dogwood trichomes was observed with decreasing pH for all samples. Cuticular erosion due to acid rain has the potential to predispose dogwoods in the eastern United States to anthracnose caused by Disculadestructiva sp.nov. (Red.) and an unnamed Discula sp.