Abstract

Osmanthus fragrans naturally occurs in Taiwan, and is now widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. Signs of leaf spots caused by unknown species has been detected on O. fragrans saplings in Nangang District, Taipei City, Taiwan. This investigation aimed to illustrate the fungal species by engaging morphological features, pathogenicity tests, and DNA sequence comparisons for the ITS, LSU, SSU, rpb2 and tef1 gene sequences. A new species is proposed and identified here as Leucaenicola osmanthi. Leucaenicola osmanthi can be differentiated from the phylogenetically close taxa, L. aseptata and L. phraeana, by much larger conidiomata, conidiogenous cells and conidia. Moreover, this is the first report of a species belonging to Leucaenicola on Osmanthus fragrans in Taiwan.