Anthracnose: A New Leaf Disease on (China Doll) in China.

(China doll) is a popular evergreen horticultural crop worldwide. However, little information has been provided to describe the anthracnose disease of . . In 2018, symptoms suspected of leaf anthracnose were observed on . in gardens and commercial greenhouses in Guangzhou, China. Lesions on diseased leaves showed thinned and grayish white centers, dark-brown to black borders, and raised black spots. Twenty-seven single-conidia isolates were obtained from symptomatic leaf lesions. Based on morphological characteristics and multilocus phylogenetic analysis, 19 isolates were identified as and six and two isolates were identified as . and . , respectively. An pathogenicity test was conducted on leaves of . plants, and it was discovered that . was more aggressive under wounded conditions than under unwounded conditions, and caused symptomatic necrotic lesions on the leaf. Afterward, the same pathogen was reisolated from lesions of inoculated leaves to fulfill Koch's postulates. However, neither . nor . caused visible lesions on leaves of . under wounded or unwounded conditions, indicating that they may be asymptomatic endophytes or opportunistic pathogens on . . To our knowledge, this study is the first report of spp. associated with anthracnose disease on . in China.