First report of Phytophthora foliar blight on florida hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa) in Italy

During 2010, a new foliar blight was detected on potted Dodonaea viscosa cv. Purpurea plants in two nurseries in Catania (Italy). On the basis of morphological and cultural features, the pathogen was identified as Phytophthora palmivora. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-rDNA sequence of a representative Phytophthora isolate from hopbush showed 99% identity with other ITS sequences of different P. palmivora isolates available in GenBank, thus confirming the morpho-cultural identification. Koch’s postulates were fulfilled by pathogenicity tests on potted D. viscosa cv. Purpurea seedlings. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. palmivora foliar blight disease on D. viscosa.