Anthracnose of Christmas rose caused by Colletotrichum sp.

Leaf spots were found on Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, in October 2006. The morphology of the causal fungus was very close to that of Colletotrichum truncatum. Classifying the species from the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions of ribosomal DNA was inconclusive, and the isolates were identified only as Colletotrichum sp. Artificial inoculation confirmed the pathogenicity of isolates to the host plant and some legumes. We propose the name anthracnose of Christmas rose for this disease by Colletotrichum sp.