First Report of Botryosphaeria dothidea Causing Leaf Blight on Magnolia biondii in China
Haoqin Pan, Luping Zhang, Yuehua Huang, Haibo Xia, Cuicui Wang, Yanqing LiABSTRACT
In August 2024, a leaf blight disease of Magnolia biondii was observed in Shandong Province, China. The symptoms initially appeared as brown spots, which then expanded to irregular, larger necrotic lesions with greyish‐white centers and brown margins. The pathogen was identified as Botryosphaeria dothidea based on morphological characteristics and molecular identification, as well as confirmation of pathogenesis following Koch's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of B. dothidea as a pathogen causing leaf blight symptoms on Magnolia biondii .