English boxwood (Buxus sempervirens var. suffruticosa L.) plants were grown in the greenhouse in association with rhizomes of bromegrass and bindweed. Rhizomes of both species were colonized by Paecilomyces buxi. Boxwood plants showed symptoms-similar to decline of field grown plants, and boxwood roots were colonized by P. buxi. Rooted cuttings of boxwood subjected to temperatures gradually reduced to −5C (23F) were uniformly colonized by P. buxi in basal stem lesions where the fungus sporulated at the surface of the stems. Some implications for root-rot development and spread of P. buxi related to environmental stress factors are suggested.
Author notes
Contribution 487, Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
2Former Graduate Research Assistant; President address—Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521. A portion of the senior author's thesis submitted to the faculty at VPI and SU. Support of the Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation, Leesburg, VA is gratefully acknowledged.
3Professor and Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, resp.