Dothistroma septosporum

Dothistroma septosporum or Mycosphaerella pini is a fungus that causes the disease commonly known as red band needle blight. This fungal disease affects the needles of conifers, but is mainly found on pine. Over 60 species have been reported to be prone to infection and Corsican Pine (Pinus nigra ssp. laricio) is the most susceptible species in Great Britain. It was first recorded in Britain on Corsican pine in 1954 in a nursery in Dorset. The disease spread sporadically until 1966, after which there were no new reports up until the end of the 1990s. Between 1997 and 2005 the majority of reports were on Corsican pine in East Anglia, although it had been found in other parts of Britain. The precise origins of the disease are unknown, although there are suggestions that the disease might be from the pine forests of Nepal, in the Himalayas. The origin is also thought to be from the high altitude rain forests of South America. The general opinion is that the disease has been prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere for some length of time, and that there are now high levels of infection in the Northern Hemisphere, with unprecedented records of the disease in Asia, Europe, and the UK.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.