Blue stain fungi

Blue stain fungi (also known as sap stain fungi) is a vague term including various fungi that cause dark staining in sapwood.[1] The staining is most often blue, but could also be grey or black. Because the grouping is based solely on symptomatics, it is not monophyletic.

Included species

Depending on the author, the group can include between 100–250 species of Ascomycetes and Deuteromycetes. They are usually divided into three different groups:[1]

  1. Ascomycetes fungi from the genera Ceratocystis, Ophiostoma, Ceratocystiopsis, Grosmannia. These are usually transmitted between trees by bark beetles of the subfamily Scolytinae.
  2. Several Black yeasts like Hormonema dematioides, Aureobasidium pullulans, Rhinocladiella atrovirens, and Phialophora species.
  3. Several dark molds like Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium sphaerospermum and C. cladosporioides.

Economic importance

The major economic damage caused by the blue stain fungi is aesthetic because of the usually undesirable discoloration of wood. Some of the fungi have also been shown to have detrimental effects on the strength properties of infected wood.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Schmidt, Olaf (2006). Wood and Tree Fungi. Springer. p. 125. ISBN 3-540-32138-1.
  2. ↑ Zabel, Robert (1992). Wood Microbiology. Decay and Its Prevention. Academic Press. p. 333-343. ISBN 0-12-775210-2.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.