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Exobasidium pentasporium was first found on Rhododendron kaempferi in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan and described only with a brief mentions and illustration of a specimen in 1896. This fungus causes a witches' broom disease of Rhododendron species. To stabilize the concept of this species, the specimen in the protologue was located, carefully examined, and illustrated. In addition, the name was epitypified based on a newly collected topotype specimen. A phylogenetic tree using ITS and LSU sequences showed that our isolates of E. pentasporium grouped with other Exobasidium species on Rhododendron forming a monophyletic clade with strong statistical support and were unrelated to E. nobeyamense, another causal agent of witches' broom disease on Rhododendron species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The obscure species Exobasidium sawadae and the enigmatic hyphomycetous genus Elaeodema transform fruits of Cinnamomum species to galls. Fresh collections from Guangxi in China and Taiwan island were studied with microscopy and analysis of partial large subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Study of young stages and of isotype material of El. cinnamomi revealed the presence of basidia. Haustoria are demonstrated in both species for the first time. Sterile elements were found between basidia in galls of El. cinnamomi , whereas sterile elements were absent in Ex. sawadae . Based on the morphology of spore germination and the anamorphic yeast stage in culture, and a phylogenetic species concept, these two species were combined into Clinoconidium . Elaeodema is considered a synonym of Clinoconidium . The data indicate high specificity of Clinoconidium species to their lauraceous hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exobasidium pentasporium was first found on Rhododendron kaempferi in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan and described only with a brief mentions and illustration of a specimen in 1896. This fungus causes a witches' broom disease of Rhododendron species. To stabilize the concept of this species, the specimen in the protologue was located, carefully examined, and illustrated. In addition, the name was epitypified based on a newly collected topotype specimen. A phylogenetic tree using ITS and LSU sequences showed that our isolates of E. pentasporium grouped with other Exobasidium species on Rhododendron forming a monophyletic clade with strong statistical support and were unrelated to E. nobeyamense , another causal agent of witches' broom disease on Rhododendron species., (2021, by The Mycological Society of Japan.)