Abstract
A description is provided for Puccinia punctiformis. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. DISEASE: Rust of Cirsium species only. Since 1923 there has been some interest in North America and New Zealand in using P. punctiformis as an agent of biocontrol against Cirsium arvense, which is a malicious weed in grassland, especially during the change from intensive to extensive management (ecological cropping systems may also increase the incidence of this weed). On its own, P. punctiformis does not contain the host, but studies have shown that populations of the host can decline by 95% when the rosette weevil, Hadroplontus [Ceutorhynchus] litura, is also present. The effectiveness is, however, questionable because rhizomes of creeping thistle grow faster than the fungus can pervade them. HOSTS: Cirsium arvense, C. incanum (Compositae). GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: NORTH AMERICA: Canada (British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec, rare in the prairies), USA (California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin). ASIA: Afganistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Republic of Georgia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Russia (East Siberia, Omsk, Primorski krai), Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. AUSTRALASIA: Australia, New Zealand. EUROPE: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (Bashkir Republic, Ivanovo, Karelia Republic, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Nizhni Novgorod, Rostov, Samara, Saratov, Tatar Republic, Tver, Volgograd, Voronezh, Vyatka, Yekaterinburg), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine. TRANSMISSION: The mycelium survives in rhizomes of the infected plant and the next spring spreads up causing systemic infection of the new season's leaves and stems; urediniospores are disseminated by air currents; teliospores hibernate in the dead tissue of the host plant and then germinate to produce basidia with basidiospores, which re-infect the host plants.
An epidemiological study of Puccinia punctiformis (Str.) Rohl as a stepping-stone to the biological control of Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.