A new species of Bipolaris from the halophyte Sesuvium portulacastrum in Guangdong Province, China

A new non-graminicolous species found to infect Sesuvium portulacastrum (Aizoaceae) in China is introduced. Bipolaris sesuvii is characterized by straight, subcylindrical conidia with monopolar germination. Phylogenetic analysis based oil ITS rDNA sequences show that B. sesuvii clusters with B. indica, which is distinguished by its straight, short clavate conidia. The combination of DNA sequence and morphological data indicate that B. sesuvii is a distinct species of Bipolaris. Pathogenicity tests also confirm that Sesuvium portulacastrum (sea purslane) is a natural host of B. sesuvii causing leaf lesions, leaf blight, or leaf rot and stem lesions.