brown spot needle blight

(Dothistroma pini)

A fungal disease of the Ascomycetes very closely related to red band needle blight, found mainly in North and Central America but also present in Europe including France. It causes similar symptoms. In the US the disease is said to reduce the productivity of southern pine forests by about 0.5M m3 per year and has recently become damaging in plantations of Scots pine (grown there for Christmas trees).The disease is favoured by high summer rainfall. Brown spot needle blight is a potential alien invasive species in Britain.



This definition is abridged from A – Z of tree terms: A companion to British arboriculture.
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