The ascomycete order Diaporthales includes a number of plant pathogenic fungi, the most notorious of which is Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr, the chestnut blight fungus that altered the landscape of eastern North America (Anagnostakis 1987). Other diseases caused by members of this order include stem canker of soybeans (Diaporthe phaseolorum (Cooke & Ellis) Sacc. and its varieties), stem-end rot of citrus fruits (Diaporthe citri F.A. Wolf), and peach canker disease (Phomopsis amygdali (Del.) J.J. Tuset & T. Portilla) (Farr et al 1999). Some species produce secondary metabolites that result in toxicoses of animals such as lupinosis of sheep (Diaporthe toxica P.M. Will. et al.) (Williamson et al 1994). A number of asexually reproducing plant pathogenic fungi also belong in the Diaporthales, such Greeneria uvicola (Berk. & Curt.) Punith., cause of bitter rot of grape, and Discula destructiva Redlin, cause of dogwood anthracnose, both of which are mitotic diaporthalean species with no known sexual state (Farr et al 2001, Zhang and Blackwell 2001).
This site will document the work of the Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory in clarifying the systematics of this large and agriculturally important group of fungi.
Brief synopsis of the Diaporthales
Families and genera with illustrations as circumscribed in Castlebury et. al (2002) Interactive OR HTML page
Compare family arrangements in Barr, Eriksson, Dictionary of the Fungi, Kobayashi and Castlebury et. al Interactive OR HTML page