Screening for Resistance to Myrothecium Leaf Spot Among Syngonium Species and Cultivars

Commercially grown cultivars of Syngonium (Araceae) are very susceptible to Myrothecium leaf spot (incited by Myrothecium roridum Tode ex Fr.). Therefore, cultivation of Syngonium requires rigorous sanitation and frequent applications of fungicides for disease control. The goal of this research was to identify species and noncultivated accessions of Syngonium resistant to Myrothecium leaf spot. Five commercial cultivars and 30 accessions, comprising 16 different Syngonium species, were screened for resistance to M. roridum. All five commercial cultivars were susceptible to M. roridum. However, seven species (S. neglectum, S. wendlandii, S. dodsonianum, S. erythrophyllum, S. chiapense, S. dodsonianum, and S. angustatum) showed the highest resistance, as did two noncultivated accessions of S. podophyllum. The information on disease resistance for these species and accessions will be useful in future breeding work.