A Review of the List of Plant Diseases in Korea and the Names of Korean Tree Diseases

Abstract

Since the List of Plant Diseases in Korea (DisList) was first published in 1986, the 6th edition appeared 36 years later. In 2023, the 6.1 edition, a revised and improved version of the 6th edition, was released to the public on the web free of charge. The contents of DisList increased, with the number of hosts increasing from 437 taxa to 1,420 taxa and the number of disease species increasing from 1,539 to 6,680. Among these, tree diseases are 3,586 species and their hosts include 504 taxa, providing much help to experts who need them. Meanwhile, the importance of accurate disease names continues to grow with the legalization of tree care, but many disease names are still inappropriate or misused, causing confusion. Disease names that do not follow the naming regulations are still registered, and even if the same pathogen infects hosts of the same taxa, the disease names are given differently, and there are many disease names that do not indicate the characteristics of the disease. Also, there are diseases reported without Korean names. In order to make DisList better, the review committee for disease names should establish the regulations to review and register disease names, and establish a system to review new disease names before publishing papers.