First Report of Rust Disease Caused by Uromyces galegae on Galega officinalis in Turkey.

Abstract

Galega officinalis L. is an obnoxious invasive weed in the United States and a potential target for biological control efforts. The plant, a member of the legume family, is native to western Asia and southern Europe. During September 2001, uredinial pustules were observed on leaves of G. officinalis L. in Kizilcahamam, Ankara. Specimens were examined microscopically and compared with published descriptions (2) and herbarium specimens in the U.S. National Fungus Collections, Beltsville, MD. The fungus was subsequently identified as Uromyces galegae (Opiz) Sacc. on the basis of morphological characteristics of the uredinia, urediniospores, and teliospores. The following description is from the Turkish material: uredinia subcircular to oblong, hypophyllous, rarely epiphyllous at petiole, and 0.5 to 1 mm in diameter; urediniospores subovoid to subglobose, 17.5 to 20.0 × 19.5 to 22.5 μm (average = 18.0 × 20.0 μm), wall 1 to 2 μm thick, finely echinulate, cinnamon brown, and with 3 to 5 usually equatorial germ pores; telia similar to uredinia; teliospores irregular in shape ranging from globose to ovoid to triangular, apex papillate, wall 2 to 3 μm thick, thicker at the apex, chestnut brown, strongly verrucose to tuberculate, 17.5 to 22.5 × 22.5 to 27.5 μm (average = 20.3 × 24.5 μm), pedicel hyaline, and easily broken. Voucher specimens are deposited in the U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI 863535); a nucleotide sequence spanning the ITS2 and 28S rDNA genes of this isolate was obtained and deposited in Gen-Bank (Accession No. DQ250133). U. galegae has been reported on G. officinalis from Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy (1). To our knowledge, this is the first report of U. galegae in Turkey and marks the eastern-most record for its distribution.