Fungi on Narthecium ossifragum leaves and their possible involvement in alveld disease of Norwegian lambs.

Abstract

Spores of Pithomyces chartarum (Berk. & Curt.) M.B. Ellis were only rarely seen on leaves of Narthecium ossifragum (L.) Hudson collected in summer from five areas in western Norway in which alveld, a photosensitization disease of lambs, is endemic. Cladosporium magnusianum (Jaap) M.B. Ellis was found on all 118 leaf samples collected in the summers of 1990 and 1991. The hypothesis that P. chartarum contributes to the aetiology of alveld could not be supported, but it is possible that C. magnusianum may have a role in the causation of the disease.