Hypocotyls of Pinus densiflora, a species known to be resistant to western gall rust, were inoculated with Endocronartium harknessii and examined by light and electron microscopy. Host cells, when initially infected, were apparently unaffected, as were the haustoria within them. Seedlings were observed to respond to infection in two ways. In the first type of response, infected cells showed signs of necrosis by 9 days after inoculation, although infecting haustoria appeared normal. By 18 days, most cortical cells in the centre of the infected region were necrotic, as were the haustoria within them. Infected cells at the colony margin still appeared healthy, indicating that host cell necrosis lagged behind infection and only occurred after the haustorium was established. Four weeks after inoculation, a ring of suberized and lignified endodermal cells separated the infected cortex from the uninfected vascular tissue and appeared to prevent further inward growth of the fungus. The second response type involved production of encapsulations around haustoria. Encapsulations appeared to have formed after haustoria senescence and were eventually followed by host cell death.