Plant Diseases and Their Pathogens

Abstract

Because this book is for reference, and not one to be read for pleasure or continuity, most of you will come to the material you need in this section by way of the index or the lists of diseases given under the different hosts in Chapter 4. On page 518 you will find a list of headings under which diseases are grouped and described, from Anthracnose to Wilts. In the Host section the key word, for example, rot or blight, is given in capital and small capitals, followed by the name of the pathogen (agent causing disease) in boldface. In this Diseases section the pathogens are listed in boldface in alphabetical order under each heading such as Rots or Blights and so on, followed by the common name of the disease. This system was adopted for quick and easy reference because trying to alphabetize hundreds of similar common names would lead to endless confusion. Also, it allows a very brief summary of the classification and diagnostic characters of each genus before going on to a consideration of diseases caused by the various species. This brief summary is in small type, so that it can be readily skipped by readers uninterested in the technical details. Perhaps I am the only one who feels the need for this quick review, to be used in conjunction with the classification given in Chapter 2; perhaps others who have to answer questions over a broad field instead of their own specialty can make use of these capsules sandwiched in between nontechnical descriptions.