First report of Alternaria blight of Paulownia spp.

A severe disease was observed in Western Australian plantations ofPaulownia fortunei in October 2001. Symptoms included black and light brown leaf lesions, and sunken cankers on petioles, branches and trunks of many trees.Alternaria spp. were isolated from 100% of all diseased tissues. Sequence data from the ribosomal ITS operon placed all isolates within theA. alternata complex. This is the first report ofAlternaria blight of Paulownia spp.