Brown root rot caused by phellinus noxius in the Ogasawara (Bonin) islands, southern Japan - current status of the disease and its host plants

An unusual mortality of several woody plant species was recently found in the Ogasawara Islands. Here, we show that brown root rot caused by Phellinus noxius was the primary cause of this unusual tree death. Typical symptoms of the disease were confirmed on 41 plant species in 29 plant families. Among them, 23 were novel hosts of P. noxius, including 15 species endemic to the Ogasawara Islands. Six species were new host records in Japan.