''Puccinia jaceae'' var. ''solstitialis'' is a species of
fungus
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
in the
Pucciniaceae
The Pucciniaceae are a family of rust fungi that cause plant diseases, mainly on cereals such as wheat. The family contains 20 genera and over 4900 species.
Genera
Genera in the Pucciniaceae include:
* '' Chrysella''
* '' Chrysocyclus''
* '' Ch ...
family. It is a
plant pathogen
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...
that causes
rust
Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH ...
. Native to
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
, it is the first fungal pathogen approved in the United States as a biological control agent to curb the growth of the invasive weed
yellow starthistle
''Centaurea solstitialis'', the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus ''Centaurea'', which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other ...
(''Centaurea solstitialis'').
History
The
rust
Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH ...
species ''Puccinia jaceae'' was originally described by German botanist Gustav Heinrich Otth in 1866. In 1953,
Hylander and colleagues
synonymized ''P. jaceae'' with the ''P. hieracii'', a
species complex
In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
of rusts that attacked various ''
Cichorieae
The Cichorieae (also called Lactuceae) are a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae that includes 93 genera, more than 1,600 sexually reproductive species and more than 7,000 Apomixis, apomictic species. They are found primarily in temperate region ...
'' plants. Later research determined that ''P. jaceae'' differed from the species ''P. hieracii'', and ''Puccinia jaceae'' var. ''solstitialis'' was recognized as a variant of ''P. jaceae'' in a 1970 publication.
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Description
The fruiting bodies
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...
, the pycnia, are flask-shaped and amphigenous (bearing hymenium
The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some ...
all over the surface of the spore-producing body). This species also has amphigenous