Return to: MREC Home Page
Return to: FDACS Index
Plant Pathology Circular No. 356
November/December 1992
Fla. Dept. Agric. & Consumer Serv.
Division of Plant Industry
S. A. Alfieri, Jr.*
The fringe tree, Chionanthus virginicus L. is also known as the old man's beard, flowering ash, grandfather-graybeard, snowflower-tree, white-fringe, poison ash, graybeard-tree, sunflower-tree, and shavings (7). The genus name Chionanthus is a combination of two Greek words meaning "snowflower" and is a member of the ash family, Oleaceae (5,7). C. virginicus is a large shrub or slender tree, up to 30 feet tall, dioecious, deciduous, with dark green foliage, and is primarily grown for its large, snowy, abundant, white panicles of flowers (2). Flowering occurs in early summer in the south with the blooms and flower panicles being larger and showier on the staminate plants (4). The fringe tree is native to the eastern United States and ranges from Oklahoma Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana, eastward to Florida and northward to Pennsylvania and New Jersey (7). In landscape plantings, fringe trees do best in full sun, but can withstand partday shade and prefer fertile, moist but well drained soils (4). The bark has medicinal uses as a diuretic and fever remedy (7).
Of the relatively few pathogens affecting the fringe tree (1,5), Phyllosticta chionanthi Thuem. (3,5,6) is a leaf-spotting fungus of moderate importance and occurs infrequently with only minor, pathogenic effect to the foliage.
Figure 1. Phyllosticta leaf spot of fringe tree, Chionanthus virginicus DPI File #702560-17.
SYMPTOMS: Phyllosticta leaf spot is characterized by usually a single to few dark brown, subcircular lesions, up to 5 mm in diameter with a tan center, reddish brown narrow margin, and a prominent yellow halo (Fig. 1).
CONTROL: Since this disease occurs infrequently and at a relatively low incidence on the foliage, disease control measures are generally unnecessary.
SURVEY AND DETECTION: The occurrence of dark brown, subcircular lesions with a tan center and reddish brown narrow margin and prominent yellow halo is evidence of this disease.
*Plant Pathologist, Emeritus (Deceased), FDACS, Division of Plant industry, P. O. Box 147100, Gainesville, FL 32614-7100.
LITERATURE CITED
1. Alfieri, S. A., Jr., Langdon, K R., Wehlburg, C. and Kimbrough, J. W. 1984. Index of Plant Diseases in Florida Fla Dept. Agric. & Consumer Services, Div. Plant Industry Bull. 11. 389 p.
2. Bailey, L. H. 1961. The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 1:748.
3. Ellis, J. B., and Everhart, B. M. 1900. The North American Phyllostictas. Gus E. Smith, Vineland, New Jersey. 79 pp.
4. Everett, T. H. 1981. Chionanthus. The New York Bot. Gard. Illust. Encyc. Hort. 3:729-730.
5. Farr, D. F., Bills, G. F., Chamuris, G. P. and Rossman, Amy Y. 1989. Fungi on Plant and Plant Products in the United States. APS Press, St. Paul, Minn. 1252 p.
6. Saccardo, P. A. 1884. Sphaerioidaceae to Melanconiaceae. Sylloge Fungorum 3:29-30.
7. Vines, R. A. 1960. Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southwest Univ. Texas Press, Austin. 1104 p.
Contribution No. 681, Bureau of Plant Pathology
