A utilitarian approach to Fusarium identification

Most plant pathologists, at some time in their career, must identify a culture of a Fusarium species. The complexity of the problem varies, depending on the host from which the culture originated and the degree of resolution required in the identification. Fusarium species cause a huge range of diseases on an extraordinary range of host plants. The fungus can be soil-borne, airborne, or carried in plant residue, and can be recovered from any part of a plant from the deepest root to the highest flower. In addition, Fusarium taxonomy has been plagued by changing species concepts, with as few as nine or well over 1,000 species being recognized by various taxonomists during the past 100 years, depending on the species concept employed.