Fusarium species associated with medicinal plants of Lamiaceae and Asteraceae

The purpose of this study was to identify the Fusarium species associated with selected medicinal plant species of Lamiaceae and Asteraceae in Kerman, the second-largest province of Iran. The plants showing wilting/rotting symptoms as well as asymptomatic plants were collected from main medicinal plants reservoirs and production areas. Fusarium species were identified based on morphological characteristics as well as subsequent sequencing of the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α) gene. The following species were identified: F. oxysporum, F. solani and F. nygamai from Achillea wilhelmsii (Asteraceae); F. solani, F. proliferatum and species of F. tricinctum species complex from Teucrium polium (Lamiaceae); F. solani, F. proliferatum and species of F. tricinctum species complex from Ziziphora tenuior (Lamiaceae); F. solani and a species of F. tricinctum species complex from Thymus carmanicus (Lamiaceae); F. redolens, F. brachygibbosum, F. proliferatum, F. tricinctum species complex, F. compactum and F. equiseti from Mentha piperita (Lamiaceae); and F. solani and F. proliferatum from Ziziphora cliniopodiodes (Lamiaceae). For the first time, the pathogenicity of Fusarium nygamai on Achillea wilhelmsii as well as F. redolens and F. brachygibbosum on Mentha piperita were confirmed in this study.