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Project Noah Nature School
Rumex obtusifolius
Dock is a common weed in our neighborhood. Often I have seen leaves with red-brown spots, but this specimen seems overcome with them! Only one leaf was heavily affected.
Urban residential parking strip.
One fungus that has been described as causing disease in R. obtusifolius is Uromyces rumicis (Hatcher, Ayres, & Whittaker 1994). I didn't observe any aecia on either side of the leaf... Could also be Ramularia rubella, according to the PNW Fungi Database.
Spotted on Feb 27, 2015
Submitted on Feb 26, 2015
7 Comments
Oh, I found this wonderful tool called the Pacific Northwest Fungi Database, and you can look up documented local (for me, because I'm in the PNW) pathogens for your species. For Rumex it lists Puccinia acetosae, Uromyces rickerianus, Venturia rumicis, and Ramularia rubella. And by far I think it looks the most like R. rubella.
OK Hayley.
I have had a look in my Rumex folder.I will post on noah
Hello Hayley. Sounds about right for Wiki.
aecia soon disappear
I'll dig out some pics from my external hard drive and see what I have on dock..
There are a few spottings of Puccinia phragmitis on dock uploaded to iSpot (a similar site to Project Noah based in Britain) and they have something on the lesions called aecia, which I gather are the fruiting bodies. Whatever this is doesn't have any. http://www.ispotnature.org/node/263269
Great suggestion! Ha, the wikipedia article for it is all in German and the translation is kind of funny. It calls Puccinia phragmitis a "stand mushroom art."
Hayley.
As you seem to be very interested in plants remember that most plants have their own Micro Fungi and Insect Galls.It is an added bonus to fjnd these.In Britain we have field guides for both.
Micro Fungi on Land Plants and Guide to Plant Galls in Britain.
Hello again Hayley.
Check out Puccinia phragmitis