Podosphaera fugax

Podosphaera fugax is a species of powdery mildew in the family Erysiphaceae. It is found across the globe, where it affects plants in the genus Geranium.

Podosphaera fugax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Leotiomycetes
Order:	Helotiales
Family:	Erysiphaceae
Genus:	Podosphaera
Species:	P. fugax
Binomial name
Podosphaera fugax (Penz. & Sacc.) U. Braun & S. Takam., 2000
Synonyms
Sphaerotheca fugax Penz. & Sacc., 1884 Albigo fugax (Penz. & Sacc.) Kuntze, 1898 Erysiphe communis var. geranii Klotzsch, 1832

Description

The fungus forms dense patches, primarily on stems, flowers, and fruits, with small white spots on leaves, eventually turning brown. Podosphaera fugax, like most Erysiphaceae, is highly host-specific and infects only plants in the genus Geranium. There are other species also affecting Geranium, including Neoerysiphe geranii and Erysiphe geraniacearum, which is generally considered to mostly affect smaller geraniums such as G. robertianum. Microscopy is often necessary to determine infections on Geranium to species-level.^[1]

Taxonomy

The fungus was formally described in 1884 by Penzig and Saccardo with the basionym Sphaerotheca fugax. The species was transferred to the genus Podosphaera by Uwe Braun and Susumu Takamatsu in 2000.^[2]