Study of Some Species of the Genus Gymnosporangium and its Host Plant Families in Al-Kadmous Region, Syria

Ghazal, I. and A. Shaheen. 2022. Study of Some Species of the Genus Gymnosporangium and its Host Plant Families in Al-Kadmous Region, Syria. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 40(4): 286-292. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-40.4.286292 This study was carried out to identify some rust fungi species of the genus Gymnosporangium and to determine their hosts in the Mediterranean mountain region of Al-Kadmous, Tartous Governorate, Syria, during the period 2017-2020. The identified species were described morphologically, and stages of their lifecycle was detected on each host plant and their occurrence (%) on mutual hosts was assessed. The monitoring of various tree species, which belong to the family Rosaceae (subfamily: Pomoideae) in addition to all species of cypress (Cupressaceae), has shown mainly the existence of four species belonging to Gymnosporangium: G. sabinae (Dicks.) Winter, G. gracile Pat., G. confusum Plowr. and G. clavariiforme (Wulfen) DC. The pycnia and the aecia stages were recorded on all cultivated pear trees (Pyrus sp.), and the wild pear or Syrian pear (Pyrus syriaca). The second species was found on the wild hawthorn (Crataegus azarolus and Crataegus monogyna) and quince (Cydonia sp.). As for the rest of the species, they were found only on wild hawthorn. In addition, the telial stage (Telia) of the four species was found on the primary or winter host juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus). Finally, it was noticed that the distribution of this genus depended entirely on the existence of the Juniper shrubs nearby the Pomoideae species. Keywords: Rust fungi, Gymnosporangium, Host Plant, Pomoideae, Juniper, Al- Kadmous Region, Syria.