First Report of F usarium proliferatum Infecting Carnation ( D ianthus caryophyllus L.) in C hina

In 2011, a wilt disease has been detected on carnation ( D ianthus caryophyllus L .) cultivar ‘ L ight P ink B arbara’ in K unming, Y unnan, C hina. A F usarium sp. was consistently recovered from pieces of symptomatic tissues on Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar ( PDA ). On the basis of morphological characteristics and molecular identification by DNA sequencing of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (r DNA ITS ) and partial translation elongation factor‐1α ( TEF ) gene region, following their phylogenetic trees construction, the putative causal agent was identified as F usarium proliferatum ( M atsushima) N irenberg, and its pathogenicity was finally confirmed by K och's postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a wilt disease caused by F . proliferatum on carnation in C hina.