ABSTRACT
Leucostoma canker, also called perennial canker, Cytospora canker, and Valsa canker, is recognized as an important disease of peach in the northern portions of the region suitable for production of temperate fruits, including Canada, and the northeastern US It is mentioned as part of a complex set of factors associated with peach tree short-life syndrome in the southeastern US There are a great many fungal pathogens of fruit trees that cause twig and stem cankers and that also cause leaf spots and/or fruit rots. There are some fungal pathogens, however, that primarily cause stem cankers and that cause major economic losses in some regions. In 1-year-old peach shoots exhibiting tip dieback from natural infection in the field by either L. cincta or L. persoonii, fungal mycelium was present within the cankered area in the cortical tissue, phloem, xylem vessels, and pith. The mycelium was intracellular in the xylem vessels and pith.
