Original paper
Bremia bouquets beside the blue bay – an overlooked oomycete on Scorzoneroides autumnalis from Blávík (Iceland)
Kontos, Ilias; Choi, Young-Joon; Thines, Marco
Nova Hedwigia Band 122 Heft 3-4 (2026), p. 395 - 407
39 references
published: Jan 22, 2026
published online: Oct 28, 2025
manuscript accepted: Sep 9, 2025
manuscript revision requested: Sep 4, 2025
manuscript received: Jul 22, 2025
DOI: 10.1127/nova_hedwigia/1192
ArtNo. ESP050012203011, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Bremia is a genus of biotrophic oomycetes reported to cause downy mildew infection on over 200 species from 40 different genera of plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae). Taxonomy of Bremia has been neglected as species lack clear-cut morphological differences and host-specificity was not considered to be sufficient for species delimitation for a long time. However, molecular phylogenies revealed that a narrow species concept should be applied and that the type species Bremia lactucae, which most Bremia occurrences were attributed to, is restricted to Lactuca sativa and Lactuca serriola, and that many distinct lineages with a high host-specificity exist in the genus. While a comprehensive revision is still outstanding and many species remain to be described, the discovery of the undescribed Bremia species in autumn hawkbit (Scorzoneroides autumnalis) at the Blávík research station in Iceland motivated taking the first steps into this direction. Thus, as a representative of one of the many overlooked Bremia species, Bremia blauvikensis is introduced here, and the taxonomy of the genus is shortly discussed.