Updated Index of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Plant Hosts

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a fungal pathogen that can cause economically important diseases in a vast number of plant species around the world. In 1994, a list of S. sclerotiorum hosts was published by Greg Boland and Robert Hall. Since then, numerous reports of new hosts for this pathogen have been published but the information is scattered through multiple databases. The goal of this study was to update the list of plant hosts of S. sclerotiorum and their taxonomic classification by reviewing the existing scientific literature. Evidence of inoculation was sought as the main way to confirm that a species was a host. Updating the botanical classification of the 408 host species listed by Boland and Hall in 1994, reduced it to 366 species, of which only 226 species distributed among 170 genera in 53 families could be confirmed as hosts. In addition, 262 new host species distributed among 170 genera in 35 families were identified, elevating the total number of confirmed hosts to 488 species distributed among 340 genera in 88 families and 36 botanical orders. The orders Apiales, Asterales, Brassicales, Fabales, and Lamiales accounted for 60% of recorded hosts; and their representative families, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae, respectively, accounted for 53% of the known hosts. The updated index of plant hosts will be a useful tool for researchers, extension specialists, and plant diagnosticians.