Sycamore

From Bugwoodwiki

USDA Forest Service. 1979. A guide to common insects and diseases of forest trees in the northeastern United States. Northeast. Area State Priv. For., For. Insect and Disease Management., Broomall, PA. p. 123, illus.

Sycamore anthracnose is caused by Gnomonia platani. The hosts include American and European sycamore and London plane. Leaves, twigs, buds, and shoots are infected.

Twig blight occurs in spring before the leaves emerge. Cankers may appear later on older branches below the dead twigs, sometimes girdling and killing them. Bud blight occurs in April or early May. Shoot blight, which is often confused with frost damage, is most severe when the mean daily temperature is 50 to 55oF; it seldom occurs when the temperature is higher than 60oF. Sycamore anthracnose is common throughout the range of sycamore in the eastern United States.

Small, black fruiting bodies are found on twigs killed by the fungus during the twig blight stage. Dark-brown fruiting bodies appear in the diseased tissues along the midribs and veins on the undersides of infected leaves.