Hemileia vastatrix, commonly known as coffee rust, is a fungal pathogen that produces orange, rust-colored powdery lesions on the underside of coffee plant leaves, eventually causing widespread leaf loss and reduced yields. It devastated the coffee industry of British Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, a collapse that led growers there to switch to tea production instead, and it remains one of the most economically damaging diseases threatening coffee cultivation worldwide today.
Facts
Classification
DietPhotosynthetic Autotroph 2 System (Realm) Relationship to PeopleAgricultural or Structural Pest 1 Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceYellow-orange, powdery mycelium with uredinia on the underside of leaves 1 Scientific Name Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Wikidata: Coffee Rust
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Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Hemileia vastatrix
Intro, first sentence
Hemileia vastatrix is a multicellular basidiomycete fungus
Appearance
The mycelium with uredinia looks yellow-orange and powdery, and appears on the underside of leaves
Section: Economic impact; begins "As farmers shifted from coffee to other crops no"
As farmers shifted from coffee to other crops not affected by CLR, land used for growing coffee was reduced by 80%, from 68,787 to 14,170 ha.
View the Source2. Wikidata: Coffee Rust
- Wikidata Q1568601, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Introduction
- Child Taxon Of: Pucciniomycetes, Wikidata parent-taxon (P171) chain
View the Source3. GBIF Species API
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
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