Heterobasidion occidentale
| Heterobasidion occidentale | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Russulales |
| Family: | Bondarzewiaceae |
| Genus: | Heterobasidion |
| Species: | H. occidentale |
| Binomial name | |
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Heterobasidion occidentale Otrosina & Garbel. (2010) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Heterobasidion occidentale is a tree root-rotting pathogenic fungus in the family Bondarzewiaceae. It is endemic in western North America west of the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to southern Mexico. While a natural agent of forest turnover, H. occidentale has become of increased concern due to forest management processes such as pre-commercial thinning, altered site density and species composition, and carbon sequestration. H. occidentale forms part of the genus that includes other species forming the important forest pest Heterobasidion annosum sensu lato that is spread across the Northern Hemisphere. H. occidentale is part of the S-type intersterility group differing from the other North American species, Heterobasidion irregulare.
H. occidentale is found in Western North America from Alaska to Southern Mexico. It is found as far inland as Colorado and Montana, but has not been observed east of the Rocky Mountains. The incidence is of highest importance in stands of intensive silviculture, such as Christmas tree plantations. It is also of high importance to the Abies religiosa forests in Central Mexico that are the winter home for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexipus).
H. occidentale affects several species of trees including major hosts including Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and various fir (Abies) species. Other notable hosts include sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) as well as numerous deciduous trees such as red alder (Alnus rubra), bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) and pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii). Ornamental and landscape trees are seldom affected. This contrasts the Eurasian S-type species, H. parviporum, which has a fairly strict host range of spruce, fir, and larch.
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