Sansevieria trifasciata showing symptoms of leaf blight were observed in several states of Malaysia. Based on morphology and DNA sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region, nine isolates of Neoscytalidium dimidiatum were identified. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the isolates of N. dimidiatum from S. trifasciata with the epitype of Neoscytalidium dimidiatum (CBS499.66) from mango. Pathogenicity test showed that all isolates of N. dimidiatum caused leaf blight on S. trifasciata and fulfilled Koch's postulates.Keywords Neoscytalidium dimidiatum . Leaf blight . Sansevieria trifasciata . ITS Sansevieria trifasciata, commonly known as mother-in-law's tongue, is a popular ornamental plant that can be found throughout Malaysia. Besides its attractive dark and light green variegation, S. trifasciata is tolerant to a wide variety of habitats. Sansevieria trifasciata were reported to be infected by Colletotrichum sansevieriae (Nakamura et al. 2006) and Chaetomella sp. (Li et al. 2013) associated with anthracnose and leaf spot, respectively. In 2015, another disease symptom, leaf blight was observed on S. trifasciata in several states of Malaysia. Scytalidium-like fungal isolates were recovered during preliminary fungal isolation from the samples.During September 2015 and March 2017, diseased S. trifasciata with symptoms of leaf blight were collected from Penang and three other Malaysian states, namely Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Sarawak. Symptomatic samples were cut into approximately 1.5 cm 2 fragments and surface sterilised in 70% ethanol (C 2 H 5 OH) solution and 1% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution for 3 min each. Then, the samples were rinsed thrice in sterile distilled water for 1 min each before being plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25 ± 3°C for 3 to 5 days. Pure cultures were obtained by transferring a single conidium from the colony grown from surface sterilised samples onto fresh PDA and incubated as described previously. A mycelial plug 6 mm in diameter taken from a 7-days-old culture was transferred onto a PDA plate. The growth rate was recorded by measuring the colony diameter daily until the mycelia fully covered the plate. The isolates were cultured on 2% water agar (WA) overlaid with sterilised horsetail twigs (Casuarina equisetifolia) and carnation leaves, then were incubated as described previously to induce pycnidia formation. Measurements of 50 randomly selected conidia from pycnidia and arthrospores were taken.

The climate change scenario results in a reduction in rain precipitation in a large part of the tropical regions. This could be particularly severe for epiphytic species that rely entirely on rain or air humidity. Therefore, the knowledge of whether epiphytic plants can recover after a prolonged period of drought is pivotal in understanding their ecology, allowing us to better act for their conservation. In this study, drought stress was induced for 10 weeks in Asplenium nidus and Davallia denticulata, two tropical epiphytic ferns, by the exclusion of their water supply. Subsequently, they were rehydrated for 3 weeks. The aim was to test the effects of drought and the recovery rate of the fern species, and its relationship with stomatal conductance and chlorophyll content. In the prolonged drought stress period, D. denticulata showed a decline in both stomatal conductance and chlorophyll content values whilst A. nidus only showed a decline in stomatal conductance. In the rehydration interval, both species showed a steady recovery. The results indicated that the two species were negatively impacted by the 10 weeks of drought stress. However, A. nidus and D. denticulata recovered quickly in terms of stomatal conductance whereas for chlorophyll content, D. denticulata recovered at a slower rate compared to A. nidus. Therefore this study highlighted that A. nidus is better adapted to low precipitation and performed better in relation to future changes in precipitation. D. denticulata ranked second due to having more difficulty recovering from drought.