Athelia rolfsii  (Curzi) C.C. Tu & Kimbr., (1978)

Athelia stem rot

- classification : Fungi, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Agaricomycetidae, Atheliales, Atheliaceae
- synonymie : Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. (1911)
- English denomination: Athelia stem rot, Sclerotium stem rot, Southern wilt ...


Athelia rolfsii soil-based is a basidiomycete, very polyphagous , particularly rampant in warm tropical and subtropical regions . It mainly affects Cucurbitaceae crops produced in soil (especially fruits) and a very large number of other plants, whether or not cultivated (several hundred belonging to botanical families representing both mono- and dicotyledons).

If this fungus is particularly frequent and feared in many market garden soils of the French overseas departments and territories, it is relatively rare in metropolitan France ; its damage is sometimes observed in a few vegetable or ornamental production areas of the Côte-d'Azur, the Pyrénées-Orientales and the Basque Country.

To our knowledge, it has never been observed on Cucurbitaceae in France . On the other hand, it has been reported on melon, in particular in Korea, Vietnam, Israel, the United States, and in African countries,