is a Pathogen and Endophyte of Potato and Sunflower in the Columbia Basin of Washington.

The objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that causes diseases of sunflower and potato plants. Two sunflower genotypes and one potato cultivar were inoculated with five isolates and three pathogenic isolates. Biomass, disease expression, and stem colonization were quantified. Overt wilt symptoms were observed on both sunflower genotypes and potato plants inoculated with a subset of the isolates. Biomass of both sunflower genotypes was not affected by infection. Tuber yields either decreased in response to infection by one isolate or were not affected by infection. Stems of sunflower and potato plants were infected by at least four of the five isolates. A new disease of sunflower and potato is documented. Evidence that exhibits different lifestyles including pathogenicity and endophytism is presented. Finally, this research documents variation in fungal lifestyles that can exist in samples from a single field.