Clive Michael Brasier

Ophiostoma novo-ulmi is a species of fungus in the family Ophiostomataceae. It is one of the key causative agents associated with Dutch Elm Disease (DED), along with Ophiostoma ulmi and Ophiostoma himal-ulmi. Dutch Elm Disease was first identified in Europe during the early 1900s and by the 1940s the disease had spread throughout Europe and into the United States and Canada. Elm trees (Ulmus) were heavily used as a trade commodity in logging practices in the late 1800s-1900s. Historically, these trees have seen widespread use as a building material in products such as wheels, chairs, ships,

Phytophthora alni is an oomycete plant pathogen that causes lethal root and collar rot in alders. It is widespread across Europe and has recently been found in North America. This species is believed to have originated relatively recently.

Ophiostoma himal-ulmi is a species of fungus in the family Ophiostomataceae. It is one of the causative agents of Dutch elm disease. It was first isolated around breeding galleries of scolytid beetles in the bark of Ulmus wallichiana (the Himalayan elm). This, together with the fact that it is endemic to the Himalayas, is the reason it is named himal-ulmi (‘of the Himalayan elm’; ulmi means ‘of the elm’). It is outcrossing and heterothallic, with two sexual compatibility types: A and B, occurring in a near 1:1 ratio in nature. It also exhibits a distinctive colony type, an ability to produce