Blight facts for kids
Blight refers to way plants wither when infected. It is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or flowers. Various diseases which cause the symptom are known as blights. Several notable examples are:
- Late blight of potato, caused by the water mould Phytophthora infestans, the disease which led to the Irish potato famine
- Southern corn leaf blight, caused by the fungus Cochliobolus heterostrophus czused a severe loss of corn in the United States in 1970.
- Chestnut blight, caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica has nearly completely eradicated mature American chestnuts in North America.
- Bacterial leaf blight of rice is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae.
- Early blight of potato and tomato, caused by species of the common fungal genus Alternaria
- Leaf blight of grasses. On leaf tissue, symptoms of blight are the initial appearance of lesions which rapidly engulf surrounding tissue.
Images for kids
-
Chestnut blight
-
Brown felt blight
-
Potato late blight
-
Fire blight appletree fruit
-
Three dead Bermuda cedars in 2019
_at_Prospect_Camp,_Bermuda_in_2019.jpg)
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Blight Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.