Pleosporales

The Pleosporales is the largest order in the fungal class Dothideomycetes. By some estimates it contains 23 families, 332 genera and more than 4700 species. The majority of species are saprobes on decaying plant material in fresh water, marine, or terrestrial environments, but several species are also associated with living plants as parasites, epiphytes or endophytes. The best studied species cause plant diseases on important agricultural crops e.g. Cochliobolus heterostrophus, causing southern corn leaf blight on maize, Phaeosphaeria nodorum (Stagonospora nodorum) causing glume blotch on wheat and Leptosphaeria maculans causing a stem canker (called blackleg) on cabbage crops (Brassica). Some species of Pleosporales occur on animal dung and a small number occur as lichens and rock-inhabiting fungi. The oldest member of Pleosporales is the extinct genus Margaretbarromyces which was described from Eocene age strata on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.