Rhododendron latoucheae is a globally renowned ornamental plant valued for its aesthetic appeal and economic significance. In May 2023, a leaf blight disease was observed on R. latoucheae in Guizhou Province, China, with approximately 20% of 500 surveyed plants showing symptoms of irregular reddish-brown lesions bearing black conidial clusters. The causal agent was identified as Neopestalotiopsis cubana through morphological characterisation and multilocus phylogenetic analysis (ITS, tef1-α, tub2).
