Plane trees ravaged by killer fungus
A deadly fungus targeting plane trees has reached epidemic proportions in Greece. So far, more than 52,000 plane trees have died, and there is a risk that most of these deciduous trees will be lost.
Scientists stress the need to observe very strict protection measures, as Ceratocystis platani (C. platani) is highly contagious and kills the trees it infects within a few years.
“So far, throughout Southern Europe, in France, Italy, Greece and elsewhere, where the fungus has struck, the death of affected trees has been massive. The youngest and smallest trees die within three years at most; the larger ones can last five or six years. Unfortunately, so far, no eastern plane trees, which grow in Greece, can survive this,” says forestry specialist Nikoleta Soulioti, research assistant at the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems’ Forest Pathology Laboratory.
The fungus has spread to the Peloponnese, Epirus, Thessaly, Evia, much of Central Greece, Pieria and Western Macedonia. Only areas east of Thessaloniki in Macedonia and Thrace are so far unaffected.
