September 4 -- University of California researchers reported that two of the states most valued treescoast redwood and Douglas-firare susceptible to the sudden oak death pathogen. Scientists isolated living cultures of Phytophthora ranorum, the fungus responsible for sudden oak death, from the branches and needles of coast redwood and Douglas-fir saplings that had shown symptoms of infection. Sudden oak death was discovered on dead coast redwood sprouts last fall, but scientists couldnt confirm the pathogen was affecting the trees until living cultures were successfully grown from field samples.

For information, go to http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/r...09/04_SOD.html