A tomato plant, Solanum lycopersicum (formerly Lycopersicon esculentum ) affected by late blight, Phytophthora infestans. The picture shows a truss of

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A tomato plant, Solanum lycopersicum (formerly Lycopersicon esculentum ) affected by late blight, Phytophthora infestans. The picture shows a truss of infected fruits. A small green uninfected fruit is seen below centre right. Each of the ripening fruits shows damage to the skin. None of these will ripen normally; they will turn brown and rot. The picture also shows withered foliage and, above centre, right, browning of the stalk of the truss. These symptoms develop throughout the plant as the infection proceeds, leading to total collapse and death. Late blight is a very serious disease of outdoor grown tomatoes. It occurs typically following a period of warm wet weather in mid to late summer. P. infestans is also the causative agent of late blight of potatoes, and was responsible for the Irish potato famine of 1845-6, thought to have resulted in one million deaths from starvation

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Size: 3468px × 5212px
Photo credit: © DR JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: biological, biology, blight, botanical, botany, disease, esculentum, famine, infestans, irish, late, lycopersicon, lycopersicum, phytophthora, plant, potato, solanum, tomato