Malva sylvestris, novo hospedeiro de Puccinia heterospora no Brasil

a rust was observed attacking malva sylvestris plants in garanhuns, state of pernambuco, brazil. the fungus involved was identified as puccinia heterospora. this is a microcyclic species and has only the sexual stage: teliospores. such teliospores are of two kinds in this species: bicellular typical of puccinia and unicellular uromyces-like (mesospores), which are abundantly produced in that species. this rust species has a broad geographical distribution and infects plants belonging to the family malvaceae. this is the first report of p. heterospora attacking a species belonging to the genus malva in brazil. a representative specimen was deposited in the herbarium dimitri sucre benjamin of the instituto de pesquisas jardim botanico do rio de janeiro (jbrj-rb). herein are presented the description of the fungal morphology, illustrations and comments about the distinction of this species from morphologically similar rust species.