Many of the species in this genus are common and important plant pathogens.

They typically infect the foliage and cause tannish-gray leaf spots with dark brown to purple borders.

[2] Representatives of the genus are found worldwide and on a wide range of plant hosts.

[8] However, the phylogenetic analyses by Wikee et al. (2013a) allocated Phyllosticta in a clade sister to Botryosphaeriaceae.

[9] As a result, the genus was accepted in the family Phyllostictaceae, in the order Botryosphaeriales.