Phytophthora plurivora is a very aggressive soil-borne plant pathogen, with worldwide distribution and a wide variety of hosts.

It belongs to the class of oomycetes and is often described as a ‘fungal-like’ organism since they form a heterotrophic mycelium as the ‘true fungi’, but in contrast, their cell wall lacks chitin and is composed only of cellulose and glucans.

Its name derives from Greek Phytophthora φυτόν (phytón), “plant” and φθορά (phthorá), “destruction”; “the plant-destroyer” and plurivora from Latin (pluri = many, -vora = feeding).

Burgess, based not just on morphological and physiological characters, but also on phylogenetic analyses, proposed that the isolates of P. citricola showed a high diversity and were then subdivided into four new groups, among them the new species P. plurivora sp.

nov.[1] P. citricola and P. plurivora differ in length and breadth ratio of sporangia, colony growth patterns and optimal temperature.