2.1 Sample Collection.
Samples of maize and wild grasses with characteristic stromata ofPhyllachora spp . (Figure 1 A-F)) were collected from across North
America and Mexico in 2018 and 2019 (Table 1). Field specimens of
infested maize and other grasses were collected by numerous individuals
from the agricultural community as described in Kleczewski et al (2020).
Samples were pressed, dried at room temperature, and stored at 20°C in
manilla envelopes until processed. Herbarium specimens were obtained
from the U.S. National Fungus Collection (BPI, Beltsville, Maryland) and
the University of Illinois Herbarium (Urbana, Illinois), which included
specimens on maize and other grasses from additional hosts, countries,
and years (Table 1). A total of 186 samples from 16 hosts, and 15
countries collected from 1905-2019 were included in the analyses.