Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) has been widely grown in Malaysia because of its fiber content and economic value. In October 2019, blight symptoms were observed on kenaf leaves in a plantation in Chuping, Perlis, Malaysia. The symptoms appeared as irregular, yellowish to brownish water-soaked lesions, which expanded and are accompanied by pycnidial formation in concentric rings. At severe stage, the blighted leaves became dried and defoliated. This study aimed to investigate the causal pathogen of the leaf blight of H. cannabinus. Overall, 20 fungal isolates recovered from the blighted leaves of H. cannabinus were identified as Coniella javanica based on their morphological characteristics and DNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1-α) gene. Phylogenetic analysis of combined dataset of the ITS and TEF1-α, congregated the fungal isolates with the reference isolates of C. javanica (CBS 455.68 and GUE-29). The pathogenicity of C. javanica isolates was confirmed through pathogenicity tests. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. javanica causing the leaf blight of H. cannabinus in Malaysia.

红麻（Hibiscus cannabinus）因其纤维含量和经济价值而在马来西亚广泛种植。2019 年 10 月，在马来西亚玻璃市楚平的一个种植园的红麻叶上观察到了枯萎病症状。症状表现为不规则的、淡黄色至褐色的水浸病灶，病灶扩大并伴有同心环的分生孢子形成。严重时，枯叶干枯落叶。本研究旨在调查大麻叶枯病的致病病原体。总的来说，从大麻枯萎的叶子中回收的 20 株真菌被鉴定为Coniella javanica基于它们的形态特征和内部转录间隔区 (ITS) 区域和翻译延伸因子 1-α (TEF1-α) 基因的 DNA 序列。对 ITS 和 TEF1-α 的组合数据集进行系统发育分析，将真菌分离物与C. javanica的参考分离物（CBS 455.68 和 GUE-29）聚集在一起。C. javanica分离株的致病性通过致病性试验得到证实。据我们所知，这是C. javanica在马来西亚引起H. cannabinus叶枯病的第一份报告。