Information from the RHS on this disease which primarily affects plums, its symptoms, biology and control. Spores of the silver leaf fungus Chondrostereum purpureum syn. Stereum purpureum enter through recently injured surfaces such as pruning cuts, broken branches and frost cracks. They produce fungal threads, which grow through the living wood, killing the tissues. The fungus does not spread into the leaves and there is no danger of infection from the silvered leaves. The fungus produces a toxin which spreads upwards in the sap and causes the cells of the upper leaf surfaces to separate, so that air accumulates between the cell layers, altering the lightreflecting qualities of the leaf and giving it a silvery appearance.

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