Abstract A description is provided for Peronophythora litchii . Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Litchi chinensis. Peronophythora litchii also infected artificially inoculated fruits of tomato, pawpaw and loofah ( Luffa cylindrica [Luffa aegyptiaca] )(64, 1198). DISEASE: Fruit rot or downy blossom blight of lychee (litchi); the fungus is a facultative necrotrophic plant pathogen. Diseased flowers turn brown and become covered with whitish masses of sporangia and sporangiophores. Young and ripe fruits, pedicels and leaves are also attacked, their tissues turning brown and dying, especially in periods of heavy rain (64, 688). The infection period was shown in laboratory studies to be fast and temperature dependent, varying from 1 day at 25°C to 3 days at 18°C (64, 1198). Continuous rain in the growing season in May appears important for development of an epiphytotic. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Asia: China (Guangdong), New Guinea, Taiwan. See CMI Distribution Maps of Plant Diseases 597. TRANSMISSION: Sporangia not liberated by moving air, but readily dispersed in splash droplets, suggesting a rain-splash mechanism.