Harknessia globosa is somewhat of a mystery. It was first described in 1971 from a collection made in Taranaki in 1922 from a tree recorded as Eucalyptus globulus. As far as is known this was the only record until the fungus was rediscovered on totara in 1976; H. globosa is thus unlikely to be native to New Zealand. Further research has revealed that H. globosa is prevalent on both totara and Hall’s totara in the central North Island and in Hawke’s Bay, and in both regions appears to be strongly associated with bud and shoot deaths — on some trees as much as 3 0 - 40% of the annual seasonal growth has been killed. However, the results of laboratory tests on the pathogenicity of this fungus, and of the Seiridium sp., have proved inconclusive.