Garden Pests and Diseases: Brown spots on Aucuba. What from?, 1 by nosopradio

nosopradio wrote:
I have had this aucuba for several years. I just noticed that some of the leaves have these brown splotches. It is not on the entire plant - just some leaves. This past New York winter was unusually mild.
This shrub is partially under a deciduous tree, so in the winter, it is a bit more exposed to the sun than in the summer. I don't know if this matters.
Does anyone know what would cause this? It reminds me of fungus. Some older leaves with these spots are falling off, but I have noticed that leaves do fall off the aucubas sometimes.
Incidentally, for the first time, this aucuba has bright red berries on one side of the shrub, and that portion of the shrub that has berries is fine.
I think the berries mean that it is a female shrub and that one of the newer aucubas in my yard is a male. Is that correct?
I would appreciate any help. Thanks.