A Gram-stain positive, filamentous bacterial strain, designated strain NEAU-TWSJ13(T), was isolated from the rhizosphere of a marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) plant collected in Heilongjiang Province, northeast China, and characterized using a polyphasic approach. The strain was observed to form abundant aerial hyphae differentiated into spherical sporangia. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity studies showed that strain NEAU-TWSJ13(T) belongs to the genus Streptosporangium, being most closely related to Streptosporangium fragile DSM 43847(T) (98.6 %). Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that it formed a phyletic line with S. fragile DSM 43847(T), Streptosporangium jomthongense NBRC 110047(T) (98.4 % 16S rRNA gene similarity) and Streptosporangium violaceochromogenes DSM 43849(T) (97.6 % 16S rRNA gene similarity). A combination of DNA-DNA hybridization results and some phenotypic characteristics indicated that strain NEAU-TWSJ13(T) can be distinguished from S. fragile DSM 43847(T) and S. jomthongense NBRC 110047(T). Moreover, strain NEAU-TWSJ13(T) can also be differentiated from S. violaceochromogenes DSM 43849(T) and other Streptosporangium species showing high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>98.0 %) by morphological and physiological characteristics. Therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-TWSJ13(T) represents a novel species of the genus Streptosporangium, for which the name Streptosporangium subfuscum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-TWSJ13(T) ( = CGMCC 4.7146(T) = DSM = 46724(T)).