20 HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-ROT. 



A report of palm diseases in India mentions the coconut palm as 

 follows : 



The most serious aspect of the matter is the fact that coconut palms are undoubtedly 

 subject to infection. In Ramachandrapuram taluka few cases only were seen, but 

 in Amalpuram they are numerous, though fewer than in the palmyra. * * * In 

 one locality some 200 dead coconut trees were seen; elsewhere only a dozen or two. 

 The danger is that the disease may increase in virulence in regard to coconut palms 

 if allowed to rage unchecked. * * * Very soon a rot follows, which extends with 

 great rapidity in the delicate central tissues and converts the whole heart into a foul- 

 smelling mass of putrefaction in which everything is involved, and the original agent 

 is lost sight of.' 



German East Africa. — In German East Africa a disease of coconuts 

 is described as a rot of the heart tissues and is said to be contagious. 

 The symptoms are merely that the leaves turn yellow and dry up, 

 and the tree dies. Soon after the first appearance of the disease 

 the heart leaves can be drawn out, as the bottom is rotted off. This 

 meager description of it answers well for the typical bud-rot: 



Die Faulnis des Herzblattes is weit schlimmer, da sie ansteckend ist. Die Krank- 

 heit macht sich folgendermassen bemerkbar: Die untercn Wedel und die Spitze des 

 Herzblattes werden gelblichrot und trocken, und der Baum stirbt ab. Man kann 

 nach der ersten Erscheinung das Herzblatt mit leichter Miihe herausziehen, da das 

 Ende vollkommen verfault ist. Ist das Herz verfault, so sind die Wurzeln und auch 

 noch der untere Stamm vollkommen frisch und saftig, ein Zeichen, dass die Krank- 

 heit nicht von unten an den Wurzeln anfangt, wie leider hier noch vielfach behauptet 

 wird;^ 



Portuguese East Africa. — In Portuguese East i^rica a similar 

 disease is reported, and there is great probability that it is the 

 bud-rot: 



In Quilimane the disease attacks the leaves, which become discolored and dried 

 wilhout there being any insect post or any \asible disease present. The disease 

 quickly spreads from tree to tree until a whole plantation is destroyed. In Quilimane 

 the only remedy known is the total destruction of the diseased tree in an early stage 

 of the disease by cutting down and burning.^ 



Tahiti. — Since the manuscript of this bulletin was prepared re})ort 

 has been received by this Department through the Secretary of 

 State of a serious disease of the coconut palm in Tahiti suspected to 

 be identical with the West Indian disease. 



From the foregoing it will be apparent that the bud-rot of the 

 coconut is probably present in all jjarts of the tropical world (fig. 5). 

 That it is such a cosmopolitan disease makes it doubly important to 

 learn fully its nature and a method of control. 



> Butler, E. J. Some Diseases of Palms. The Agricultural Journal of India, vol. 1, pt. 4, 1906, pp. 299- 

 310. Reprinted in Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture of Jamaica, vol. 5, pts. 2 and 3, 1907, 

 pp. 48-58. 



> Stein, Pflanzer. Die Kokosnuss und deren Bearbeitung in Deutsch-Ostafrika. Der Tropenpflanzpr, 

 vol.9, 1905, pp. 195-201. 



3 See "Coconut Leaf Disease in Ceylon and Portuguese West Africa," in Tropical Agriculturist, vol. 23, 

 no. 7, January, 1904, p. 477. 

 228 



