64 



THE DISEASES AND PESTS OF THE COCONUT PALM. 



By R. M. Richards, a.r.c.sc. 

 (Mycologist, M. P. A. Association). 



TT is only in recent years that any real knowledge of this subject 

 has been attained. As I'ecently as 1906 Prudhomme stated 

 that " the important enemies and parasites are animals," but there 

 is little doubt that diseases caused by fungi and bacteria did exist 

 yeai'S before that date. 



It is known that " bud-rot " existed in the West Indies long 

 before the disease attracted any general attention. 



The coconut palm in various parts in the tropical world like 

 other plants producing economic products, but unlike tlie rubber 

 tree up to the present time, has been subject to diseases of an 

 epidemic nature. Climatic conditions in the tropics are so eminently 

 suitable for the rapid development and spread of a disease that 

 at any time any single cultivated plant grown in contiguous tracts 

 of land is susceptible to epidemics, and it is only by exercising the 

 utmost care in guarding against disease that the coconut industry 

 can be maintained. 



Warnings such as this have been issued and published by so 

 many workers, in fact they appear in any work dealing with the 

 cultivation in general or Avith the diseases of any particular economic 

 and widely cultivated plant. 



However, such warnings cannot be repeated too frequently and 

 are not to be treated lightly or with contempt ; they are not 

 emanations from pessimistic or alarmist minds. 



In 1906 a severe epidemic of " bud-rot " occuri^ed in the delta of 

 the Godaveri river, India, affecting palmyra, coconut and areca 

 (betel nut) palms ; in the i)rovince of La Laguna in Luzar, an 

 epidemic of the same disease affecting coconut palms was reported 

 as having occurred in 1907 ; and serious attacks have been recorded 

 in the West Indies. Pestalozzia palmarum caused an epidemic 

 disease in Kempit in the Banjorwangi Presidency in Java in 1905-6. 

 Either these or some other disease may possibly become epidemic in 

 the Malay Peninsula. 



Diseases. 

 Theilaviopsis ethacetica. — Petch described this fungus as the 

 cause of the " Bleeding disease of the coconut stem in Ceylon." 

 The following is the description of the disease as given by the Ceylon 

 Government Mycologist, 



