67 



surface. If affected trees are not treated at this stage the fungus 

 finds its way to other leaves and the spores quickly spread the disease 

 to other palms. 



Soon, the fungus growing rapidly in the tissues after the first 

 stages, all the leaves are killed and hang down alongside the trunk, 

 the leaf-stalks being broken at all positions. 



At this stage the youngest leaf is affected, the growing point 

 succumbs to tJie attack and the palm dies. Almost immediately a 

 bacterial decay sets in in the tissues at the apex of the stem resulting 

 in the production of an evil smelling mass. This is not to be confusfed 

 with " bud-rot " which is a distinct and specific disease and will be 

 described later. Remedial measures must take the form of cutting 

 away the affected parts of leaves at the earliest stages. It is 

 necessary to look for the brown mark on the leaf stalk mentioned 

 above in the description of the disease and cut away the diseased leaf 

 at a point at least one foot below the proximal end of this mark to 

 ensure cutting at a point beyond the limit of diseased tissue. In all 

 cases this method has proved eminently satisfactory. All diseased 

 leaves and dead palms must be burnt in situ and not carried away 

 through the fields to be destroyed in another place. The disea.se is 

 spread by means of spores which are air-borne. Unless great care 

 is taken in the treatment of the disease local epidemics are caused and 

 many palms may be killed. 



It is interesting to note here that Fredholm in Trinidad decided 

 that the rot appeared in two forms : one caused by bacteria ; the 

 other following an initial attack by a fungus which he called 

 Viplodia. Copeland in The Coconut fully quotes Fredholm's 

 paper. In many respects his account almost describes the effect of 

 Botryodiplodia on palms in this country but as 1 have already pointed 

 out " bud-rot " is an absolutely specific disease in this country. 

 Bacterial decay almost invariably takes places in the apex of the 

 coconut stem after a palm has been stuck by lightning; when red 

 beetles liave killed all the forming shoots or when the palm is affected 

 by any disease or pest the final stage is a rot of the apex. 



1 have stated above that Botryodiplodia is the fungus causing 

 the disease but I have no absolute proof that this is the case for 

 I have failed to obtain characteristic results after infection on leaves 

 of young palms. However, I have been able to obtain good cultures of 

 Botryodiplodia from portions of affected leaves where no other 

 fungus was present. On dead parts of the leaves many fungi are to 

 be found living saprophytically and among these Metasphseria 

 Cocoes and Pestalozzia palmarum predominate. Another difficulty 

 is that Botryodiplodia is usually a wound parasite and yet many 

 palms in a group may be attacked by this disease. It is possible that 

 there is another fungus associated which is perfectly parasitic in its 

 nature or there may be other agencies, 



