200 DISEASES OF TROPICAL PLANTS CH . 



leaf attacked is a little younger, or the rot works a little, more 

 vigorously, the midrib of the leaf is rotted, and the wind breaks 

 the leaf, so that the end falls over and hangs down from the 

 centre of the top. 



If a very young leaf, with only the point coming out into 

 the air, is affected, it rots rapidly, and, from the base of the tree, 

 nothing is seen to be very wrong until the bud is examined. 



Once well started, the rot moves down along the surface of 

 the undeveloped leaves, rapidly penetrating the tender tissues 

 and destroying them completely. The foulness, and probably 

 the rapidity of the rot, increases as it descends. The whole 

 central column is converted into a soft, stinking mass. When 

 the terminal bud is reached it rots, and the tender upper end 

 of the trunk also. About 3 dcm. (12 inches) below the apex of 

 the trunk the tissues begin to harden perceptibly, and as soon 

 as the rot comes in contact with the firmer tissues it- is checked. 

 By the time the terminal bud is decayed the tree is evidently 

 sick, and usually shows an advanced stage of the disease. Such 

 a tree, when cut open longitudinally, shows a central hollow, 

 partly filled with soft, rotten remains of the youngest leaves, 

 and a rounded cavity, nearly the breadth of the trunk, where 

 the terminal bud was. Nothing remains of the bud but an 

 exceedingly offensive, soft, rotten mass. 



Below this the rot extends, converting the top of the trunk 

 into a shell filled with rotten fibres, for a space of 4 dcm. 

 (16 inches) or more, while the lower leaves are falling off, and 

 the centre of the top, which is bound together by sheathing 

 materials, falls from the top of the trunk. 



From the time the first signs of the disease appear, within 

 one or two months the tree is usually in the advanced stages. 

 Usually three or four months more elapse before the stump 

 is left bare. After the top falls off, the upper end of the trunk 

 decays very completely for the length of about a metre, leaving 

 only rotten fibres within and a shell on the outside. After this 

 the trunk decays gradually and may stand for a number of 

 years. 



The disease, so far as our observations have been able to 

 discover, consists of this rot, which develops on the moist, 

 covered surfaces of the younger parts, penetrating and com- 

 pletely destroying the tender tissues, but always checked on 

 reaching those which have commenced to harden or mature. 

 Drying of an affected part also seems immediately to check 

 the rot. 



So far as our observations go, there is in nature no recovery. 

 Apparently all genuine cases of bud rot prove fatal. 



