Diseases 259 



ance. They then turn yellow, beginning at the 

 tips, and finally dry up, blacken, and hang down 

 from the crown. At times the leaves break 

 across, either near the tip or a foot or more 

 from the stem. The broken part may fall to 

 the ground or remain hanging to that part of 

 the petiole still attached to the stem. If the 

 attacked tree has reached the bearing age, the 

 nuts do not mature but fall to the ground, and 

 the flowers subsequently produced do not set 

 fruit. After a number of the leaves have be- 

 come yellowed and dried, it is only a question 

 of time before the terminal bud becomes a putrid 

 mass and falls over, and the palm eventually 

 dies. When a coco-nut palm is affected by any 

 disease or pest, the terminal bud, in the 

 advanced stages of the disease, almost invariably 

 becomes involved in a rot. This must not be 

 confused with the bud-rot disease, which appears 

 to be a specific disease, with the roots, stems, and 

 leaves sound, while the bud only is in a diseased 

 condition. It is only when the roots are 

 examined that one can tell for certain whether 

 the tree is suffering from root or bud disease. 

 Stockclale on examining the root found the 

 cortical cells were shrunken, and the large, 

 dark-coloured, septate fungous hyphae were seen 

 between and within the cells. After carefully 

 examining the red discoloration of the stem 

 through the microscope it seemed most probable, 

 by those making the investigations, that the 

 discoloration of the stem was due principally to 



