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 the 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 confused 
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 he burnt in situ and not carried away 
through the fields to be destroyed in another place. The disease 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 
Diplodia. 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 have 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. 
I 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 Metasphasria 
Cocoes and Pestalozzia ■ palmarmn 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. 
6i')S/38 
