What attacks palms: pests and diseases the sources name
A register of the two phytoplasma diseases, the Fusarium wilt of Canary Island date palm and the red palm weevil that the University of Florida IFAS, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Defra and Purdue CAPS tie to palms: which palm species each row names, where it is recorded, the status each source gives, and where the full profile is.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the named sources say. It is not a diagnosis of any palm and does not say what should be done with one. Each row names its source, all read on October 9, 2026. Where this site has a full profile, the row links it, and the status details are on the linked page. Palm care that these extension services describe is on the palm pruning and palm deficiencies pages.
The register
| Agent | What the sources record |
|---|---|
| Lethal yellowing, Candidatus Phytoplasma palmae. Full profile | Kind: Phytoplasma, a bacterium that lives only in the food-carrying tissue (phloem), carried by the planthopper Haplaxius crudus Hosts: The University of Florida IFAS publication says at least 37 palm species have been documented with it and that it has significantly reduced the number of tall-type coconut in Florida and the Caribbean Basin. Symptoms vary by species and, for coconut, by cultivar. Where and status: IFAS says it historically occurred only in the southern one-third of Florida, was observed in Sarasota and Manatee Counties in 2007 and Indian River County in 2012, and that the planthopper has been confirmed as far north as Gainesville. No regulated status is given on the IFAS page. |
| Lethal bronzing, Candidatus Phytoplasma aculeata. Full profile | Kind: Phytoplasma, similar to but genetically distinct from the lethal yellowing one Hosts: IFAS says it has been found in 21 palm species. It was first identified in Hillsborough County, Florida, in late 2006 in edible date palm, wild date palm, Canary Island date palm and queen palm, and in cabbage palm in 2008. It was first called Texas Phoenix Palm Decline. Where and status: IFAS says it has been isolated from palms in 36 Florida counties, with Jacksonville the northernmost limit and the Florida Keys the southernmost record, and that it has also expanded into Louisiana and been found in Mexico. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension says it is a reportable, regulated condition in Texas that can kill a palm within a year. IFAS says it cannot be mechanically transmitted, for example by pruning tools. |
| Fusarium wilt of Canary Island date palm, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. canariensis | Kind: Fungus that blocks the water-carrying wood (xylem) Hosts: IFAS says it is very host specific, primarily on Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis). It says other Phoenix species, among them date palm, Senegal date palm and wild date palm, may be susceptible but that actual landscape or nursery cases in Florida are extremely rare compared with Canary Island date palm. A separate Fusarium wilt of queen and Mexican fan palm, caused by another form of the fungus, is named by IFAS. Where and status: IFAS says the first US record was in California in the 1970s and the first Florida record in 1994, and that it now occurs throughout Florida. No regulated status is given. Symptoms as listed: Death of the leaflets on one side of the leaf stalk, a reddish-brown or dark-brown streak on that side, starting on the oldest leaves and moving up the crown. IFAS says transmission from palm to palm is primarily through contaminated pruning equipment and that a laboratory test is required to confirm the cause. |
| Red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. Full profile | Kind: Large palm-boring weevil Hosts: The Defra factsheet calls it the most important pest of date palm in the world and a serious pest of coconut, and lists a long run of palm hosts including Canary Island date palm, queen palm, Chusan palm, pindo palm and Washingtonia. The Purdue CAPS datasheet records a closely related species, Rhynchophorus vulneratus, detected and eradicated in Laguna Beach, California, in 2010. Where and status: Defra's status wording for the weevil is on the red palm weevil profile. The factsheet names an outbreak in Brittany, France, in 2013 in plants imported from Spain, and larvae found in a palm in Essex in 2016, imported from the Netherlands, which was destroyed. |
How the sources describe the effects
IFAS describes lethal yellowing and lethal bronzing as ending in the death of the palm, with the order of symptoms starting with premature fruit drop and flower death on palms old enough to fruit, then discoloration of the oldest leaves moving up the crown. For Fusarium wilt it describes the roots left behind after death as a possible reservoir for the fungus, because the fungus makes spores that live in soil and plant tissue for years. Defra says the weevil has devastated ornamental palms in many areas of the Mediterranean and changed the landscape.
Who the sources say to report to
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension calls lethal bronzing reportable in Texas, with the rule wording on its factsheet. The Defra factsheet is the United Kingdom plant health service's pest factsheet for the weevil. The offices for each country are on the report a pest in the United States and report a pest in the United Kingdom pages. The pages read for Fusarium wilt name no report line.
Sources
- University of Florida IFAS Extension, EDIS publication PP146, lethal yellowing, read October 9, 2026
- University of Florida IFAS Extension, EDIS publication PP163, lethal bronzing, read October 9, 2026
- University of Florida IFAS Extension, EDIS publication PP139, Fusarium wilt of Canary Island date palm, read October 9, 2026
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, lethal bronzing in palm factsheet page, read October 9, 2026
- Defra and Fera, Plant Pest Factsheet: Red Palm Weevil (2024), read October 9, 2026
- Purdue Center for Invasive Species Research, CAPS datasheet for Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (July 21, 2023), read October 9, 2026