Xylella fastidiosa Ann 1 / Oleander
   
   
 

Photo: Electron Microscopy Laboratory,
U.C. Berkeley
Xylella fastidiosa (Wells et al. 1987) is a gram-negative, fastidious, xylem-inhabiting bacterium. It causes serious diseases in grapevines (Pierce’s disease), almonds (Almond leaf scorch), alfalfas (Alfalfa dwarf), and oleanders (Oleander leaf scorch) in California and numerous other diseases in North and South America. An epidemic of oleander leaf scorch was first noticed in 1994 in southern California. It was found that the glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata Say, as well as several other sharpshooters, could transmit X. fastidiosa from oleander to oleander. Description of almond, oleander, and other leaf scorch diseases caused by different strains of X. fastidiosa can be found at the following website: http://www.CNR.Berkeley.EDU/xylella/

 


Causative agent of oleander leaf scorch.

Characteristic symptoms: marginal scalloped chlorosis (yellowing), followed by marginal or tip leaf scorch, then die-back of twigs and branches. The disease seems to kill oleander within about two years of the first appearance of symptoms.