A new pest

**g*@aol.com**

A news item from the California Oak Mortality Task Force Report March 2007 may be of interest: 

A new fungal species that is being transmitted by a newly discovered non-native beetle is killing alarming numbers of redbay trees (Persea borbonia) along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.  Redbay mortality rates exceeding 80 percent have been found on some of the coastal islands in the area.  The beetle (Xyleborus glabratus) was first found in North America in 2002 through the USDA Forest Service Forest Health Protection’s Early Detection and Rapid Response project and the Forest Health Monitoring program has supported follow-up detection surveys in the area.  Recently, dying sassafras and a rare spicebush have also been found infected with the fungus.  USDA Forest Service representatives met with personnel from APHIS and representatives from numerous local groups at Jekyll Island, Georgia in January to address the problem.  For more information go to http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/x.glabratus.html or contact Don Duerr, dduerr@fs.fed.us. 

Sally

Sally Williams
Editor, Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index
Editor, Environment Index
EBSCO Publishing
10 Estes Street
Ipswich MA 01938
www.epnet.com
gardenlit@aol.com

member CBHL Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries www.cbhl.net
member GWA Garden Writers Association www.gardenwriters.org

"Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements 
for our survival: oxygen and books." 
- A Whitney Brown 
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