The European Food Safety Authority has added 37 new plant species as hosts of Xylella fastidiosa. The bacterium can infect a total of 595 tree and plant species.
Most of the new species are found in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, United States and Iran. According to the EFSA, the plants were naturally infected by Xylella. Amongst the new host plants are wild species, but also commercial plants such as Erigeron, Helichrysum stoechas, Pistacia vera and Diospyros kaki.
For 343 of the 595 host plants, infection has been identified by at least two detection methods under natural or experimental conditions. Click here for the updated host plant list (update 12).
