What is the scientific name of the fungus that causes Panama disease?

The fungus that causes Panama disease is scientifically named Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense.

The abbreviation Foc is often used for this banana-specific form. “Fusarium oxysporum” identifies the species complex, while “f. sp. cubense” means the forma specialis associated with bananas. It is a vascular wilt pathogen: it enters through the roots, colonizes the plant’s water-conducting tissue and eventually causes yellowing, wilting and collapse.

F. oxysporum is a large and complicated group of fungi divided into host-associated forms. The banana pathogen is further discussed in terms of races, including Race 1, Race 2 and Race 4. Tropical Race 4 is especially important because it attacks Cavendish cultivars, whereas Race 1 was the strain chiefly responsible for the historic destruction of Gros Michel plantations.

The disease is not caused by Botrytis cinerea, which produces gray mold, Puccinia graminis, a rust fungus of cereals, or Phytophthora infestans, the oomycete responsible for late blight. Those organisms are distinct pathogens with different hosts and disease cycles.