Elaeis guineensis originally grew in West Africa. The southern coast of Nigeria was originally called the Palm oil coast by the first Europeans who arrived there and traded in the commodity. This area was later renamed the Bight of Biafra. In traditional African medicine different parts of the plant are used as laxative and diuretic, as a poison antidote, as a cure for gonorrhea, menorrhagia, and bronchitis, to treat headaches and rheumatism, to promote healing of fresh wounds and treat skin infections. In Malaysia, the first plantations were mostly established and operated by British plantation owners, such as Sime Darby and Boustead,
Phytomonas more economically significant crops, namely coconut ("Cocos nucifera") and oil palm ("Elaeis guineensis"). Finally, in 1982, Dollet successfully cultivated trypanosomatids "in vitro", which allowed for the isolation of "Phytomonas" in 24 different plant families from across the globe. While there has been recent genetic work done on "Phytomonas" species, genome level analysis is limited compared to the genome data available for disease causing trypanosomatids in animals and humans, especially "Trypanosoma cruzi", "Trypanosoma brucei", and "Leishmania major". In 2015, "Phytomonas nordicus" was found to be a part of the generally heteroxenous "Phytomonas" genus, despite it being a monoxenous parasite of the