Koa wilt trees. Outrigger canoe racing, often in koa canoes, is still a popular and highly competitive sport of cultural significance. Koa wilt Koa wilt is a relatively new disease to Hawaii, discovered in 1980. Koa wilt is caused by a forma specialis of the fungus "Fusarium oxysporum", which is now abundant in Hawaiian soils and infects the native Acacia koa tree, a once-dominant species in the canopy of Hawaiian forests. Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. koae is believed to have been brought into Hawaii on an ornamental acacia plant. Fusarium fungi clog the tree xylem, causing significant wilt and mortality among these beautiful
Acacia koa of their electric guitars as well, and still uses a koa-veneered topwood on certain models. Fender made limited edition koa wood models of the Telecaster and the Stratocaster in 2006. Trey Anastasio, guitarist for the band Phish, primarily uses a koa hollowbody Languedoc guitar. Commercial silviculture of koa takes 20 to 25 years before a tree is of useful size. Among other Pacific Islands of volcanic (non-continental) origin, only Vanuatu has native "Acacia" species. "A. heterophylla", from distant Réunion, is very similar and has been suggested to be the closest relative of koa. Genetic sequence analysis results announced in 2014