Freckle disease is an economically important disease of banana in many countries. The pathogen causes freckle spots on infested leaves that appear as either discrete brownish-black spots or in the form of circular or streaking lesions on leaf surfaces or along leaf veins. On fruit, reddish-brown to black freckle spots are surrounded by dark green, water-soaked halos and in severely infested plants, dense aggregation of spots may completely cover banana fruit at harvest, adversely affecting the cosmetic value of the fruit. In addition to causing significant yield reduction, diseased fruit is unsuitable for export. Recent taxonomic studies based on morphological structures and molecular data on a global collection of specimens have shown that the causal agent of banana freckle are three different, but closely related species of Phyllosticta: P. musarum, P. maculata and P. cavendishii. Symptoms cannot be used to distinguish the three species. Definitive identification relies on examination of morphological structures such as fruiting bodies and spores obtained from lesions or fungal cultures.