See it. Hear it. Recall it.

Sweet Orange

Round to slightly oval fruit; use peel, size, leaf and petiole together.

• Fruit color alone is not enough because maturity and cultivar change appearance.
• Compare against grapefruit, lemon and lime side by side.

Grapefruit

Usually larger and broader than an orange.

• Use relative size with peel texture and leaf traits.
• Do not identify from size alone when specimens vary.

Lemon

Often oblong with a noticeable nipple at one or both ends.

• Look for elongated shape and pointed ends.
• Use leaf/petiole clues when fruit is absent.

Lime

Often smaller than lemon and round to oval.

• Ripe limes may yellow, so green color is not a safe single clue.
• Pair size and shape with leaf clues.

Citrus Greening (HLB)

Blotchy, uneven mottling and overall decline are stronger clues than a perfectly mirrored nutrient pattern.

• Associated with the Asian citrus psyllid vector.
• Compare leaf pattern, fruit development and whole-tree symptoms.

Citrus Canker

Look for raised corky lesions with a distinct yellow halo on leaves, twigs or fruit.

• Closest check: Alternaria lesions are flatter and necrotic; melanose makes much smaller raised sandpaper specks.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Asian Citrus Psyllid

Look for a tiny mottled brown wedge-shaped adult feeding with its rear end raised at about a 45-degree angle; nymphs are yellow-orange on new flush.

• Closest check: Aphids sit more parallel to the plant and form soft-bodied colonies; psyllid posture is a major clue.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Rootstock vs. Scion

Rootstock supplies the roots; scion is the desired fruiting top above the graft.

• Rootstock can influence vigor, adaptation and disease response.
• Always identify which side of the graft you are talking about.

Carrizo Citrange

Start with the trifoliate leaf: three leaflets on one petiole, often with a noticeable winged petiole.

• Closest check: Compare with Poncirus trifoliata and Swingle Citrumelo. Use leaflet size, petiole wings and fruit together instead of calling every trifoliate sample the same rootstock.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Cleopatra Mandarin

Look for relatively narrow mandarin-type leaves and small orange mandarin-like fruit on this rootstock type.

• Closest check: Unlike the trifoliate rootstocks, Cleopatra has single leaves rather than three separate leaflets.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Poncirus trifoliata Orange

Look for unmistakable trifoliate leaves plus stout thorns; fruit is small, yellow and very seedy/bitter.

• Closest check: Carrizo and Swingle are trifoliate hybrids too, so use thorniness, leaflet proportions and fruit instead of the three-leaflet clue alone.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Rough Lemon

Look for a lemon-like rootstock fruit with a distinctly coarse, rough or pebbled rind.

• Closest check: Volkamer lemon is often smoother and rounder; Bearss lemon is a commercial lemon, not a rough-rinded rootstock sample.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Smooth Flat Seville

Look for a noticeably flattened, orange-like fruit with a smoother rind than rough lemon.

• Closest check: Sour orange is usually more round; the flattened profile is the quickest first check.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Sour Orange

Look for an orange-like fruit and a leaf with a broad, obvious winged petiole.

• Closest check: Sweet orange leaves usually have narrower petiole wings; trifoliate rootstocks have three leaflets.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Swingle Citrumelo

Start with trifoliate leaves, then look for the larger citrus-hybrid leaflets and strongly winged petiole.

• Closest check: Do not stop at 'three leaves.' Compare directly with Carrizo and Poncirus trifoliata using leaflet shape, wings and fruit.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Volkamer Lemon

Look for a lemon/rootstock fruit that is usually rounder and smoother than rough lemon, often yellow-orange when mature.

• Closest check: Rough lemon is more coarsely pebbled; Bearss lemon is more classically elongated with a lemon nipple.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Bearss Lemon

Look for a large yellow lemon with an elongated oval shape and a noticeable nipple at the blossom end.

• Closest check: Persian lime can become yellow when ripe but is usually smaller and greener; rough lemon has a coarser rind.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Calamondin

Look for very small round orange fruit—much smaller than a typical mandarin.

• Closest check: Kumquat is also tiny, but many kumquats are more oval and have a distinctive edible peel/fruit shape.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Cara Cara Navel

First confirm the navel at the blossom end; when cut, the flesh is pink to red rather than standard orange.

• Closest check: Washington Navel also has a navel but normal orange flesh.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Clementine

Look for a small, smooth, deep-orange mandarin with an easy-peel appearance.

• Closest check: Satsuma is usually flatter and looser-skinned; Sunburst is often darker red-orange and tighter-skinned.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Duncan Grapefruit

Recognize grapefruit size first; when cut, Duncan is white-fleshed and notably seedy.

• Closest check: Marsh Seedless is white-fleshed but has few or no seeds; red grapefruit types show pink/red flesh.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Fallglo Mandarin

Look for a large early-season mandarin with a deep orange-red rind and a broad, slightly flattened form.

• Closest check: Clementine is smaller; Satsuma is usually flatter and looser-skinned.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Flame Grapefruit

Confirm grapefruit size, then use the interior: Flame is a red-fleshed grapefruit with very few seeds.

• Closest check: Duncan is white and seeded; Marsh is white and seedless; Ruby/Ray Ruby are also red, so flesh color alone may not identify the exact red cultivar.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Grapefruit Leaf

Look for a broad, relatively large citrus leaf with a conspicuously winged petiole.

• Closest check: Orange leaves are usually smaller with narrower wings; lemon leaves have little to no petiole wing.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Hamlin Orange

Look for a round sweet-orange fruit with a smooth thin rind and no navel.

• Closest check: Washington Navel has an obvious navel; Valencia also lacks a navel, so variety-level ID may require the labeled contest specimen or season/internal clues.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Key Lime

Look for a small, round-to-oval lime with a thin rind; ripe fruit can turn yellow and is commonly seedy.

• Closest check: Persian lime is larger and usually seedless, so size and seeds matter more than green color.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Kumquat

Look for a very small orange citrus fruit, often oval, with a proportionally thick sweet peel.

• Closest check: Calamondin is usually more round and reads like a tiny orange.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Lemon Leaf

Look for an elliptic leaf with little or no petiole wing and a slightly toothed margin; young growth may be reddish.

• Closest check: Grapefruit has a much broader petiole wing; orange usually has a narrower but visible wing.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Marsh Seedless Grapefruit

Confirm grapefruit size, then use the inside: pale/white flesh with very few or no seeds.

• Closest check: Duncan is also white-fleshed but distinctly seeded.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Minneola Tangelo (HoneyBell)

Look for the classic bell/pear shape with a pronounced neck at the stem end.

• Closest check: Orlando tangelo is rounder and usually lacks Minneola's strong HoneyBell neck.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Murcott (Honey Tangerine)

Look for a medium, deep-orange, slightly flattened tangerine with a tighter peel than Satsuma.

• Closest check: Satsuma is looser-skinned and flatter; Clementine is typically smaller and smoother.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Orange Leaf

Look for a medium oval citrus leaf with a narrow wing on the petiole.

• Closest check: Grapefruit has a much broader wing; lemon usually has almost none.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Orlando Tangelo

Look for a round to slightly flattened tangelo, generally without the dramatic neck of Minneola.

• Closest check: Minneola is the necked HoneyBell; Orlando is the rounder tangelo.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Orlando Tangelo Leaf

Look for a tangelo leaf with a citrus-hybrid appearance and a noticeable winged petiole.

• Closest check: Use petiole width and blade shape against Orange Leaf and Grapefruit Leaf; do not identify from leaf color.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Persian Lime

Look for a larger oval lime, usually seedless, with a thicker rind than Key lime.

• Closest check: Key lime is smaller, rounder and commonly seedy; ripe Persian limes may yellow.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Pineapple Orange

Look for a round midseason sweet orange with no navel; if cut, expect more seeds than many commercial sweet oranges.

• Closest check: Hamlin and Valencia can look extremely similar externally, so do not invent certainty from rind color alone.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Pummelo

Look for the largest citrus fruit in the set, often round-to-pear-shaped with a very thick rind.

• Closest check: Grapefruit is smaller and has a thinner rind relative to fruit size.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Ray Ruby Grapefruit

Confirm grapefruit size and inspect the cut flesh for a deep red color.

• Closest check: Ruby Red and Flame are also red grapefruit types; exact cultivar ID may require the official labeled specimen or additional internal traits rather than rind alone.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Ruby Red Grapefruit

Look for grapefruit size with pink-to-red flesh and a possible pink blush on the rind.

• Closest check: Duncan and Marsh are white-fleshed; Ray Ruby/Flame can also be red, so exact red-cultivar ID needs more than exterior color.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Satsuma Mandarin

Look for a distinctly flattened mandarin with a loose, puffy, very easy-peel rind.

• Closest check: Clementine is usually smaller and smoother/tighter; Murcott is tighter-skinned.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Sunburst Tangerine

Look for a medium tangerine with a deep reddish-orange, smooth glossy rind and a somewhat flattened shape.

• Closest check: Satsuma is looser-skinned; Clementine is often smaller; use rind tightness and overall shape with color.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Temple Orange

Look for a deep orange-red, round-to-slightly-flattened tangor with a somewhat pebbled rind.

• Closest check: Sweet oranges are usually smoother; Temple can read more like a tangerine-orange hybrid.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Temple Leaf

Look for a medium broad citrus leaf with a visible but not grapefruit-sized petiole wing.

• Closest check: Compare petiole width side-by-side with Orange Leaf and Grapefruit Leaf rather than relying on blade color.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Valencia Orange

Look for a round-to-oval sweet orange with a thin smooth rind and no navel.

• Closest check: Hamlin and Pineapple orange can look similar; use the full official specimen and internal/season cues rather than claiming an exterior-only ID.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Washington Navel Orange

Look for the secondary 'navel' structure at the blossom end of a seedless sweet orange.

• Closest check: Hamlin, Pineapple and Valencia do not have that obvious navel.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Biuret Toxicity

Look for leaf chlorosis and tip/marginal scorch associated with fertilizer-grade urea containing too much biuret.

• Closest check: Salt/fertilizer burn also scorches margins; biuret injury is tied to urea exposure and may include growth suppression.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Copper Deficiency

Look for dieback, misshapen growth and coarse or gummy symptoms on shoots/fruit rather than a simple uniform yellow leaf.

• Closest check: Iron, manganese and zinc deficiencies are primarily recognized by distinct interveinal chlorosis patterns.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Diuron Contact Injury

Look for herbicide injury expressed as irregular chlorotic or necrotic leaf areas rather than a tidy nutrient pattern.

• Closest check: Nutrient deficiencies tend to repeat predictably between veins; herbicide injury is more irregular and exposure-patterned.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Glyphosate Contact Injury

Look for distorted, narrow or strap-like new growth with chlorosis after herbicide contact.

• Closest check: Zinc deficiency can also make small narrow leaves, but glyphosate injury is often sudden and irregular on exposed growth.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Iron Deficiency

Look at the newest leaves: the tissue turns yellow while the veins remain sharply green.

• Closest check: Manganese deficiency is a softer mottled green-vein pattern; nitrogen deficiency is more uniform and usually starts on older leaves.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Magnesium Deficiency

Look at older leaves for yellowing on both sides of the midrib that leaves a green inverted-V or arrowhead area near the base.

• Closest check: Nitrogen is more uniform yellowing; zinc/manganese affect leaf size and finer interveinal patterns.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Manganese Deficiency

Look for a light-green/yellow leaf with a network of greener veins, usually less sharply contrasted than iron deficiency.

• Closest check: Iron deficiency makes a stronger green-vein skeleton on the youngest leaves; zinc often also reduces leaf size.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Nitrogen Deficiency

Look for broadly uniform pale green-to-yellow foliage, commonly beginning on older leaves.

• Closest check: Iron, manganese and zinc leave greener veins or mottled patterns instead of uniform yellowing.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Salt or Fertilizer Burn

Look for brown necrotic tips and leaf margins, often with a sharp boundary between healthy and burned tissue.

• Closest check: Nutrient deficiencies usually change color between veins before tissue dies; burn starts at edges/tips.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Zinc Deficiency

Look for small, narrow leaves with interveinal yellow mottling and shortened internodes/rosetting.

• Closest check: Manganese can mottle leaves but usually does not shrink and rosette the foliage as strongly.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Alternaria Brown Spot

Look for dark brown necrotic lesions with yellow halos on young leaves and fruit, often with irregular expansion along veins.

• Closest check: Canker lesions are raised and corky; Alternaria is flatter, necrotic and haloed.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Alternaria Leaf Spot

Look for dark leaf spots that may enlarge or merge and are often surrounded by yellow tissue.

• Closest check: Greasy spot develops darker greasy-looking lesions, especially visible on the underside of mature leaves.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Brown Rot

Look for firm brown leathery fruit decay, often beginning on fruit low in the canopy after wet conditions.

• Closest check: Green mold becomes fuzzy blue-green; sour rot is soft/watery; stem-end rot starts at the stem end.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Cachexia

Look for chronic decline with bark symptoms such as gum impregnation, pitting or discoloration in susceptible mandarin/tangelo tissues.

• Closest check: Exocortis is best known for bark scaling on sensitive rootstocks below the bud union.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Black Spot

Look for dark fruit lesions that can appear as hard spots, freckles or larger necrotic areas, often with contrasting orange/yellow tissue.

• Closest check: Melanose is typically many tiny raised sandpaper specks; canker is raised and haloed on fruit/leaves/twigs.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Blight

Look for an established tree with thinning canopy, wilt, twig dieback and chronic decline despite apparently adequate soil moisture.

• Closest check: Root rot often includes obvious feeder-root decay and foot rot at the crown; blight is a vascular water-uptake decline.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Huanglongbing (HLB/Citrus Greening)

Look for asymmetrical blotchy mottling that does not mirror across the leaf midrib; fruit may be lopsided or unevenly colored.

• Closest check: Nutrient deficiencies usually produce more symmetrical vein-related patterns.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Scab

Look for raised corky, wart-like lesions that distort young leaves and fruit.

• Closest check: Canker is typically rounder with a cratered/corky center and yellow halo; scab is more irregular and wart-like.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Exocortis

Look for scaling, shelling or cracking bark on susceptible rootstock tissue below the bud union, often with dwarfing.

• Closest check: Psorosis also causes bark scaling but usually on trunk/scaffold areas rather than the classic rootstock-below-bud-union pattern.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Foot Rot

Look at the trunk base for dark water-soaked bark, gum exudation, cracking and decay near the soil line.

• Closest check: Root rot is primarily in feeder roots; foot rot is visible at the crown/trunk base.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Greasy Spot

Look for yellowish leaf spots above and dark, greasy-looking raised lesions on the underside of mature leaves.

• Closest check: Alternaria is more necrotic and haloed on young tissue; sooty mold is a black surface coating.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Greasy Spot Rind Blotch (Pink Pitting)

Look on grapefruit rind for numerous small dark specks or pits that can create a pink-pitted or rind-blotch appearance.

• Closest check: Melanose makes raised sandpaper-like specks; black spot creates larger defined lesion types.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Green Mold (Post Harvest)

Look for postharvest fruit decay that starts soft/watery and quickly develops white mold followed by blue-green spores.

• Closest check: Sour rot is soft and sour-smelling without the classic blue-green mold mass; stem-end rot begins at the stem end.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Melanose

Look for many tiny raised dark specks that feel like sandpaper; on fruit they may run in tear-stain streaks.

• Closest check: Black spot lesions are larger and more variable; canker lesions are larger, corky and haloed.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Mesophyll Collapse

Look for sharply defined translucent or water-soaked-looking patches between veins that later turn tan or necrotic.

• Closest check: Nutrient deficiencies make patterned chlorosis; mesophyll collapse looks like sections of internal leaf tissue failed suddenly.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Postbloom Fruit Drop

Look for orange-brown lesions on flower petals followed by dropped young fruit and persistent enlarged green calyx 'buttons.'

• Closest check: Most fruit rots attack developed fruit; postbloom fruit drop leaves the characteristic persistent button after bloom.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Psorosis

Look for scaling/flaking bark on trunk or scaffold limbs; young leaves may show temporary flecking patterns.

• Closest check: Exocortis classically scales sensitive rootstock bark below the bud union.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Root Rot

Look for brown decayed feeder roots together with a thinning, yellowing canopy and poor vigor.

• Closest check: Foot rot centers on the trunk base/crown with gum and bark lesions.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Sooty Mold

Look for a black soot-like coating on leaves or fruit that sits on the surface over insect honeydew.

• Closest check: It can often be rubbed/scraped away; true leaf lesions are part of the tissue.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Sour Rot (Post Harvest)

Look for very soft, watery postharvest fruit decay with a sour odor and pale fungal growth.

• Closest check: Green mold develops blue-green spores; brown rot stays firmer and leathery.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Stem End Rot (Post Harvest)

Look for decay beginning at the stem/button end and spreading downward through the fruit.

• Closest check: Green mold can start at wounds anywhere; stem-end rot is anchored to the stem end.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV)

Look for decline or quick decline on susceptible rootstocks; stem pitting and vein symptoms may occur in some hosts.

• Closest check: Exocortis and psorosis are bark-scaling diseases; CTV is strongly associated with decline/stem pitting and rootstock interaction.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Wind Scar

Look for superficial corky/russet scarring on fruit where leaves or twigs rubbed the rind during growth.

• Closest check: Disease lesions usually have spots, halos, mold or raised structures; wind scar follows rubbing/contact patterns.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Aschersonia

Look for bright red-orange or yellow cushion-like fungal growth on whitefly scale stages; it is a beneficial fungus.

• Closest check: Sooty mold is black and superficial; Aschersonia forms distinct colored fungal colonies on insect hosts.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Black Scale

Look for a dark brown-to-black domed oval scale with a characteristic raised H-like ridge on the back.

• Closest check: Florida red scale is flatter and round; Glover's and purple scales are elongated mussel-shaped scales.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Blue Green Citrus Root Weevil

Look for a broad-snouted adult weevil covered with blue-green scales.

• Closest check: Diaprepes is larger and strongly striped/multicolored; Little Leaf Notcher is dull gray-brown.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Brown Citrus Aphid

Look for colonies of dark brown to nearly black soft-bodied aphids crowded on tender new flush.

• Closest check: Green citrus aphid is bright green; psyllids are more wedge-shaped and hold the body at an angle.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Caribbean Fruit Fly

Look for a yellow-brown fruit fly with patterned wings and a relatively long body/ovipositor in females.

• Closest check: Mediterranean fruit fly is smaller and has a different bold wing/body pattern; use the official specimen image rather than color alone.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Blackfly

Look for dark slate-black nymphal scales on leaf undersides, often ringed with waxy fringe; adults are small dark whitefly-like insects.

• Closest check: Citrus whitefly nymphs/adults are pale to white rather than black.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Leafminer

Look for winding silvery serpentine mines in tender leaves, often causing curled or distorted new growth.

• Closest check: Chewing insects remove tissue from the edge; leafminer damage stays inside the leaf as tunnels.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Mealybug

Look for soft-bodied insects covered in white cottony wax, often clustered in fruit/stem crevices.

• Closest check: Cottony cushion scale has a large fluted white egg sac attached to a brown-orange female.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Asian Citrus Psyllid

Look for a tiny mottled brown wedge-shaped adult feeding with its rear end raised at about a 45-degree angle; nymphs are yellow-orange on new flush.

• Closest check: Aphids sit more parallel to the plant and form soft-bodied colonies; psyllid posture is a major clue.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Red Mite

Look for very small bright red mites/eggs on leaves and fruit together with fine stippling or bronzing.

• Closest check: Texas citrus mite is darker/brownish; rust mite damage is more uniform russet/bronze and the mites are extremely tiny.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Rust Mite

The mite itself is nearly microscopic; identify the bronze/russet rind or leaf surface damage it produces.

• Closest check: Wind scar creates rub marks; rust mite injury creates a more uniform russet/bronzed surface.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Snow Scale

Look for bark that appears dusted with snow from masses of elongated white male scales; darker females may be mixed in.

• Closest check: Mealybugs are fluffy/cottony clusters; snow scale forms numerous narrow white scale covers on bark.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Cottony Cushion Scale

Look for a brown-orange female attached to a large white ribbed/fluted cottony egg sac.

• Closest check: Mealybug wax is irregular and fluffy; cottony cushion scale has a structured elongated egg sac.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Diaprepes Weevil

Look for a large snout weevil with bold black-and-cream/yellow/orange striping or scale patterns.

• Closest check: Blue-green root weevil is more uniformly blue-green; Little Leaf Notcher is small and gray-brown.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Florida Red Scale

Look for small round flattened reddish-brown scale covers on fruit, leaves or twigs, often with a central nipple.

• Closest check: Black scale is domed and dark with an H ridge; purple/Glover's scales are elongated.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Fuller's Rose Beetle

Look for a gray-brown broad-snouted weevil with a rough/scaly body; leaf edges may show scalloped feeding.

• Closest check: Little Leaf Notcher is another gray weevil but is generally smaller; use body size and official specimen shape.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Glover's Scale

Look for a long, very narrow brown mussel-shaped scale cover aligned along twigs/leaves.

• Closest check: Purple scale is also elongated but is typically darker/purplish and more curved/broader.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Grasshopper

Look for the large jumping hind legs, chewing mouthparts and stout body of a grasshopper.

• Closest check: Katydids usually have much longer threadlike antennae and a more leaf-like green body.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Green Citrus Aphid

Look for clusters of bright green soft-bodied pear-shaped aphids on tender shoots.

• Closest check: Brown citrus aphid is dark brown/black; psyllids are wedge-shaped and feed tail-up.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Hirsutella

Look for evidence of the beneficial fungus on rust mites—infected tiny mites may appear coated or anchored by whitish fungal growth.

• Closest check: This is a beneficial pathogen of mites, not a citrus leaf disease lesion.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Katydid

Look for a green leaf-like insect with extremely long threadlike antennae and strong jumping hind legs.

• Closest check: Grasshoppers usually have shorter antennae and a less leaf-like profile.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Lacewing Larva (Trash Bug)

Look for an alligator-shaped predator larva often carrying bits of debris/prey remains on its back.

• Closest check: Lady beetle larvae are exposed and do not usually wear the characteristic debris pile.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Lady Beetle

Look for a small dome-shaped beetle, often red/orange/yellow with contrasting spots or markings; larvae are elongated predators.

• Closest check: Do not confuse the adult with scale insects, which are immobile and shell-like.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Leaf Footed Plant Bug

Look for an elongated brown true bug with widened leaf-like expansions on the hind tibiae.

• Closest check: Stink bugs are broader and shield-shaped; leaf-footed bugs have the obvious expanded hind legs.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Mediterranean Fruit Fly

Look for a small yellow-brown fruit fly with bold patterned wings and contrasting body markings.

• Closest check: Caribbean fruit fly is generally larger; exact ID depends on the official wing/body pattern, not fruit damage alone.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Nematode

Look for a microscopic threadlike roundworm or for feeder-root damage associated with citrus slow decline.

• Closest check: Nematodes are not insects and have no legs or body segmentation like larvae.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Orange Dog

Look for the giant swallowtail caterpillar that mimics bird droppings with mottled brown, white and orange markings.

• Closest check: Most citrus caterpillars do not have the strong bird-dropping camouflage; disturbed larvae may expose an orange forked osmeterium.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Parasitic Wasp

Look for a tiny narrow-waisted wasp associated with parasitized scales/aphids/whiteflies; many are only a few millimeters long.

• Closest check: Beneficial wasps are slender and wasp-shaped, not soft-bodied like aphids or dome-shaped like lady beetles.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Purple Scale

Look for a curved elongated mussel-shell scale cover that is dark purple-brown.

• Closest check: Glover's scale is usually narrower and straighter/lighter brown.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Red Imported Fire Ant

Look for reddish-brown ants of mixed worker sizes and characteristic mound colonies.

• Closest check: Unlike parasitic wasps, ants have elbowed antennae and a constricted waist with visible nodes.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Sharpshooter

Look for a wedge-shaped leafhopper with strong jumping hind legs and wings held roof-like over the body.

• Closest check: Psyllids are much smaller and characteristically feed at a steep angle; sharpshooters are larger leafhoppers.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Six Spotted Mite

Look on leaf undersides for tiny pale mites marked by multiple dark body spots; feeding can cause stippling.

• Closest check: Two-spotted mite has two dominant dark spots and often webbing; red mite is bright red.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Southern Green Stink Bug

Look for a broad bright-green shield-shaped true bug.

• Closest check: Leaf-footed plant bugs are narrower and have expanded hind tibiae.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Texas Citrus Mite

Look for tiny brownish-purple mites on upper leaf surfaces with stippled/gray foliage injury.

• Closest check: Citrus red mite is brighter red; rust mite injury is more bronze/russet and the mite is much harder to see.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Citrus Whitefly

Look for tiny white moth-like adults and pale oval scale-like nymphs on leaf undersides.

• Closest check: Citrus blackfly has dark adults/nymphs; mealybugs are larger and cottony.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Little Leaf Notcher

Look for a small gray-brown snout weevil and repeated notches chewed from leaf margins.

• Closest check: Fuller's rose beetle is usually larger; Diaprepes is much larger and brightly patterned.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Thrips

Look for tiny slender yellow/tan insects and silvery or ring-like scarring on tender flowers/young fruit.

• Closest check: Mites are more rounded and often cause stippling/bronzing; thrips are narrow, fast-moving insects.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Two-Spotted Mite

Look for tiny pale yellow-green mites with two dark dorsal spots, often with fine webbing.

• Closest check: Six-spotted mites show several dark spots; citrus red mites are red.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Bahiagrass

Paspalum notatum

Look for the distinctive seedhead with two (sometimes three) racemes forming a V or Y shape.

• Closest check: Bermudagrass has several finger-like seed spikes from one point; signalgrass has racemes along a main stem.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Balsam Apple Vine

Momordica charantia

Look for a tendril-climbing vine with deeply lobed leaves and warty orange fruit that splits open to show bright red seed coverings.

• Closest check: Morning glory has trumpet flowers and simpler heart/arrow leaves; Virginia creeper has five leaflets.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Bermudagrass

Cynodon dactylon

Look for a fine-textured creeping grass with stolons/rhizomes and several finger-like seed spikes radiating from one point.

• Closest check: Bahiagrass usually has only two V-shaped seed racemes.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Black Nightshade

Solanum americanum

Look for alternate oval leaves, small white star-shaped flowers and clusters of shiny black berries when mature.

• Closest check: Pokeberry has much larger plants, red-purple stems and long drooping berry clusters.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Spanish Needles

Bidens alba

Look for opposite toothed leaves and small daisy heads with yellow centers; mature seeds are narrow black needles with barbed tips.

• Closest check: Ragweed has deeply divided leaves and inconspicuous green flowers, not white daisy rays.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Common Ragweed

Ambrosia artemisiifolia

Look for deeply divided fern-like leaves and upright green flower spikes with no showy petals.

• Closest check: Dogfennel is even finer/threadier and more bushy; Spanish needles has obvious daisy flowers.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Cypress Vine Morning Glory

Ipomoea quamoclit

Look for a twining vine with extremely finely divided feathery leaves and small red star/trumpet flowers.

• Closest check: Common morning glory has broad heart/arrow leaves rather than fernlike foliage.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Dogfennel

Eupatorium capillifolium

Look for tall upright growth covered in very fine threadlike, feathery foliage.

• Closest check: Ragweed leaves are divided but broader and more obviously lobed; dogfennel reads as a soft green plume.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Goatweed

Scoparia dulcis

Look for an upright branching weed with small narrow serrated leaves and tiny pale flowers.

• Closest check: Teaweed/Sida has tougher woody stems and small yellow hibiscus-like flowers.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Guineagrass

Megathyrsus maximus

Look for a tall coarse bunchgrass with broad blades and a large open branched seed panicle.

• Closest check: Johnsongrass also grows tall but commonly shows a strong white midrib and rhizomatous patches.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Jerusalem Oak

Dysphania ambrosioides

Look for irregularly lobed aromatic leaves and clusters of tiny green flowers on an upright branching plant.

• Closest check: Lambsquarter leaves are more goosefoot-shaped with a mealy gray coating on new growth.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Johnsongrass

Sorghum halepense

Look for a tall rhizomatous grass with broad leaves, a conspicuous pale/white midrib and a large open often purplish panicle.

• Closest check: Guineagrass is a bunchgrass without the same strong white-midvein/rhizome combination.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Lambsquarter

Chenopodium album

Look for triangular/goosefoot-shaped leaves with irregular teeth and a whitish mealy coating on young leaves.

• Closest check: Pigweed lacks the powdery mealy surface and usually has denser green flower spikes.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Lantana

Lantana camara

Look for opposite rough serrated leaves, square-ish stems and tight clusters of small multi-colored tubular flowers.

• Closest check: Pentas also clusters flowers but has smoother lance leaves and star-shaped blooms.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Milkweed Vine

Morrenia odorata

Look for a twining vine with opposite heart-shaped leaves and milky sap when damaged.

• Closest check: Morning glory often has similar heart-shaped leaves but lacks the milky sap and has obvious trumpet flowers.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Morning Glory

Ipomoea spp.

Look for a twining vine with heart- or arrow-shaped leaves and large funnel/trumpet flowers.

• Closest check: Cypress vine morning glory has finely divided feathery leaves; milkweed vine has milky sap.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Nutsedge

Cyperus spp.

Roll the stem: sedges have solid triangular stems with glossy leaves arranged in three ranks and an umbrella-like seedhead.

• Closest check: True grasses such as bermudagrass and bahiagrass have round/flattened jointed stems, not triangular stems.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Peppervine

Ampelopsis arborea

Look for a woody vine with compound leaves made of toothed leaflets and clusters of berries that mature blue-black.

• Closest check: Virginia creeper has a consistent five-leaflet hand shape; peppervine leaflets are arranged differently in compound leaves.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Pigweed

Amaranthus spp.

Look for an upright Amaranthus with alternate simple leaves and dense green flower/seed spikes.

• Closest check: Lambsquarter has a whitish mealy coating; pokeberry is much larger with purple berries and red stems.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Pokeberry

Phytolacca americana

Look for a large coarse plant with thick reddish-purple stems and long drooping clusters of purple-black berries.

• Closest check: Black nightshade is much smaller and has small berry clusters, not long racemes on red stems.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Pusley

Richardia spp.

Look for a low spreading mat with opposite rough/hairy leaves and tiny white star-like flowers.

• Closest check: Goatweed is more upright; pusley hugs the ground and branches outward.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Sandbur

Cenchrus echinatus

Look for a grass bearing hard spiny burs that readily stick to clothing, fur or skin.

• Closest check: Other grasses may have bristly seedheads, but sandbur makes distinct painful burr clusters.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Signalgrass

Urochloa platyphylla

Look for a broad-leaved creeping/decumbent grass with several seedhead branches carrying rows of spikelets along one side.

• Closest check: Bermudagrass has finer leaves and finger-like spokes from one point; bahiagrass has a simple V seedhead.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Teaweed

Sida acuta

Look for an upright tough-stemmed weed with narrow toothed leaves and small yellow hibiscus-like flowers.

• Closest check: Goatweed has much smaller pale flowers and finer branching; teaweed looks more woody and mallow-like.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Torpedograss

Panicum repens

Look for a stiff creeping perennial grass spreading by pointed rhizomes, with narrow leaves and a sparse open panicle.

• Closest check: Bermudagrass is finer-textured with finger-like seedheads; torpedograss is coarser and aggressively rhizomatous.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Virginia Creeper

Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Look for a woody climbing vine with five leaflets radiating from one point and tendrils for climbing.

• Closest check: Peppervine has compound leaves too but not the classic five-finger leaflet arrangement.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.

Virginia Pepperweed

Lepidium virginicum

Look for a basal rosette that bolts into branched stems bearing many tiny white flowers and flat round/oval seedpods.

• Closest check: The small peppery seedpods and tiny white flowers separate it from grasses and leafy broadleaf weeds.
• Contest habit: name the visible symptom, structure or damage pattern before you name the item.