TAMPA, Fla. _ The section of Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard that winds around the Hillsborough Bay is lined on either side by one of Florida's most iconic plants, the palm tree.
Some are tall and spindly, necks so long and thin it seems impossible they could support an entire head. Others have verdant green limbs that stretch around their short trunks.
Among a canvas of lush palms, a few trees stand out. Their fronds are a sickly light brown.
Local forester Richard Bailey offers a prophetic warning: These palm trees are dying. So are many more around the Tampa Bay area and throughout Florida.
Just as worrisome: There is no cure for the disease that ails them.
