The first external symptom of Panama disease is the irregular yellowing of the margins of older leaves, which later turn brown and dry out. These leaves eventually collapse along the leaf stalk or at the junction of the stalk and stem, resulting in a skirt of dead leaves forming around the lower part of the plant. Heart leaves may remain unusually upright giving the plant a spiky appearance. Following this, plants can take on a generally wilted appearance. The stem may split, which is often followed by the death of the parent stem, but suckers do not necessarily die. Internal symptoms of Panama disease include discoloration of the inner tissue in the corm and pseudostem. The discoloration is usually seen as reddish-brown or black lines running up and down the pseudostem or rings running around the cross-section of tissue.