"Candidatus Phytoplasma brasiliense", a new phytoplasma taxon associated with hibiscus witchesbroom disease was firstly described in 2001 in Brazil. The disease was characterized by symptoms ofwitches' broom, i.e. leaf yellowing and malformation.Yellowing peach tree (Prunus persica) samplesreminiscent of phytoplasma infection were collected in September 2007 in Guba region, which is animportant fruit and vegetable growing area in Azerbaijan. A phytoplasma was detected in the diseasedpeach tree by amplification of its 16 S rDNA by nested PCR with universal primers for phytoplasmas.It was furthermore characterized by RFLP and nucleotide sequence analyses of 16S rDNA. It wasshown that a phytoplasma infected peach tree is Candidatus Phytoplasma brasiliense. This report con-stitutes the first detection of this phytoplasma in a plant other than hibiscus and elsewhere than inBrazil. To set up a specific detection test, cloning of a 'Ca. P. brasiliense' DNA fragment was underta-ken by comparative RAPD. The amplified dnaK-dnaJ genetic locus was used to design a specific PCRtest that amplify all 'Ca. P. brasiliense' isolates of the group 16SrXV-A without amplifying the relatedmembers of the group 16SrII.