The Symptoms of witches` broom disease caused by phytoplasma including general stunting and yellowing, were observed in leafy lespedeza (Lespedeza cyrtobotryaM.) on Doam-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, in 2006. Based on the sequence analysis of PCR-amplified 16S ribosomalDNA and 16S-23S spacer region DNA products using universal phytoplasma primers, the phytoplasma as- sociated with leafy lespedeza witches` broom (LLWB) disease was identified as a member of Candidatus Pyto- plasma trifolii. It was most closely related to alsike clover proliferation phytoplasma (99.8% similarity, acce- ssion no. AY390261), Candidatus Pytoplasma trifolii strain. RFLP patterns generated with Alu I, Hpa II clearly differentiated LLWB phytoplasma from the referenced phytoplasma strains, water dropwort witches`broom, mulberry dwarf, glehni aster yellow dwarf and jujube witches` broom. This paper is the first report on Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii in leafy lespedeza identified at a molecular level.