P. diazotrophicus P. ursingii P. palmae P. massiliensis Phytobacter is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria emerging from the grouping of isolates previously assigned to various genera of the family Enterobacteriaceae.

This genus was first established on the basis of nitrogen fixing isolates from wild rice in China,[1] but also includes a number of isolates obtained during a 2013 multi-state sepsis outbreak in Brazil[2][3] and, retrospectively, several clinical strains isolated in the 1970s in the United States that are still available in culture collections, which originally were grouped into Brenner's Biotype XII of the Erwinia herbicola-Enterobacter agglomerans-Complex (EEC).

[2] Clinical isolates of the species have been identified as an important source of extended-spectrum β-lactamase and carbapenem-resistance genes, which are usually mediated by genetic mobile elements.

Colonies growing on MacConkey agar (MAC) are circular, convex and smooth with non-entire margins and a usually elevated center.

In 1984, Brenner and coworkers, using DNA-DNA hybridization test, divided the EEC into thirtheen DNA relatedness groups (Biotypes), numbered from I to XIII.