A novel strain S29^T with high nitrogen fixing ability was isolated from surface-sterilized leaf tissues of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) growing in Science Park II, Singapore. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene analysis and multilocus sequence typing with the rpoB, gyrB, infB and atpD genes, strain S29^T was a member of the genus Phytobacter , with Phytobacter ursingii ATCC 27989^T and Phytobacter diazotrophicus LS 8^T as its closest relatives. Unique biochemical features that differentiated strain S29^T from its closest relatives were the ability to utilize melibiose, α-cyclodextrin, glycogen, adonital, d-arabitol, m-inositol and xylitol. The major fatty acids were C_{14 : 0}, C_{16 : 0}, C_{17 : 0}, C_{16 : 1} ω5c and summed feature 2 containing C_{16 : 1} ω7c and/or C_{16 : 1} ω6c. The polar fatty acid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, an unidentified aminophospholipid and aminolipids. The draft genome of strain S29^T comprised 5, 284, 330 bp with a G + C content of 52.6 %. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain S29^T and the phylogenetically related Enterobacterales species were lower than 95 % and 70 %, respectively. Thus, the polyphasic evidences generated through the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic methods confirmed that strain S29^T represents a novel species of the genus Phytobacter , for which we propose the name Phytobacter palmae sp. nov. with the type strain of S29^T (=DSM 27342^T=KACC 17598^T).