Viruses Infecting Wild and Cultivated Species of the Commelinaceae. C. A. Baker, Graduate Assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611. F. W. Zettler, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611. Plant Dis. 72:513-518. Accepted for publication 25 January 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0513.

Five viruses were found naturally infecting species of the Commelinaceae. Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was found in a plant of Commelina benghalensis collected in Florida and in plants of C. diffusa collected in Florida and the Dominican Republic. U2-tobacco mosaic virus (U2-TMV) was found in ornamental plants of Rhoeo spathacea, and commelina mosaic virus (CoMV) was found in the weed C. diffusa and in greenhouse-grown plants of R. spathacea. Tradescantia/ Zebrina virus (T/ZV) was found in one plant of C. diffusa collected in Florida and in the ornamentals Tradescantia albiflora, T. fluminensis, R. spathacea, and Zebrina pendula. T/ZV had the widest distribution of the five viruses found in this study. It was detected in symptomless plants of Z. pendula collected from two wholesale nurseries in Florida and two botanical collections, one in Mexico and one in Czechoslovakia. The fifth virus, referred to as Aneilema virus (AV), is a previously unreported potyvirus infecting members of the Commelinaceae. AV was identified in 15 species of the Commelinaceae, including four of Commelina and six of Aneilema. These plants were obtained from two botanical collections, one in the United States and one in England. Except for Hadrodemas warszewiczianum and Phaeosphaerion rufipes, the plants infected with AV were African or Asian in origin. In manual inoculations, CMV infected Commelina communis and Murdannia nudiflora, U2-TMV infected C. communis and Z. pendula, T/ZV infected Tradescantia blossfeldiana and Gibasis geniculata, and AV infected Commelina benghalensis, C. communis, C. diffusa, C. erecta, M. nudiflora, and Tinantia erecta. In addition, U1-TMV and tomato mosaic virus infected R. spathacea, and clover yellow vein virus infected R. spathacea, Tradescantia albiflora, G. geniculata, G. pellucida, M. nudiflora, and Tinantia erecta.

Keyword(s): bean yellow mosaic virus.