VIEW ARTICLE

Datura metel L. as a Virus-Indicator Plant. Robert P. Kahn, Plant Pathologist and Agricultural Research Technician, Plant Quarantine and Crops Research Divisions, ARS, USDA, U.S. Plant Introduction Station, Glenn Dale, Maryland 20769; R. L. Monroe, Agricultural Research Technician, Plant Quarantine and Crops Research Divisions, ARS, USDA, U.S. Plant Introduction Station, Glenn Dale, Maryland 20769. Phytopathology 60:1183-1185. Accepted for publication 10 March 1970. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-1183.

Datura metel is recommended as a virus-indicator plant. A total of 28 distinct symptoms were consistently incited by a group of 19 isolates of 12 mechanically-transmitted viruses. Because of the vast array of symptoms incited on D. metel, this species would be particularly useful for comparing “known” viruses with “unknowns”, and as a teaching aid.