VIEW ARTICLE

Transmission of Aphelenchoides besseyi to Ficus elastica Leaves via Sporobolus poiretii Inflorescences. Robert B. Marlatt, Associate Plant Pathologist, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Sub-Tropical Experiment Station, Homestead 33030. Phytopathology 60:543-544. Accepted for publication 23 October 1969. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-543.

An unusual mode of transmission of the foliar nematode, Aphelenchoides besseyi, was discovered. The nematode moved from soil to plants to seed heads of a grass,Sporobolus poiretii, and thence to Ficus elastica ‘Decora’ leaves touched by the grass inflorescence. Nematodes did not migrate from soil to Ficus leaves via the Ficus stem.