Poinsettia Mosaic Virus in British Columbia. A. W. Chiko, Saanichton Research and Plant Quarantine Station, Agriculture Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada V8L 1H3. Plant Dis. 67:427-428. Accepted for publication 8 November 1982. Copyright 1983 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-67-427.

Most plants of two poinsettia cultivars grown from cuttings at Saanichton Research and Plant Quarantine Station in 1980 developed varying degrees of leaf and bract distortion, mosaic, or both symptoms. Diagnostic tests showed that both cultivars were infected with poinsettia mosaic virus (PMV), which has not been reported previously in Canada. In a survey of commercially grown poinsettias conducted in British Columbia in 1981, PMV was detected in eight of nine poinsettia cultivars sampled and in 94% of 65 samples tested. Results of this survey, combined with work previously reported from the United States, suggest that this virus probably is prevalent in commercial stocks of poinsettia throughout North America.