Association of a Mycoplasmalike Organism with a Disease of Annual Statice in Michigan. Karen K. Baker, Assistant Professor, Center for Electron Optics, Departments of Botany and Plant Pathology and Entomology, Pesticide Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824. Sandra K. Perry, Plant Diagnostician, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Thomas M. Mowry, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Entomology, and James F. Russo, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Pesticide Research Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824. Plant Dis. 67:699-701. Accepted for publication 8 February 1983. Copyright 1983 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-67-699.

Mycoplasmalike organisms (MLOs) were found in phloem cells of ultrathin sections of stems, leaves, and pedicels of annual statice (Limonium sinuatum) showing the following symptoms: yellowing and malformation of young leaves, leaf reddening in older rosettes, bunching of flower stalks, phyllody, and other abnormal flower development. Similar organisms were not found in phloem cells of symptomless plants. The MLOs were transmitted to healthy statice, celery, and aster by the leafhopper Macrosteles fascifrons. Symptoms in statice resembled those observed in the field. This is the first report of an MLO associated with a disease of annual statice in Michigan.