Turnip, Cucumber, and Ribgrass Mosaic Viruses Isolated from Hesperis matronalis in British Columbia. R. E. Ford, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801. L. Beczner, and R. I. Hamilton. Plant Protection Institute, Budapest, Hungary; and Agriculture Canada Research Station, 6660 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1X2. Plant Dis. 72:101-106. Accepted for publication 21 September 1987. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0101.

Viruslike leaf mosaic and petal color-breaking symptoms were observed in the perennial ornamental Dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis [Cruciferae]) collected from eight locations in Vancouver, BC. Three viruses, cucumber mosaic (CMV, To serotype), a necrotic strain of ribgrass mosaic (RMV), and turnip mosaic (TuMV) were isolated (TuMV most often). Gel electrophoresis of genomic and replicative RNAs and molecular hybridization with cDNA were used in addition to serology to characterize the CMV strain. Seedlings of H. matronalis mechanically inoculated with either CMV or RMV alone remained symptomless. TuMV alone caused mosaic of leaves, but plants inoculated with TuMV simultaneously in mixed infections with CMV and/or RMV showed a more severe mosaic, distortion, and occasional necrosis. CMV was the only virus isolated from immature ovules, but no seed transmission of any of the viruses occurred in seedlings grown from seed produced by infected H. matronalis. This is the first report of the natural occurrence of either RMV or CMV in H. matronalis and only the second report of TuMV in British Columbia. H. matronalis may be a reservoir host for one or more of these viruses in certain vegetable or crop production areas.