Virus Infections in Gentiana Species

Gentiana species generally are of little importance to horticulture. This may explain that little attention has been given to virus infections in these ornamentals, so far. However, during the last couple of years the number of samples for virus diagnosis increased. The main symptoms recorded, were growth reduction, necrotic lesions and decline. The virus isolated most frequently was broad bean wilt virus 2, while the related broad bean wilt virus 1 was not detected. Impatiens necrotic spot virus was identified once and one natural infection by the beet ringspot strain of tomato black ring virus was found. In addition, several isolates of bean yellow mosaic virus were identified.