Abstract
A severe disease of unknown cause had been observed the past 15 years on bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae Banks) grown under vinylhouse conditions in Izu peninsula of Shizuoka Pref., Japan. The etiological study of the disease revealed that it was bacterial wilt caused by Pseudomonas solanacearum which was first reported in Hawaii in 1963. First symptoms were curling upward of fully expanded leaves accompanied by yellow to orange discoloration. These leaves and leaf petioles gradually shriveled and finally dried up. The bacterium was virulent to Musa basjoo (diploid banana), but not to M. paradisiaca (triploid banana) and Heliconia psittacorum, indicating that it is belonged to race 1. The bacterium was characterized by a weak virulence to tomato in low temperature of 15 to 25C. Bacteriological properties of the bacterium were identical with those of biovar III.
