Abstract
THE wildfire disease of tobacco, caused by Bacterium tabacum, was first described in the United States in 1916; since then it has been reported from many parts of the world and has been the subject of extensive and detailed scientific investigations in many countries. The host range of the organism is a point of considerable importance and it has been found that many species of plants can be artificially infected with B. tabacum, with the production of definite pathological leaf symptoms. Yet, so far as I am aware, there are only three records (cowpea1, tomato2, and cucumber3) of the natural infection of plants other than tobacco. It is therefore of interest that I have found Nicandra physaloides, Gaertn. to be abundantly infected with wildfire in tobacco fields at Balfour in the East Cape Province, South Africa. This annual solanaceous weed is not indigenous but is widespread throughout arable lands. The infection was first observed in the late summer of 1932 among plants growing between the tobacco rows in a damp corner of the field; the following season, wildfire was very prevalent in tobacco and practically all the Nicandra plants throughout the same field showed wildfire spotting.
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Tisdale, W. B., Rep. Florida Agric. Expt. Sta., 1924.
Chapman, G. H., and Anderson, P. J., Bull. 203, Mass. Agric. Expt. Sta., 1921.
Johnson, J., Phytopath 14, 4; 1924.
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MOORE, E. Wildfire of Tobacco on Nicandra physaloides. Nature 132, 517 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132517a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132517a0
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