Amorphs can surely have virus and I know people that have had them tested as positive....not sure of what exact virus it was though :o) Dan

Dan, I've never heard of this one. Can you fill us in? Perhaps we should get a discussion going on Aroid L so some of the aroid botanists can tell us more?

Steve

Hi Steve, I learned of it on aroid-l to be honest. There is a person I visited in the past in LA that had sent some of his to a lab in Minnesota (as I recall) for testing. Hopefully my memory is not so bad that I have this confused with another genus!! I know every time someone sees "variegation" in Amorphs there is discussion of whether it is a virus. There are also various reports of this written up on the web indicating that Am. konjac, for example, can get mosaic virus. The following quote was taken from an article intitled "Protocols and standards for quality planting material of konkac" I can not manage to find an attribution however so I quote this passage reluctantly!

"The mosaic infected plants are generally dwarf and chlorotic in appearance and exhibit mosaic with mottling which is more pronounced in young leaves. The leaflets become narrow and symptoms of leaf distortion such as leaf strapping, rat tailing/shoe stringing, puckering and upward curling of leaf lamina are prominent in severely infected plants. Konjac mosaic virus (KoMV) and Dasheen Mosaic viruses (DsMV) are known to infect Konjac plants (Shimoyama et al., 1992). DsMV is transmitted through the infected corms of A. konjac and also by cotton aphids (Aphis gossypii)."

The reference referred to is I believe one of the two following that has been improperly referenced in the passage above:

Shimoyama, J. 1986. Callus induction and micropropagation from shoot tips of Konjac [Amorphophallus konjac]. Japanese Journal of Crop Sciences. 55 [3]: 381-382.
Shishida, Y., Shimoyama, J. and Ushiama, M. 1991. Elimination of DasMV and KMV and mass multiplication through shoot tip culture in Konjac plants. Gunma Journal of Agricultural Research. 8 ; 1 - 10 p.

Hope this helps :o) Dan

I think that in Aroideana this year there is something about this konjac mosaic affecting konjacs. I guess my next question would be is this the same virus that is referred to as Tobacco Mosaic Virus? If not, can it become adapted to affect amorphophallus? Its funny you should mention variegation because I had A. yuloensis put out all variegated leaves, but in a very unusual way. Here is a picture of it.

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Now its beginning to get me worried. At first I thought it was just anomaly now I am thinking it might be something more nefarious.

Well, they should be different if they have different names in all honesty......no idea how many different viruses might affect aroids......way past my pay grade!!

Interesting looking plant......If you grew it from seed it could be an interesting mutation. You will know for sure if it survives and goes dormant and then appears again next year with a similar appearance......you can always keep it isolated from your others and play the waiting game :o) Dan

I guess I am thinking about common names and how misleading and widely used they are for completely different things.

Thanks for the great responses. I'm up to my neck in overdue work right now for a couple of magazines and a book publisher along with putting together a presentation for Fort Worth. To be honest, I've only read the Aroid l posts that really grabbed my attention. I think I'll have to go back through the "library"!

Steve