Wissadula Proliferation in Jamaica

In Jamaica, phloem‐restricted prokaryotes were found associated with a little leaf proliferation disease of Wissadula periplocifolia (L.) C. Presl. ex Thwaites. Electron microscopy of single ultrathin sections revealed circular, ovate and elongate profiles 120—500 nm in diameter/width and 125—4200 nm long. Most were bound by a double membrane and resembled the phloem‐restricted rickettsialike organisms associated with a small number of other plant diseases; others which were peripherally ill‐defined or without an obvious double membrane were indistinguishable from mycoplasmalike organisms. Further work is required to elucidate their taxonomic status and possible role in the aetiology of the disease. No potential aetiological agent was discovered for a symptomatologically similar disease of Abuliton hulseanum (Torr. & A. Gray) Torr. ex Chapm. which accurred intermixed with the Wissadula disease. The names Wissadula proliferation and Abutilon proliferation have been used to describe these newly recorded diseases.