Occurrence of Cucumber mosaic virus in Passiflora edulis Sims. in Italy.

During spring 2005, symptoms of a disease consisting of striking coalescent yellow spots, pale mosaic and slight deformations of the leaves were observed on the canopy of some plants of Passiflora edulis Sims. (family Passifloraceae, commonly known as "purple passion fruit" or "granadilla", growing in a garden of the Naples area (southern Italy). The same plants showed pale coloration of the flowers whereas fruits were apparently normal. In summer, symptoms on the new vegetation became milder. Uranyl acetate stained leaf-dip preparations observed under the electron microscope showed isometric virus particles ca. 30 nm in diameter.