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Plant Pathology Circular No. 169, August 1976
Fla. Dept. Agric. & Consumer Services
Division of Plant Industry
J. W. Miller
Bird-of-Paradise, Strelitzia reginae Banks is native to South Africa. It is a trunkless, clustering, slow-growing plant with stiff, leathery, bluish-gray leaves and may attain a height of 5 feet. It is grown for its strikingly beautiful flowers emerging from green boat-shaped bracts, with numerous brilliant orange Pointed Petals contrasting with an arrow-shaped tongue of vivid blue (1).
A serious leaf disease of young plants has plagued growers in central and southern Florida. The disease, caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas sp., attacks only very young leaves, but these leaves may remain on the plant for several years, leaving the plant unsightly (2).
SYMPTOMS. The lesions are narrow, dark brown to black stripes of varying length found between the lateral veins of the leaves (fig. 1). Several adjacent stripes may produce broad bands of affected leaf tissue. A young leaf which becomes infected before it expands often develops an abnormal shape with a frayed margin and wrinkled leaf blade (2).
Fig. 1. Leaves of Strelitzia reginae Banks showing dark stripes caused by Pseudomonas sp.
Reference to University of Florida/IFAS Pest Control Guides
Contribution No. 419, Bureau of Plant Pathology, P. O. Box 1269, Gainesville, FL 32602.
Literature Cited
1. Graf, A.B.1974. Exotica Third. Roehrs Co., Rutherford, N. J. 1833 p.
2. Wehlburg, C. Pseudomonas 1971. Bacterial leaf stripe of Strelitzia reginae caused by sp. Plant Dis. Reptr. 55:447-448.