Tulip Breaking Virus - Effects of The Virus

Effects of The Virus

The virus infects the bulb and causes the cultivar to "break" its lock on a single color, resulting in intricate bars, stripes, streaks, featherings or flame-like effects of different colors on the petals. These symptoms vary depending on the plant variety and age at the time of infection. Different types of colour-breaks depend on the variety of tulip and the strain of the virus. The color variegation is caused either by local fading, or intensification and overaccumulation of pigments in the vacuoles of the upper epidermal layer due to the irregular distribution of anthocyanin; this fluctuation in pigmentation occurs after the normal flower color has developed. Because each outer surface is affected, both sides of the petal often display different patterns.

In the lily species, the virus causes mild to moderate mottling or streaking in the leaves about two weeks after inoculation, and then causes the plant to produce distorted leaves and flowers.

The virus also weakens the bulb and retards the plant's propagation through offset growths; as it progresses through each generation the bulb grows stunted and weak. Eventually it has no strength to flower, and either breaks apart or withers away, ending the genetic line. For this reason the most famous examples of tulips from color broken bulbs – the Semper Augustus and the Viceroy – no longer exist.