Roosterlorn said: Another thing that puzzles me is that nearly every book I have cautions smokers to thoroughly wash their hands before handling lilies. Well, I've always thought virus live only in a live host and when the host dries, so does the virus. Processed tobacco is pretty dead in my book! So how can that be?
Just as all lilies are not the same and can't be expected to perform equally, so it is with viruses (and practically everything else, too). You knew that. The common cold is a virus that is often spread by touch,
dead doorknobs, etc. Many viruses simply need moisture to stay alive until their next host comes along. I'm sure there are lots of different survival mechanisms, and TMV's has certainly done well.
But in regard to lilies, this does seem to present a quandary, as we always read lily viruses are only transmitted from lily to lily via live organisms. But I think the best answer is that there are too many unknown variables. Many pathogens spread via different means, depending on their host, as well as their position in their life cycle. It is very possible that the same virus that infects plant #1 cannot produce airborne infectious material, while infected plant #2 (a different species) does. Could it be that lilies can be infected by airborne virus, but cannot produce airborne virus material? And what about TMV? It is probably one of the longest (chronologically) studied plant viruses in existence. Yet with smokers all over, and for many centuries, why do we not see many examples of TMV on lilies? Maybe we do, but just label it "virused" undesignated. I wish I knew.
