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Methods that have been developed and standardised in our laboratory for the determination of cultural and biochemical characters of plant pathogenic bacteria have been used to provide data for numerical analyses of 121 strains of 13 phytopathogenic species of Corynebacterium Lehmann & Neumann 1896. Our results show them to be a relatively homogeneous group of organisms which should be classified within a single genus. Other workers have made proposals to exclude plant pathogenic coryneform species from Corynebacterium, but we consider that detailed comparative evidence is insufficient to justify their transfer to any other genus. However, we cannot support the present division of coryneform plant pathogens into 13 species, and propose the following classification.

Fluorescent pseudomonads isolated from diseased tissue of a number of unrelated hosts, viz, chinese gooseberry, cauliflower, pumpkin, lupin, tomato, passionfruit, poppy, pea, and grape, are identified as Pseudomonas viridiflava (Burkholder 1930) Dowson 1939. The pathogenicity of Ps. viridiflava from these hosts is confirmed and characters of the isolates ilre compared.

From data that were reported in taxonomic studies of the genus Erwinia in 1968 and 1969, four numerical analyses have been made and the results presented as dendrograms. The analyses confirm some of the proposals made in 1968 and 1969 and provide new information on which proposals are made for the classification of other nomenspecies. Because of recent nomenclatural changes in bacterial names, an up-to-date list is given of the correct name for each nomenspecies included in this study.

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