Discovered in the USA and Canada on cherry, ChTLV is so far unknown in Europe
and does not seem epidemic. Several other Prunus species are receptive but
tolerant, including peach and some plums.
The disease manifests itself on the foliage of sweet cherry, Prunus avium,
in spring. After 4 - 5 almost normal leaves, subsequent leaves are folded downwards
and become twisted. The symptoms resemble those induced by a severe aphid attack.
Fruits are mottled, deformed and riped delayed. Interestingly, trees recover, when
the temperatures rise in June.
Indexing seems the only reliable detection method so far. Typical symptoms of
twisted leaf from most, but not all isolates can be obtained on the cherry cultivar
´Bing´ by graft inoculation.