Abstract
The organism named "Erwinia nulandii" was isolated in 1979 from bean seeds and was described in 1981, but the name was never validated. The results of biochemical tests and membrane protein profile and DNA relatedness studies indicated that this name is synonymous with Erwinia persicinus, a validly published name for a species previously isolated from, but not shown to be pathogenic for, tomatoes, bananas, and cucumbers. Pathogenicity tests revealed that all E. persicinus strains, including an "E. nulandii" strain, were pathogenic for bean pods and seeds.