That is true, some aren;t harmful. I have 2 plants that were the result of virus infection...I don;t remember if it was accidental or on purpose its been so many years ago. One is a form of the Shell ginger (Alpinia) called 'Yu Hua'. If you haven;t seen Shell Ginger, there is an all green form, and a very highly variegated form that is yellow and lime green on darker green. This variegated form is so common in Florida, its used in commercial landscaping like hotels and offices and whatnot and also in residential....I don;t even notice it anymore. There are whole median plantings of nothing but this ginger in Orlando. I guess people who have never seen it before think its great. The Yu Hua is a different from of variegation from the loud one....its like a pin striping. It was caused by a mutation from a virus, and was only marketed for a very short time and never widely distributed. Pretty much only people who collect gingers might have it. I have it in my yard, its been there for over 25 years and never infected anything else.
The other is Plumeria 'Princess Victoria'. This plumie produces color break variegated flowers (sometimes, not all the time). When it was first introduced it was horribly expensive, over $100 a cutting.But eventually it became pretty common in collections and was widely traded, which is how I got mine, but many people who collect and grow plumeria will not grow it because they believe the virus is contagious and harmful. Again, I have had it for at least 15 years and it has never infected any of my other plumeria.
