Occurrence of enterococci on plants in a wild environment.

Enterococci were obtained from 14% of nearly 2,200 flowers, 3.4% of non-floral structures of angiosperms, and from 8.3% of samples of soil, water, and lesser plants of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an area little influenced by the presence of man. The enterococci were recovered from one or more flowers or flower clusters of 1,515 samples in 47 taxa, but not from flowers of 67 taxa with 654 samples. The per cent of recovery was influenced adversely by dense forest cover and by increase in elevation, as compared with recovery from flowers in sunny locations in the lower elevations. The per cent recovery increased directly with rising seasonal temperature, with the maximal per cent of recovery occurring in September. In no instance did all samples of a species of flower or plant yield enterococci on culture, and with only three genera, Cacalia, Delphinium, and Mitchella, were the bacteria obtained from more than 50% of the samples. Approximately 11% of the cultures isolated were identified as Streptococcus faecalis, 64% as the soft curd producing, caseolytic variant of S. faecalis, 4% as S. faecalis var. zymogenes, and 20% as S. faecium. The per cent distribution of these species on plants was reasonably similar to the distribution within wild animals in the same environment. It was concluded that the enterococci occurring on plants arise commonly from the wild animals, and that they do not represent plant-specific species or variants of the enterococci.