Clover yellow vein virus (CYVV) isolate H and the related potyvirus isolates E178, E197, and E242 could be distinguished from bean yellow mosaic (BYMV) isolates by their wider host range among non-legume test plant species, the peculiar enlargement of the nucleolus in infected plants, and the larger size of their coat protein as evidenced by slower migration in SDS-PAGE. Serologically, they are qualitatively indistinguishable in electro-blot immunoassay (EBIA) also with antibodies specific to the N-terminal part of BYMV-B25 coat protein, implying therefore that CYVV and BYMV coat proteins contain identical amino acid sequences in the N-terminal region. The faba-bean virus isolates from Sudan, Syria, and The Netherlands could be identified as BYMV isolates especially adapted to faba bean. All of them were weakly pathogenic to Phaseolus bean with the exception of SV205, assuming an intermediate position between Phaseolus-bean isolates, with low pathogenicity to faba bean, and faba-bean isolates, usually having low pathogenicity to Phaseolus bean. Strains of BYMV are thus hard to delimit.