Preinoculation treatment with Celosia cristata leaf extract prevented lesion production by sunnhemp rosette virus, tobacco mosaic virus and potato virus X in several local lesion hosts, but not in Chenopodium amaranticolar. The extract inhibited lesion formation only in treated areas, and did not act on the virus directly, but only via the host. The persistence of inhibitory activity in test hosts for up to 6 days indicates that the site of virus attachment is blocked semipermanently.