A strain of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was isolated from a weed, water chickweed (Stellaria aquatica), growing in the pepper field in Chunchon, Korea. This isolate, CMV-Sa, was differentiated from other CMVs based on biological properties and nucleotide sequence analysis of the coat protein (CP) gene. CMV-Sa showed different reactions to all the tested plants, except Capsicum annuum and Cucumis sativus, when compared with those of CMV-Mf (subgroup I) and CMVPaFM (subgroup II). Remarkably, in Nicotiana tabacum cvs. Samsun, Xanthi-nc and Ky-57, CMV-Sa induced local necrotic ring spots on the inoculated leaves and venal wave pattern and mosaic on the upper leaves. RNA analysis, serology, and RT-PCR of CP gene showed that CMV-Sa belonged to subgroup I of CMV. However, restriction enzyme analysis of the cDNA using AluI, HhaI, HincII, HindIII, HinfI and MspI showed that CMV-Sa was distinct from that of CMV-Mf. Based on comparison of the nucleotide of CP gene and deduced amino acid sequences between other CMV strains, CMV-Sa was closely related to CMV-Mf with 93.7% and 97.2% identity, respectively.