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<div>Bacterial leaf streak of corn (<i>Zea mays)</i> recently reached epidemic levels in three corn-growing states, and was detected in another six states in the central United States. <i>Xanthomonas vasicola</i> was identified as the causal agent of this disease, however, the biology and taxonomy of this pathogen are not well understood. Multi-locus sequence alignment (MLSA) of six housekeeping genes and comparison of average nucleotide identity (ANI) from draft genome sequence confirmed phylogenetic relationships and classification of this bacterium relative to other <i>Xanthomonas vasicola </i>strains. <i>X. vasicola</i> strains from Nebraska and South Africa were highly virulent on corn and less virulent on sorghum or sugarcane, but caused water-soaking symptoms that are typical of <i>X. vasicola </i>infection on the leaves of all three hosts. Based on host range and phylogenetic comparison, we propose the taxonomic designation of this organism to <i>X. vasicola</i> pv. <i>vasculorum </i>pv. nov. Robust molecular diagnostic assays were developed that distinguish <i>X. vasicola</i> pv. <i>vasculorum</i> pv. nov. and <i>X. vasicola</i> pv. <i>holcicola</i> from each other and from other <i>Xanthomonas</i> spp.</div>