A novel Gram-negative, aerobic, yellow-pigmented, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated as THG-SM1(T), was isolated from field soil collected from Suwon, South Korea. The strain was found to grow optimally at 28 °C, at pH 7.0 and in the absence of NaCl. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, strain THG-SM1(T) belongs to the genus Flavobacterium and is most closely related to Flavobacterium terrae KACC 11731(T), followed by Flavobacterium columnare KACC 11683(T) and Flavobacterium enshiense KCTC 23775(T). The DNA G+C content of the novel isolate was determined to be 38.5 mol%. In DNA-DNA hybridization tests, the DNA relatedness between strain THG-SM1(T) and its closest phylogenetic neighbour F. terrae was below 50 %. Flexirubin-type pigments were found to be present. The major polar lipid and isoprenoid quinone were phosphatidylethanolamine and menaquinone 6 (MK-6), respectively. The main cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C15:1G, iso-C15:0 3OH, iso-C16:0 and iso-C15:0. The DNA-DNA hybridization result and differentiating chemotaxonomic and phenotypic characteristics showed that strain THG-SM1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium vireti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is THG-SM1(T) (=KACC 18371(T) = CCTCC AB2014312(T)).