To increase our understanding of the genes involved in flower development in citrus, we identified genes differentially expressed between juveniles and adults of an early-flowering mutant of trifoliate orange (precocious trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) by suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and macroarray hybridization analyses. Based on dot blot analysis, we confirmed t...

The orchid Ophrys sphegodes Miller is pollinated by sexually excited males of the solitary bee Andrena nigroaenea, which are lured to the flowers by visual cues and volatile semiochemicals. In O. sphegodes, visits by pollinators are rare. Because of this low frequency of pollination, one would expect the evolution of strategies that increase the chance that males will visit more than one flower...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In spite of recent phylogenetic analyses for the Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae complex, some morphological characters are not unambiguously interpreted, which raises homology questions. Therefore, ontogenetic investigations, emphasizing on 'bracteoles' in Atripliceae and flowers in Chenopodioideae, were conducted. This first paper presents original ontogenetic observations in...

in a field experiment, during three successive years of 2007, 2008 and 2009, the effects of planting pattern and high corm density on agronomic performance of saffron was investigated at the research station of ferdowsi university of mashhad. a complete randomized block design in a factorial arrangement of three replications being employed. treatments consisted of three corm rates of planting (...

In Arabidopsis, floral meristems arise in continuous succession directly on the flanks of the inflorescence meristem. Thus, the pathways that regulate inflorescence and floral meristem identity must operate both simultaneously and in close spatial proximity. The TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) gene of Arabidopsis is required for normal inflorescence meristem function, and the LEAFY (LFY), APETALA 1 (A...

Two new species of Cousinia are described from Iran. Cousinia bornmulleriana from the west that can be placed in sect. Haussknechtii based on some key characters such as flower numbers, phyllary numbers and the inflorescence form traits. This species can be also compared with its closest relative C. haussknechtii. and C. karkasensis. The second new species, C. semnanensis, from North East of Ir...

The architecture of inflorescences shows extensive diversity in both branching frequency and flower number, which eventually, determines agricultural productivity. In this study, F₂ (second filial) populations derived from a cross between Solanum lycopersicum 10AS111A (highly-branched inflorescence) and the S. pimpinellifolium PI124039 (inflorescence having a single branch) were used to deciphe...