A striking property of the mutualism between figs and their pollinating wasps is that wasps consistently oviposit in the inner flowers of the fig syconium, which develop into galls that house developing larvae. Wasps typically do not use the outer ring of flowers, which develop into seeds. To better understand differences between gall and seed flowers, we used a metatranscriptomic approach to a...

Behavior was altered and survivorship was reduced when parasitoids, Anagyrus pseudococci (Girault) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), were fed flowers from buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum L. (Polygonaceae), treated with soil applications of imidacloprid (Marathon 1% G). Parasitoids at 1 d had significantly reduced survivorship of 38 +/- 6.7% on label rate and 17 +/- 4.2% on twice label rate compared wi...

For most angiosperms, producing and maintaining flowers is critical to sexual reproduction, yet little is known about the physiological processes involved in maintaining flowers throughout anthesis. Among extant species, flowers of the genus Calycanthus have the highest hydraulic conductance and vein densities of species measured to date, yet they can wilt by late morning under hot conditions. ...

the effect of some treatments including preserving solution (20g l-1 sucrose plus 200 ppm 8-hqs), ba and tdz (pulse or spray) with preserving solution were evaluated on senescence parameters and vase life of rose cut flowers cv. red gant. preserving solution, applying 25 mm ba with preserving solution increased solution absorbance, and prevented the cut flowers from getting decreased in relativ...

Most plants are hermaphrodites, producing perfect flowers with both male and female functions. In roughly 6%of plants, however, male (usually XY) plants produce only male flowers and female (XX) plants produce only female flowers. Thesedioecious plants cannot self-pollinate, ensuring genetic diversity and facilitating the breeding process. In the dioecious diploid persimmon (Diospyros lotus), s...

A robust valley polarization is a key prerequisite for exploiting valley pseudospin to carry information in next-generation electronics and optoelectronics. Although monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides with inherent spin-valley coupling offer a unique platform to develop such valleytronic devices, the anticipated long-lived valley pseudospin has not been observed yet. Here we demonstrate...

The postharvest life of different cultivars of kalanchoë plants (Kalanchoë blossfeldiana Poelln.) varied widely. The display life of plants of ‘Nadia’ was much longer than that of plants of ‘Debbie’ (10 weeks compared with 7 weeks). During display life, senescing flowers were replaced by opening buds and the difference in display life was primarily a function of differences in life of the indiv...

Flowers bear the function of filters supporting the attraction of pollinators as well as the deterrence of floral antagonists. The effect of epidermal cell shape on the visual display and tactile properties of flowers has been evaluated only recently. In this study we quantitatively measured epidermal cell shape, gloss and spectral reflectance of flowers pollinated by either bees or birds testi...

hydro-distilled volatile oils from the flowers and leaves of eupatorium cannabinum l. which gathered in touchal on mountain alborz (tehran province) in iran were investigated mainly by a combination of gc and gc/ms. thirty-nine components were identified in the oils. the main constituents of the essential oils in flowers and leaves were germacrene d (27.3%, 37.1%), gemacrene b (12.4%, 11.7%) an...