Development of composite inflorescences in the plant family Asteraceae has features that cannot be studied in the traditional model plants for flower development. In Gerbera hybrida, inflorescences are composed of morphologically different types of flowers tightly packed into a flower head (capitulum). Individual floral organs such as pappus bristles (sepals) are developmentally specialized, st...

The snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) centroradialis mutant (cen) is characterized by the development of a terminal flower, thereby replacing the normally open inflorescence by a closed inflorescence. In contrast to its Arabidopsis counterpart, terminal flower1, the cen-null mutant displays an almost constant number of lateral flowers below the terminal flower. Some partial revertants of an X-radi...

Five reproductive efficiency methods (REM) were evaluated under field condition to measure yield in 12 varieties of Brassica campestris L. in 2005 and 2006 at Mymensingh (2475′ N latitude and 9050′ E longitude) based on flower and siliqua production and total reproductive unit (TRUnumber of buds, flowers, siliqua and number of empty pedicels). Five REMs were estimated and they were REM-I [ (Mat...

Temperate woody perennials survive to low temperatures in winter entering a dormant stage. Dormancy is not just a survival strategy, since chilling accumulation is required for proper flowering and arbitrates species adaptation to different latitudes. In spite of the fact that chilling requirements have been known for two centuries, the biological basis behind remain elusive. Since chilling acc...

Flower stalks of Pulsatilla cernua, an early spring herb in north temperate Asia, changed position from erect to pendulous and back to erect during 6-10 d anthesis. We tested three possible explanations for this movement. Our results showed that (1) this movement is unlikely to be a mechanism to attract pollinators or enhance pollen output, because no pollinator preference was observed between ...

Chrysanthemum indicum is widely used to treat immune-related and infectious disorders in East Asia. C. indicum flower oil contains 1,8-cineole, germacrene D, camphor, α-cadinol, camphene, pinocarvone, β-caryophyllene, 3-cyclohexen-1-ol, and γ-curcumene. We evaluated the safety of C. indicum flower oil by conducting acute oral toxicity, bone marrow micronucleus, and bacterial reverse mutation te...