There is a great need to implement low-cost and user-friendly methods for further propagation of biogas technology in India. Environment unfriendly disposal of floral waste causes serious environmental pollution. Literature shows a limited research work regarding the anaerobic digestion of floral waste for biogas generation.  The present experimental work aims to propagate floral waste as a sus...

Although nectar is crucial for most pollinators, its evolutionary origin has received scant attention. Nectar is derived from the phloem solution. Both have high sugar concentrations (usually 10-30% solutes by fresh mass); the main solute in the phloem is sucrose, whereas nectar can also contain considerable amounts of fructose and glucose. The phloem, not the xylem, is the supplier of water to...

Three plant groups in temperate western North America contain closely related ornithophilous and sphingophilous species: the Aquilegia formosa/Aquilegia caerulea group (Ranunculaceae), the Ipomopsis aggregata group (Polemoniaceae), and the Diplacus longiflorus group (Scrophulariaceae). The ornithophilous and sphingophilous species are products of allopatric speciation on the diploid level. Geog...

Bee-collected pollen ("bee pollen") is promoted as a health food with a wide range of nutritional and therapeutic properties. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the contribution made through the free radical scavenging capability of bee-collected floval pollens by their flavonoid/phenolics constituents, and to determine whether this capability is affected by aging. The free radic...

Flowers are complex structures devoted to pollinator attraction, through visual as well as chemical signals. As bees collect nectar on flowers to produce honey, some aspects of floral chemistry are transferred to honey, making chemical markers an important technique to identify the botanical and geographical origins of honey. We applied a new approach that considers the simultaneous analysis of...

Members of the SEPALLATA (SEP) MADS-box subfamily are required for specifying the "floral state" by contributing to floral organ and meristem identity. SEP genes have not been detected in gymnosperms and seem to have originated since the lineage leading to extant angiosperms diverged from extant gymnosperms. Therefore, both functional and evolutionary studies suggest that SEP genes may have bee...

Sophora toromiro (Phil) Skottsb. is a species that has been extinct in its natural habitat Easter Island (Rapa Nui) for over 50 years. However, seed collections carried out before its extinction have allowed its persistence ex-situ in different botanical gardens and private collections around the world. The progenies of these diverse collections have been classified in different lines, most of ...

Floral resources (nectar and pollen) provide food for insect pollinators but have declined in the countryside due to land use change. Given widespread pollinator loss, it is important that we quantify their supply help develop conservation actions. While nectar been measured rural landscapes, equivalent data are lacking urban areas, an knowledge gap as towns cities often host diverse population...

In flowering plants, the founder cells from which reproductive organs form reside in structures called floral meristems. Recent molecular genetic studies have revealed that the specification of floral meristems is tightly controlled by regulatory networks that underpin several coordinated programmes, from the integration of flowering signals to floral organ formation. A notable feature of certa...