Phytoplasma infection causes a desirable branching phenotype in the ornamental plant Euphorbia pulcherrima by releasing apical dominance. Four E. pulcherrima genes specifically regulated during phytoplasma infection were identified using differential display of cDNA-PCR products. According to BLAST searches the possible functions of the identified genes included a histidinecontaining phosphotra...

Tithonia diversifolia, an alien ornamental plant introduced from Central America, has being naturalized in tropical, southern and central sub-tropical regions in the Yunnan Province of China (Wang et al. 2004). In order to evaluate this ominous alien species, our team has carried out a comprehensive study on its current geographical distribution, natural communities, vegetative proliferation an...

Dickeya spp. are bacterial pathogens causing soft-rot and blackleg diseases on a wide range of ornamental plants and crops. In this paper, we announce the PacBio complete genome sequences of the plant pathogens Dickeya solani RNS 08.23.3.1.A (PRI3337) and Dickeya dianthicola RNS04.9.

Duranta plumeiri is an ornamental plant with 30 to 36 species found throughout the world. The plants of D. plumeiri were found to be affected by chlorotic spots and mosaic. Studies on variations in expression of symptoms on different hosts, and confirmation by electron microscopy were done to establish the viral nature of the disease in D. plumeiri plants.

BACKGROUND Relatively little has been researched or published on the importance of peri-urban domestic gardens as part of a household livelihood strategy in South Africa. Due to lack of comprehensive data on peri-urban domestic gardens, their potential value as luxury green space, provision of food, income and ecosystem services to the fast growing urban population in South Africa is not clearl...

A pot experiment was carried out to determine the effect of foliage spraying of silicon (Si) on growth and ornamental characteristics of calendula grown under salt stress and greenhouse conditions. A factorial experiment based on completely randomized design was conducted with 3 levels of Si (0, 50 and 100 mg/l) and 3 levels of NaCl (0, 100 and 200 mM) with 4 replications. At flowering stage, S...