scholarly journals Flower morphology, floral development and insect visitors to flowers of Nepenthes mirabilis

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1624-1631
Author(s):  
TRI HANDAYANI

Handayani T. 2017. Flower morphology, floral development and insect visitors to flowers of Nepenthes mirabilis. Biodiversitas 18: 1624-1631. Nepenthes mirabilis Druce is a commercial ornamental pitcher plant belonging to the Nepenthaceae. This species is often used as a parent plant in artificial crossbreeding. The plant is also used in traditional medicine, rope-making, handicraft, and bouquets. Flower development and pollen maturity are important factors in pitcher plant crossbreeding. However, information about its flowering is still lacking. This study aimed to record the flower morphology, flower development, and faunal visitors to male inflorescences of N. mirabilis planted in Bogor Botanic Gardens, West Java, Indonesia. Twelve racemes of flowers were taken as a sample for observing the process of inflorescence development, while ten flowers on each raceme were observed for investigating the flowering pattern of individual flowers. The morphology of flowers, the process of inflorescence development, the flowering pattern for individual flowers, the number of open flowers, the longevity of anthesis, and the appearance of insect (and/or other faunal) visitors to flowers were observed and recorded, using naked eyes, a hand lens, and a camera. Six phases of inflorescence development were identified: inflorescence bud phase, raceme phase, the opening of the raceme-protecting sheath phase, inflorescence-stalk and flowerstalk growth phase, open flower phase and pollen maturity phase. Four phases of flower development were observed: growth of flower bud, the opening of tepals, pollen maturation, and flower senescence. The pattern of anthesis within an inflorescence was acropetal. The number of flowers per raceme was 56 to 163. The peak duration of anthesis of a flower was 11 days (30.7% of flowers). The length of the raceme-stalks was 17-31 cm. The length of the racemes was 23-38 cm. The most common visitors to the flowers were stingless bees, Trigona apicalis.

HortScience ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Xingwei ◽  
Thohirah Lee Abdullah ◽  
Sima Taheri ◽  
Nur Ashikin Psyquay Abdullah ◽  
Siti Aishah Hassan

Synsepalum dulcificum from the family Sapotaceae is known as miracle fruit and is a valuable horticultural species. All plant parts are of medicinal importance whereas the fruit known as magic berry, miracle berry, or sweet berry is consumed fresh. Surprisingly, very little is known on the species in terms of flower morphology and flower development. In this study, an observation on the flower morphology and flower development of miracle fruit has been made with the aid of microscopic techniques. Miracle fruit flower requires 100 days to develop from reproductive meristem to full anthesis. The flower development can be divided into six stages based on the size and appearance of the flower bud. The fruit with persistent style developed and ripened 90 days after anthesis. Heavy fruit drop was observed at 40–60 days after anthesis which contributed to the final fruit set of average of 5.06% per plant. Through this study, miracle fruit is strongly insect pollinated and prevents self-fertilization. A study on pollination ecology is needed to identify the pollinator for miracle fruit, as this is important in manipulating fruit loading in the future.


HortScience ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (12) ◽  
pp. 1823-1828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Ha Rhie ◽  
Seonghwan Kang ◽  
Jongyun Kim

Automated irrigation systems based on soil moisture sensor measurements can reduce water and fertilizer use while adequately meeting plant water requirements. In this study, the effects of substrate volumetric water content (θ, v/v) on the flowering of 17-month-old Doritaenopsis Queen Beer ‘Mantefon’ (from the time of deflasking) were examined. The plants were transplanted in plastic pots (10.5 cm width × 9.5 cm height) filled with sphagnum moss and the θ of sphagnum moss was maintained at 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, or 0.5 m3·m−3 using an automated drip irrigation system. Plants grown at a θ threshold of 0.2 m3·m−3 had thinner leaves and lower SPAD value than those grown at higher θ thresholds. The net CO2 uptake of the uppermost fully expanded leaf increased with increasing θ between 0.2 and 0.4 m3·m−3, but there was no significant difference in the net CO2 uptake between plants grown at 0.4 and 0.5 m3·m−3 thresholds. The number of flower buds at the time of the first open flower was lower in plants grown at θ thresholds of 0.2 and 0.3 m3·m−3 as compared with that in the plants grown at 0.4 and 0.5 m3·m−3 thresholds. Early flower abscission, flower bud dropping, and flower senescence during the 2 weeks after flowering occurred in 55% and 30% of the plants at 0.2 and 0.3 m3·m−3 thresholds, respectively, whereas plants at θ thresholds of 0.4 and 0.5 m3·m−3 had negligible flower abscission. Although vegetative growth parameters were similar among θ thresholds of 0.3 m3·m−3 or higher, plants grown at a θ threshold of 0.3 m3·m−3 produced fewer flowers than those grown at 0.4 and 0.5 m3·m−3 thresholds. During the 83-day experimental period, the system irrigated the plants ≈0.79, 1.93, 2.46, and 2.84 L/pot at θ thresholds of 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 m3·m−3, respectively. Overall, 0.4 m3·m−3 was considered to be an optimal threshold θ level for producing high-quality Doritaenopsis Queen Beer ‘Mantefon’ during the flowering period with most efficient water use.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanting Chang ◽  
Tao Hu ◽  
Wenbo Zhang ◽  
Lin Zhou ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andrew) is a popular ornamental plant due to its large, fragrant and colorful flowers. The floral development is the most important event in its lifecycle. To explore the mechanism that regulate flower development, we sequenced the flower bud transcriptomes of ‘High Noon’, a reblooming cultivar of P. suffruticosa × P. lutea, using both full-length isoform-sequencing (ISO-seq) and RNA-seq were sequenced. A total of 15.94 Gb raw data were generated in full-length transcriptome sequencing of the 3 floral developmental stages, resulting 0.11 M protein-coding transcripts. Over 457.0 million reads were obtained by RNA-seq in the 3 floral buds. Here, we openly released the full-length transcriptome database of ‘High Noon’ and RNA-seq database of floral development. These databases can provide a fundamental genetic information of tree peony to investigate its transcript structure, variants and evolution. Data will facilitate to deep analyses of the transcriptome for flower development.


1994 ◽  
Vol 119 (5) ◽  
pp. 1043-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Lyrene

The effects of environmental factors, including chilling duration during dormancy and temperature during flower bud expansion, were studied on the following blueberry flower parameters: corolla length, corolla aperture diameter, stigma location relative to the apex of the corolla tube, position of the anthers relative to the stigma and to the apex of the corolla, and style length. Flowers on plants that were chilled over 1400 hours differed little from those that received only 310 chill units. Flowers that developed under warmer temperatures had significantly wider corolla apertures. In one experiment but not the other, corolla length and style length increased under warmer temperatures. For nearly every parameter in each of three experiments, there were significant environment × clone interactions. Overall, however, it appeared that neither lack of chill units during dormancy nor warm temperatures during flower development changed flower morphology enough to affect fruit set.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 732-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann M Hirsch ◽  
Rebecca SN Krupp ◽  
Yimei Lin ◽  
Susan S Wang ◽  
Weigang Yang ◽  
...  

White sweetclover, Melilotus alba Desr. (Fabaceae), produces white, papilionoid flowers on a simple raceme. Individual floral apices originate in the axil of a bract. Each flower consists of five alternating whorls that, from outside to inside, consist of (i) five sepals, (ii) five petals, of which two fuse along their abaxial edges to form the keel, (iii) five antesepalous stamens, (iv) five antepetalous stamens with shorter filaments, and (v) a single carpel containing two to four ovules. The development of the wild-type sweetclover inflorescence and flowers is described in detail and compared with a mutant in which secondary inflorescences, instead of individual flowers, developed in axils of the bracts, especially at the base of the inflorescence. This white sweetclover mutant, designated sid for "secondary inflorescence development", might serve as a test of the ABC model of floral development, which was based on the model plants Antirrhinum and Arabidopsis.Key words: white sweetclover, inflorescence, flower, development, sid mutant.


1994 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Faust ◽  
Royal D. Heins

The effects of temperature and daily-integrated photosynthetic photon flux (PPFDI) on African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha Wendl.) flower initiation and development were quantified to provide the basis for an inflorescence development model. The percentage of leaf axils in which an inflorescence initiated and continued development increased as the PPFDI increased from 1 to 4 mol·m-2·day-1, while the rate of inflorescence development was a function of the average daily temperature (ADT). The appearance of a visible flower bud (VB) in a leaf axil was related to the growth of the subtending leaf blade. A polynomial model based on ADT and PPFDI was used to describe leaf blade length at visible bud (LBLVB). A nonlinear model was used to describe the influence of ADT on leaf expansion rate (LER). Inflorescence appearance in the leaf axil was predicted by measuring LBL and estimating the time for the leaf blade to develop to the length required for VB. A phasic-development scale was developed to quantify inflorescence development. Days required for an inflorescence to develop from VB to first open flower was described as a function of ADT and either inflorescence height or inflorescence development stage (IDS). Days from leaf emergence to first open flower for the inflorescence initiated in that leaf axil decreased from 86 to 55 as ADT increased from 18 to 26C.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun-He Cheng ◽  
Xiang-Yong Peng ◽  
Yong-Chang Yu ◽  
Zhen-Yuan Sun ◽  
Lei Han

DNA methylation, an important epigenetic modification, regulates the expression of genes and is therefore involved in the transitions between floral developmental stages in flowering plants. To explore whether DNA methylation plays different roles in the floral development of individual male and female dioecious plants, we injected 5-azacytidine (5-azaC), a DNA methylation inhibitor, into the trunks of female and male basket willow (Salix viminalis L.) trees before flower bud initiation. As expected, 5-azaC decreased the level of DNA methylation in the leaves of both male and female trees during floral development; however, it increased DNA methylation in the leaves of male trees at the flower transition stage. Furthermore, 5-azaC increased the number, length and diameter of flower buds in the female trees but decreased these parameters in the male trees. The 5-azaC treatment also decreased the contents of soluble sugars, starch and reducing sugars in the leaves of the female plants, while increasing them in the male plants at the flower transition stage; however, this situation was largely reversed at the flower development stage. In addition, 5-azaC treatment decreased the contents of auxin indoleacetic acid (IAA) in both male and female trees at the flower transition stage. These results indicate that hypomethylation in leaves at the flower transition stage promotes the initiation of flowering and subsequent floral growth in Salix viminalis, suggesting that DNA methylation plays a similar role in vegetative–reproductive transition and early floral development. Furthermore, methylation changes during the vegetative–reproductive transition and floral development were closely associated with the biosynthesis, metabolism and transportation of carbohydrates and IAA. These results provide insight into the epigenetic regulation of carbohydrate accumulation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Pracros ◽  
Joël Renaudin ◽  
Sandrine Eveillard ◽  
Armand Mouras ◽  
Michel Hernould

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Micro-Tom) plants infected by the stolbur phytoplasma (isolate PO) display floral abnormalities, including sepal hypertrophy, virescence, phyllody, and aborted reproductive organs, which are reminiscent of those observed in Arabidopsis thaliana mutants affected in flower development genes. Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and in situ RNA hybridization were used to compare expressions of meristem and flower development genes in healthy and stolbur phytoplasma-infected tomatoes. In infected plants, FALSIFLORA (FA), controlling the identity of the inflorescence meristem, was up-regulated, whereas LeWUSCHEL (LeWUS) and LeCLAVATA1 (LeCLV1), regulating the meristem development, and LeDEFICIENS (LeDEF), responsible for the organ (petals and stamens) identity within the flower, were down-regulated regardless of the development stage of the flower bud. In contrast, expression of TAG1, which regulates stamen and carpel identities and negatively controls LeWUS, was up-regulated at the early stages and down-regulated at the late stages. In situ RNA hybridization analyses revealed that TAG1 transcripts were restricted to the same floral meristem territories in healthy and infected tomatoes, indicating that tissue-specific expression of TAG1 was not affected by the stolbur phytoplasma infection. Taken together, these data indicate that flower malformations of stolbur phytoplasma-infected tomatoes are associated with early changes in the expression of key flower development genes. The possible mechanisms by which the multiplication of stolbur phytoplasma in tomato sieve tubes deregulates floral development are discussed.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 447f-448
Author(s):  
Millie S. Williams ◽  
Terri Woods Starman ◽  
James E. Faust

Flower growers experience decreased consumer satisfaction with plant species that cease flowering during the summer. The objective of this experiment was to characterize the heat tolerance of four specialty floral crop species in order to predict their summer performance in the different climatalogical regions of the United States. The effect of increasing temperatures on the duration of postharvest flower development was determined for Ageranthemum frutescens `Butterfly' and `Sugar Baby', Brachycome hybrid `Ultra', and Sutera cordata `Snowflake'. Plants were grown in a 18 °C greenhouse until marketable with foliage covering the container and flowers distributed evenly across the plant canopy. Plants were then placed in a phytotron to determine their heat tolerance. Temperature set points of 18, 23, 28, and 33 °C were delivered serially at 2-week intervals, starting at 18 °C. Plants were then returned to 18 °C after the 33 °C treatment. Immature flower bud, mature flower bud, flower and senesced flower numbers were collected once per week. Sutera `Snowflake', and Brachycome `Ultra' had the greatest flower number at the 23 °C temperature, decreasing in the 28 °C environment. Argeranthemum `Butterfly' and `Sugar Baby' had greatest flower number at 28 °C, but flowers were smaller and of lower quality than at 23 °C. Flower development of all cultivars ceased at 33 °C, but when plants were returned to the 18 °C production greenhouse, flower development resumed. According to normal average daily temperatures in Knoxville, Tenn., Ageranthemum frutescens `Butterfly' and `Sugar Baby' would flower until mid-June, while Brachycome hybrid `Ultra' and Sutera cordata `Snowflake' would flower until mid-May.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania P Silva ◽  
Fernando L Finger

ABSTRACT: This work describes ethylene and 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) action on post-harvest shelf life of four development stages of nasturtium flowers. To reach this goal, we carried out three experiments. In the first and second experiments, we studied five ethylene (0; 0.1; 1; 10; 100 and 1000 μL/L) and three 1-MCP concentrations (0.25; 0.5 and 0.75 μL/L), respectively. In the third experiment, 1-MCP was followed by combined with ethylene (only 1-MCP; only ethylene; and 24 hours of exposure to 0.75 μL/L 1-MCP followed by 24 hours of exposure to 100 μL/L ethylene). All experiments had two control treatments, one keeping non-exposed flowers inside and another outside exposure chambers. Experiments were set in factorial design, in complete blocks at random, with four 10-flower replications each. Flower senescence was determined by a pre-established visual scale and by observing floral bud development. Ethylene dose above 10 μL/L induced flower wilting and premature senescence from the second floral development stage. Furthermore, higher concentrations of exogenous ethylene promoted irregular flower opening and/or morphological abnormalities in opened flowers. 1-MCP effectively extended post-harvest longevity of nasturtium flowers, independent of the concentration and even in the presence of exogenous ethylene.


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