Impatiens bijieensis (Balsaminaceae), a new species from karst plateau in Guizhou, China

Impatiens bijieensis X.X. Bai & L.Y. Ren, a new species from Northwest Guizhou, China, is here described and illustrated. This new species is distributed discontiguously in Jiulongshan of Dafang County and Dajiucaiping of Hezhang County, both of which belong to Wumeng mountains area, a karst plateau landform. It is morphologically similar to I. lasiophyton J.D. Hooker and I. leptocaulon J.D. Hooker in height, leaf blade shape and flower form, especially resembles I. lasiophyton in pilose plant. However, it differs in its deep purplish-red to rose-red flower, 2-lobed lower sepal apex and cylindrical capsule. A detailed description, color photographs, and a provisional IUCN red list assessment are provided, and its geographical distribution, ecology, and morphological relationship with relevant similar species are discussed.

Mechanism of Leaf Vein Coloration and Inheritance of Leaf Vein Color, Flower Form, and Floral Symmetry in Gloxinia

Double-flowered gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa) cultivars with foliar variegation might have a greater market appeal as flowering foliage plants. Crosses were made among 16 gloxinia cultivars and their progenies were analyzed to determine the inheritance of leaf vein color, flower form, and floral symmetry. All plants from self-pollinating white-veined cultivars or crosses between white-veined and green-veined cultivars produced white veins. Progeny derived from self-pollinating plants of white-veined cultivars × green-veined cultivars segregated into a ratio of 3 white-veined:1 green-veined. All plants from self-pollinating or cross-pollinating single-flowered cultivars produced single flowers. Progeny of self-pollination or crosses between double-flowered cultivars segregated into a ratio of 3 double flowers:1 single flower. Contingency chi-square tests revealed that leaf vein color and flower form were inherited independently. New gloxinia progenies with homozygous white veins and double flowers were successfully developed from the F2 segregating population. Plants from self-pollinating or cross-pollinating cultivars with actinomorphic flowers produced actinomorphic flowers. A single dominant gene expressed in the homozygous or heterozygous state resulted in the zygomorphic flowers. Independent inheritance was observed between vein color and floral symmetry. Air spaces between the epidermis and the mesophyll cells were observed in the white, but not in the green, leaf vein portions. Net photosynthesis did not differ significantly between the white vein and adjacent green portion of the same leaf.

Morphological traits and genetic parameters of Hippeastrum hybridum

Amaryllis is a bulbous flowering plant that has attracted many florists in Iran in recent years. The present study aimed to explore genetic diversity and quantitative and qualitative yield of imported cultivars and promising genotypes of amaryllis. The research used 16 genotypes based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the Ornamental Plants Research Center in Iran (2017-2018). Based on the guideline of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 17 major traits were selected to assess the genotypes. The differences in genotypes showed a wide diversity in all traits among them. The highest general heritability was observed in flowering period (93.86%) and leaf length (91.24%) and the lowest in the number of florets per branch (20.37%). Overall, most traits had high heritability. The highest number of flowering branches, flowering period, floret length, stalk diameter, leaf number, and leaf length were obtained from ‘Moscow’. The highest peduncle length, floret width, and flowering period were observed in the promising genotype ‘OPRC-202’. The flower form was double in ‘Cherry Nymph’, ‘Dancing Queen’, and ‘OPRC-204’, miniature in ‘Baby Star’, and simple (single-flower) in the other genotypes. Based on the results, the promising genotypes ‘OPRC-202’ and ‘OPRC-204’ have a high potential to be introduced as new competitive cultivars in domestic and international markets. The promising genotypes and cultivars were categorized in four groups. The results showed that major of the diversity in the traits was due to genetic factors and the effect of the environment on these traits was less.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DAHLIA CAV. VARIETIES RESEARCHED UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE EXPOSITION AREA OF VINNYTSIA NATIONAL AGRARIAN UNIVERSITY

The results of studies on the use of decorative ornamental plants of flower and ornamental plants Dahlia Cav. in Vinnytsia Region at their level of adaptation to growing conditions have been presented. The assessment of the collection of the genus Dahlia Cav. at the exposition site of the Vinnitsa National Agrarian University, it has been determined that the collection is dominated by varieties of individual garden groups such as cactus, nymphae and decorative. In order to expand and replenish the collection of the genus Dahlia Cav the exhibition area VNAU conducted a selection of varieties that are representative of a set of indicators such as plant height, shape and size of inflorescences among the dahlia assortment. Dahlias are easy to grow and bring life to your garden with their intense color, strength, and ability to keep flowering until the first frosts. Dahlias like well-balanced and composted soil, and full sun. With 42 different species and thousands of cultivars, dahlias offer plenty of variety. Variations in color, flower form, size, and foliage make it easy to find one you'll love. The rich variety of their flower colors shapes and sizes added to their extensive blooming season, have turned dahlias into popular addition to our landscapes. There are thousands of varieties of dahlias and they are all classified by the shape, size and color of their flowers. Flowers can be very small in diameter. They offer an impressive range of colors such as pink, purple, red, scarlet, orange, yellow, white and can be stripped or tipped with another color. They can be single-flowering (orchid-flowering, anemone and collarettes) or double flowering (cactus, semi-cactus, formal or informal decorative dahlias, ball and pompons). Dahlias have wide height range. There are many different ways to use dahlias in the garden. Shorter dahlias mix well with annuals or shorter perennials, while taller varieties will grow well with perennials and ornamental grasses toward the rear or center of borders. Their lower stems tend to be unattractive and the plants are heavy (especially the large flowered dinnerplate types); so without staking, they tend to flop. Plant the smallest varieties in containers. Dahlia flowers are brightly colored. They can also look surprisingly good with grasses, as the contrast is total-big bright flowers against finely textured grasses. Good cutting dahlias tend to be the larger varieties because of their longer stems. Key words: dahlias, collection, garden group, flowering, container culture.

Elucidation of molecular mechanisms of flower form development in tree peony ( Paeonia suffriticosa ) through comparative transcriptome analysis of floral parts

Background: Tree peony ( Paeonia suffruticasa ) is an economically, medicinally and ornamentally important woody flowering plant in East Asia. It is also a common ornamental shrub in Europe and North America. They are well known and prized for their beautiful flowers in many different shapes. Stamen petalody has been shown to be the most effective way to modify flower shapes. However, there is limited information on the molecular mechanisms of stamen petalody and flower shape formation in tree peony. Results: In this study, RNA sequencing was used to assemble and annotate the unigenes in tree peony to identify the critical genes related to flower parts formation and verify the key genes in different flower shapes of tree peony cultivars. A total of 76,007 high quality unigenes were assembled and 30,505 were successfully annotated. A total of 1,833 transcription factors (TFs) were identified in our study, among them 16 MADS-box genes were found and characterized. Six key genes were selected to verify their functions in stamen petalody. AG and SEP showed high expression level in carpels and sepals separately both in stamen petalody and non-stamen petalody groups. PI and AP3 s howed higher expression levels of inter-petals in the stamen petalody group, compared to stamens of non-stamen petalody. Conclusion: S ixteen MADS-box genes were identified in tree peony through RNA-seq. We identified six key genes based on their differential expression levels in different flower parts. These six key genes represented all categories in the ABCDE model to verify the functions in stamen petalody. We speculate that PI and AP3 may trigger the stamen petalody in tree peony. Our study has helped establish the flower development model in tree peony, to identify key molecular mechanisms in the development of different flower shapes, and to provide valuable information for improving the genetic diversity of tree peony and many other woody plants.

Characteristics of blooming, pollen production, and insect visitors of Polemonium caeruleum L. – a species with a potential to enrich pollinator-friendly urban habitats

Mosaic structure of urban green areas is regarded as favorable for pollinating insects. Ornamental plants can provide food resources to pollinators and may thus be used to create pollinator-friendly habitats. However, detailed data on forage quantity and quality is required for the selection of the most valuable plant species. In this paper, blooming biology, pollen production, and insect visitors of two forms (blue-flower and white-flower) of <em>Polemonium caeruleum</em> were studied in the period of 2012–2014 in Lublin, SE Poland. Both forms bloomed from mid-May until mid-June. The average mass of pollen produced in a single flower was 1.57 mg and 1.39 mg in blue-flower and white-flower forms, respectively. On average, the blue-flower form produced 7.74 g of pollen/m², while the white-flower form yielded 6.54 g of pollen/m². Both forms attracted mainly honey bees and solitary bees. <em>Polemonium caeruleum</em> can be considered a good source of pollen for honey bees and wild insect pollinators and should be propagated in urban pollinator-friendly arrangements.

Elucidation of molecular mechanisms of flower form development in tree peony ( Paeonia suffriticosa ) through comparative transcriptome analysis of floral parts

Background: Tree peony (Paeonia suffruticasa) is an economically, medicinally ornamentally important woody flowering woody plants in East Asia and is a common also ornamental shrub in Europe and North America. It is well known and prized for their beautiful flowers in many different forms. Samen petalody has been shown to be the most effective way to modify flower forms. However, there is limited information on the molecular mechanisms of stamen petalody and flower form formation in tree peony.Results: In this study, RNA sequencing was used to assemble and annotate the unigenes in the tree peony to identify the critical genes related to flower parts formation and verify the key genes in different flower forms of tree peony cultivar. A total of 76,007 high quality unigenes were assembled and 30,505 were successfully annotated. A total of 1,833 TFs were identified in our study, among them 16 MADS-box genes were found and characterized. Six key genes were selected to verity their functions in stamen petalody. AG and SEP showed high expression level in carpals and sepals separately both in stamen petalody group and non-stamen petalody groups. PI and AP3 showed high expression levels in inter-petals in stamen petalody groups than in staments in non-stamen petalody.Conclusion: Sixteen MADS-box genes were identified for the first time in tree peony through RNA-seq method. We identified six key genes based on their differential expression levels in different flower parts. These six key genes represented all categories in the ABCDE model to verify the functions in stamen petalody. PI and AP3 were verified to likely play important roles in regulating stamen petalody in tree peony. Our study has helped establish the flower development model in tree peony, identified key molecular mechanisms in the development of different flower forms, and provided valuable information in improving genetic diversity of tree peony and many other woody plants.

Identification of Chrysanthemum Flower Based on Color and Flower Form using Sobel Edge and Artificial Neural Network

Chrysanthemum is a popular ornamental plant in Indonesia because it has a variety of shapes and colors that attract a lot of attention. In addition to the trimmer, this flower can be used as a mosquito repellent and also absorbs dirty air pollution. Chrysanthemum flowers can be distinguished by color and shape with two types of ways to grow Chrysanthemum flowers that grow in clusters are called spray and also flowers that grow with no cluster or a flower per stalk. In addition, Chrysanthemum flowers have various color variations including pink, purple, yellow, white, orange, and red. The purpose of this study is to identify the type of Chrysanthemum flowers using extraction of Red, Green, Blue (RGB) color features and characteristic extraction using a Sobel edge detection, for his identification method using Artificial Neural Networks. Chrysanthemum data are white puma, Vania, Iranian, purple aster, and pink standard used in this research consisted of 100 training data and 50 tests data. The test was done with four tests that is identification with form extraction (Sobel) yielded accuracy value equal to 59.52%, identification with color and shape extraction yield accuracy value equal to 65.36%, identification with color extraction on flower and base flower plate yield value accuracy of 69.44%, and identification with color extraction yields an accuracy value of 75.35%.