Common Mallow Research Articles

Investigation of the in vivo organization of anthocyanins using resonance raman microspectrometry

Resonance Raman (RR) microspectrometry constitutes a new means for studying the organization of anthocyanins in living tissues. RR spectra of the pigments present in a single cell have been recorded from the skins of the mature berries of the ‘Pinot noir’ grape, as well as the petals of the common mallow. Comparison of these spectra with those obtained from model solutions of anthocyanins permits us to conclude that in the ‘Pinot noir’ berries, malvidin 3-glucoside is the main pigment. Furthermore, inside the skin it is essentially in the quinonoidal base form, whereas in the outer face of the skin it is mainly in the flavylium form. In the upper epidermis of petals of the common mallow, only malvidin 3,5-diglucoside could be detected, entirely in the cationic flavylium form. Since self-association or co-pigmentation processes do not seem to contribute much to the RR spectra, we conclude that they perturb the electronic excited state of the monomeric anthocyanin chromophores much more than they modify the corresponding electronic ground state. In the case of the skins of the mature berries of the ‘Pinot noir’ grape, dark grains, which we believe to be anthocyanoplasts, have been observed. In vivo RR spectra of the dark grains have been recorded.

Biology of a Red Spider Mite, Panonychus sp., on Raspberry in Virginia

The raspberry red mite (Panonychus sp.) was observed in Virginia in 1944. Morphologically it resembles both the European red mite (P. ulmi (Koch)) and the citrus red mite (P. citri (McGregar)) in some respects but differs from both biologically. Raspberry is the favored food plant. Other food plants are blackberry, dewberry, soybean, lima-bean, snap-bean, Kudzu-vine, and common mallow. The mites winter as eggs deposited on the canes. Winter eggs hatched in March, and 11 generations were reared each season. The incubation period ranged from 3 to 58 days. The time from hatching to adult ranged from 4 to 17 days for males and 4 to 45 days for females. The relationship between development and temperature is shown in charts. The average number of eggs deposited per female by broods ranged from 19.2 to 65.5. The largest number deposited by a single female was 150. The maximum length of life recorded for an adult female was 87 days and that for an adult male was 52 days. The average lengths of life by broods were 11.4 to 43 days for females and 5 to 29 days for males.