Garden Plants Research Articles

Understanding individual and diffusion behaviors related to native plant gardening

While studies have examined factors influencing individual pro-environmental behavior, less research has examined the drivers of “diffusion behaviors” that disseminate new information via social networks. We conducted a survey of single-family households (n = 337) using an expanded Integrated Model of Behavioral Prediction to investigate the social-psychological drivers of individual and diffusion behavioral intentions for native plant gardening. We also examined how intentions related to actual behavior and potential moderators of the intention-behavior relationship. We found that while individual behavior-specific knowledge and attitude predict both individual and diffusion intentions, behavior-specific personal norms and self-efficacy predicted diffusion intention, and behavior-specific personal norm influenced individual intention. Contrary to theory, diffusion intentions were influenced by a combination of behavior-specific and non-specific predictors. These results suggest that to motivate diffusion intention, outreach interventions may need to enhance diffusion-specific personal norm and self-efficacy beliefs, rather than just individual behavioral perceptions. Intentions predicted indicators of actual diffusion behavior, as measured through native plant voucher use by individuals and their friends and family. However, these indicators of behavior were not predicted directly by social-psychological variables. Diffusion-specific self-efficacy and subjective knowledge appear to moderate the relationship between diffusion intentions and successful diffusion behavior.

Diversity and Distribution of Traditional Home Gardens Along Different Disturbances in a Dry Tropical Region, India

Home gardening is an indigenous practice of cultivation that has effectively adapted to local ecological conditions over generations. This study examined the effects of disturbance and garden size on biodiversity to develop a better understanding of vegetation cover and its role in livelihood and provision of forest management in the Vindhyan highlands. Data were collected from 60 gardens which were classified into large (> 650 m2), medium (400–650 m2), and small (< 400 m2), based on size and disturbance gradients viz., high, medium, and low. A total of 133 species from 50 families were recorded, in which trees (47.4%) were dominant followed by shrubs (18%) and herbs (16.5%). With respect to disturbance, the highest number of tree species (39) were found at low disturbance (LD) followed by 33 species in medium disturbance (MD) and 32 species in high disturbhance (HD). The total mean richness of species was greater at LD (20.3 ± 2.3) and lowest at HD (18.5 ± 2.2). Tree density was significantly (P≤ 0.05) higher at LD (293.75 ± 16.1 individual ha–1) as compared to MD (221 ± 11.5 individual ha–1) and HD (210 ± 10.3 individual ha–1). However, the results for shrubs and herbs density were considerably different, where shrubs density was highest at HD (70 ± 6.9 individual per 1,000 m2) and lowest at LD (62.5 ± 5.8 individual per 1,000 m2), while the maximum density of herbs was recorded at MD (466.25 ± 29.8 individual per 100 m2) and minimum at LD (370 ± 21.4 individual per 100 m2). The summed dominance ratio indicated frequent use of garden plants in bio-fencing, vegetables, ornamental, and ethnomedicine. Diversity (P< 0.01) and species richness (P< 0.05) showed a significant positive correlation with garden size. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that the first component (PC1) accounted for 28.6% of variance, whereas the second explained 21.9% of variance in both disturbance and garden size with a cumulative variance of 50.5%. These components depicted the positive association with HD (14.34), SDiv (13.91), TCD (12.47), and HDiv (12.09). We concluded that the diversity of home gardens changed with disturbance, which crucially served as a refuge for native tree species in a degraded landscape. This pattern highlighted the importance of home gardens for plant biodiversity conservation and local livelihood, which must be a viable option for regeneration of deforested dry tropics, while also reducing the burden on dry tropical forest regions.

Discussion on the Problems and Countermeasures of Garden Plant Planting in Garden Engineering Projects

Discussion on the Problems and Countermeasures of Garden Plant Planting in Garden Engineering Projects

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPOSITAE – 3

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPOSITAE – 3

Reading as if for Death

“Reading as if for Death” asks how people live in the face of imminent death by analyzing Nevil Shute’s 1957 novel On the Beach. The few critics who have commented on this novel have focused on its message about the dangers of nuclear weapons. This article argues that this middlebrow Australian bestseller, which has never gone out of print, is also an important contribution to the literature of death and dying. In its focus on characters who may well be dead within a year but continue to plant gardens and learn shorthand, the novel departs from common views of everyday life as passive, static, and immanent, instead portraying it as centered around acts of repair and future-oriented planning. In contrast to representations of mortality that emphasize transcendence and enlightenment, On the Beach sympathetically conveys the combination of certainty and uncertainty that most of its characters endure in living their final days and depicts characters for whom denial, refusing to see what is, and delusion, believing in what is not, become forms of palliative care.

Studies on Diversity of Natural Dye Yielding Plants of Birbhum and Burdwan Districts of West Bengal, India

The present study is based on extensive survey, collection of ethnobotanical information, indigenous knowledge and review of relevant literature on the traditional dye yielding plant resources used by the different tribal and rural peoples of Birbhum and Burdwan districts of West Bengal. Field investigation was carried out in different villages and adjacent forest pockets in these districts. Total 32 natural dye yielding plants were reported. These 32 taxa spread over 30 species, 29 genera and 22 families of dicotyledons and 2 species, 2 genera and 2 families of monocotyledons. Among the recorded plant species, 26 are found in wild and 6 are grown as cultivated crops and as garden plants. The investigated plants have been enumerated alphabetically depending upon their botanical names along with their local and tribal names, parts used, name of the dye etc. Some noteworthy dye yielding plants are- Bixa orellana, Butea monosperma, Calotropis gigantea, Carthamus tinctorius, Curcuma longa, Lawsonia inermis and Nyctanthes arbor-tristis. The data of this study can further be exploited by the workers in the fields of phytochemistry, genetics, food and textile industries, conservation biology, etc.

Türkiye’nin Yabancı Florasına Bir Katkı: Impatiens glandulifera Royle (Balsaminaceae)

During a few decades, rapidly increasing number of studies have documented about the spread and expansion of alien plant species all over the world. These species are either introduced intentionally or unintentionally outside of their natural ranges. Impatiens glandulifera Royle (Balsaminaceae) introduced in Europe intentionally as garden and nectar-producing plant but later it was spread and became a highly invasive annual species in many parts of Europe. This species was collected from outside of gardens in two close localities in Giresun (Turkey). So, we reported it as a new alien vascular plant for the Flora of Turkey. As well, the description together with Turkish name and photographs of the taxon are presented in the present study.

Balinese Traditional Agroforestry as Base of Watershed Conservation

Forests, traditional gardens and green spaces play an important role in regulating the water flow of an area. Along with the high demand for land in Bali for agriculture and tourism, many forest areas have been converted into hotels and settlements. Forest conversion has caused many problems such as erosion, soil fertility decreased, flora fauna extinction, floods, drought, global warming and the disturbing watershed, especially rivers for springs. The purpose of this study is the development of watershed conservation in Bali based on traditional agroforestry. The method that used is vegetation analysis. Calculation of the erosion amount using the USLE formula. Sampling was done by ten plots. The results showed that traditional agroforestry vegetation consisted of vertical and horizontal structures. The characteristic of traditional agroforestry is that dominant plants are distributed irregularly, thus creating a miniature structure like a forest. The vertical structure consists of trees, horizontal structure filled with species of garden plants and agriculture. Trees have roots spread intensively in the soil and reduce nutrient leaching. Land cover by vegetation protects the soil and erosion. The agroforestry has a role as an act of soil and water conservation. Traditional agroforestry land cover has a relatively low C coefficient (0.05-0.25) compared to other lands. The level of erosion hazard is low and moderate. Average erosion value of 55.01 t.ha-1.yr-1. This indicates that traditional agroforestry makes the soil have a higher ability to absorb water, thereby reducing surface runoff. Likewise, organic material that improves the water content capacity. In addition, water quality can be improved through the humus filter function. During a long dry season, there is a drought due to low rainfall, but rivers and springs were able to supply water for the peoples daily needs. This condition occurs because of the tree retentions in traditional gardens. Conservation actions need to be taken, namely maintaining trees vegetation, increasing reforestation, bench terraces use, mounds and mulch use. This condition also places traditional agroforestry as a sustainable land management system.

First Report of Leaf Spot Caused by Alternaria alternata on Yucca gloriosa in China.

Yucca gloriosa L. is introduced to China as a garden plant because of its attractive tubular flowers (Ding et al. 2020). In 2020 and 2021, a foliar disease occurred on approximately 10% of the Y. gloriosa plants in the campus of Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang (35°18'N, 113°54'E), Henan Province, China. At the early stages, symptoms appeared as small brown spots on the tip of the leaves. As the disease developed, the spots gradually expanded and turned into necrotic tissue with a clear brown border. The length of lesions ranged from 1 to 3 cm. Infected tissue samples were cut into small pieces, surface sterilized with 75% ethanol for 30 s followed by 0.5% NaClO for 2 min, rinsed thrice with sterile water and plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA). After incubation at 25℃ for 3 days, five fungal isolates were collected and purified using single spore culturing. Morphological observations were made on the 7-day-old cultures. Colonies on PDA were white at first and then turned to dark olive or black along with profuse sporulation. Conidia were borne on branched conidiophores, light brown to dark brown, ellipsoidal to obpyriform, and 20.5 to 43.6 ×7.5 to 15.4 μm in size, with 2-6 transverse septa and 0-3 longitudinal septa (n = 50). The morphological characteristics of the five isolates were consistent with the description for Alternaria alternata (Simmons 2007). One representative isolate (ZQ20) was selected for molecular identification. The internal transcribed spacers (ITS)-rDNA, translation elongation factor-1 alpha (TEF-1α), Alternaria major allergen (Alt a1), and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene regions were amplified with primer pairs ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EFl-728F/ EFI-986R (Carbone and Kohn, 1999), Alt-for/Alt-rev (Hong et al. 2005), and gpd1/gpd2 (Berbee et al. 1999), respectively. Their sequences were submitted to GenBank (ITS, MW832377; TEF-1α, MW848791; Alt a1, MW848792; GAPDH, MW848793). BLAST searches showed ≥99% nucleotide identity to the sequences of A. alternata (ITS, 100% to KF465761; TEF-1α, 100% to MT133312; Alt a1, 100% to KY923227; and GAPDH, 99% to MK683863). Thus, the fungus was identified as A. alternata based on its morphological and molecular characteristics. To confirm its pathogenicity, 25 healthy leaves of five 2-year-old Y. gloriosa plants were used. Leaves were wounded with one sterile needle and inoculated with 5-mm-diameter fungal agar disks obtained from 5-day-old cultures. Sterile PDA disks of the same size were used as the controls. Treated plants were covered with a plastic bag at 12 to 25℃ for 48 h to ensure a high level of moisture. After 15 days, the inoculated plants developed the symptoms similar to those observed in naturally infected plants, whereas the control plants were symptomless. The fungus was reisolated from the symptomatic leaves with the same morphological and molecular characteristics as the original isolates, fulfilling the Koch's postulates. Leaf spot caused by A. alternata in the Yucca plants has been reported in India (Pandey 2019). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. alternata causing leaf spot on Y. gloriosa in China. Identification of the cause of the disease is important to developing effective disease management strategies.

PREFERENCE OF COMMON GARDEN PEST TOWARDS EDIBLE PLANTS

Growing edible plants in the home gardens has proven to help improve the quality of life. However, the appearance of garden pests in the home garden may be a problem, causing loss of productivity and spreading diseases. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the changing patterns of common garden pests among different species of edible plants in the home garden. The research was carried out approximately 8 months (June 2020 until January 2021) with 33 species of edible plants have been tested. All tested plants in the home garden were ranged at 2 to 8 months matured growth. Data sampling were carried out in two-phases, November 2020 and January 2021 when the plants were ready to harvest and the garden pest was active. The outcome of this paper was the pattern or preferences made by garden pests towards edible plants in the home garden. Recommendations are made with biological control approach with the presence of ladybirds as predatory insects to the common garden pest.

Screening of Leafy Vegetable Varieties with Low Lead and Cadmium Accumulation Based on Foliar Uptake.

Leafy vegetables cultivated in kitchen gardens and suburban areas often accumulate excessive amounts of heavy metals and pose a threat to human health. For this reason, plenty of studies have focused on low accumulation variety screening. However, identifying specific leafy vegetable varieties according to the foliar uptake of air pollution remains to be explored (despite foliar uptake being an important pathway for heavy-metal accumulation). Therefore, in this study, the lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) contents, leaf morphology, and particle matter contents were analyzed in a micro-area experiment using 20 common vegetables. The results show that the Pb content in leaves ranged from 0.70 to 3.86 mg kg−1, and the Cd content ranged from 0.21 to 0.99 mg kg−1. Atmospheric particles were clearly scattered on the leaf surface, and the particles were smaller than the stomata. Considering the Pb and Cd contents in the leaves and roots, stomata width-to-length ratio, leaf area size, enrichment factor, and translocation factor, Yidianhongxiancai, Qingxiancai, Baiyuanyexiancai, Nanjingjiangengbai and Sijixiaobaicai were recommended for planting in kitchen gardens and suburban areas as they have low accumulation characteristics. Identifying the influencing factors in the accumulation of heavy metals in vegetables through foliar uptake is important to help plant physiologists/environmentalists/policy makers to select suitable varieties for planting in air-polluted areas and thus reduce their threat to human health.

Where have all the heathers gone?

Heathers have been cultivated for several centuries, both the hardy heaths (Calluna, Daboecia and Erica) from the northern hemisphere and the more frost-tender species of Erica from southern Africa known as Cape heaths. In the late 19th century, a number of heather gardens were created, especially in Britain, and the popularity of heathers as long-lasting garden plants reached its zenith in western Europe and temperate North America in the late 20th century. At about the same time, deliberate breeding and selecting of Calluna vulgaris (ling) for flowers that lack normal sexual parts and remain bud-like led to a revolution in heather production with tens of millions of these bud-bloomer Calluna propagated each year for an ephemeral trade dominated by throwaway plants. Concomitantly, the diversity of hardy heathers offered by the trade has declined sharply with a small number of artificially raised clones, protected by plant breeders’ rights, now dominating the market. In contrast, the discovery of living lineages of a few Erica species that are extinct in the wild in South Africa has led to successful reintroduction programmes, particularly of Erica verticillata. The Erica Conservation Consortium, inaugurated in 2020, aims to coordinate and prioritise ex situ conservation of endangered Cape heaths.

SMRT and Illumina RNA-Seq Identifies Potential Candidate Genes Related to the Double Flower Phenotype and Unveils SsAP2 as a Key Regulator of the Double-Flower Trait in Sagittaria sagittifolia.

Double flowers are one of the important objectives of ornamental plant breeding. Sagittaria sagittifolia is an aquatic herb in the Alismataceae family that is widely used as an ornamental plant in gardens. However, the reference genome has not been published, and the molecular regulatory mechanism of flower formation remains unclear. In this study, single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology combined with Illumina RNA-Seq was used to perform a more comprehensive analysis of S. sagittifolia for the first time. We obtained high-quality full-length transcripts, including 53,422 complete open reading frames, and identified 5980 transcription factors that belonged to 67 families, with many MADS-box genes involved in flower formation being obtained. The transcription factors regulated by plant hormone signals played an important role in the development of double flowers. We also identified an AP2 orthologous gene, SsAP2, with a deletion of the binding site for miR172, that overexpressed SsAP2 in S. sagittifolia and exhibited a delayed flowering time and an increased number of petals. This study is the first report of a full-length transcriptome of S. sagittifolia. These reference transcripts will be valuable resources for the analysis of gene structures and sequences, which provide a theoretical basis for the molecular regulatory mechanism governing the formation of double flowers.

Exploration of the Potential Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms of DNA Methyltransferases and MBD Genes in Petunia Anther Development and Multi-Stress Responses.

Cytosine-5 DNA methyltransferases (C5-MTases) and methyl-CpG-binding-domain (MBD) genes can be co-expressed. They directly control target gene expression by enhancing their DNA methylation levels in humans; however, the presence of this kind of cooperative relationship in plants has not been determined. A popular garden plant worldwide, petunia (Petunia hybrida) is also a model plant in molecular biology. In this study, 9 PhC5-MTase and 11 PhMBD proteins were identified in petunia, and they were categorized into four and six subgroups, respectively, on the basis of phylogenetic analyses. An expression correlation analysis was performed to explore the co-expression relationships between PhC5-MTases and PhMBDs using RNA-seq data, and 11 PhC5-MTase/PhMBD pairs preferentially expressed in anthers were identified as having the most significant correlations (Pearson’s correlation coefficients > 0.9). Remarkably, the stability levels of the PhC5-MTase and PhMBD pairs significantly decreased in different tissues and organs compared with that in anthers, and most of the selected PhC5-MTases and PhMBDs responded to the abiotic and hormonal stresses. However, highly correlated expression relationships between most pairs were not observed under different stress conditions, indicating that anther developmental processes are preferentially influenced by the co-expression of PhC5-MTases and PhMBDs. Interestingly, the nuclear localization genes PhDRM2 and PhMBD2 still had higher correlations under GA treatment conditions, implying that they play important roles in the GA-mediated development of petunia. Collectively, our study suggests a regulatory role for DNA methylation by C5-MTase and MBD genes in petunia anther maturation processes and multi-stress responses, and it provides a framework for the functional characterization of C5-MTases and MBDs in the future.

Sistem Pakar Menggunakan Metode Naïve Bayes dan Certainty Factor untuk Mendeteksi Hama pada Tanaman Alpukat Berbasis Web

Avocad (Persea americana) is a table fruit-producing plant of the same name. This plant comes from Mexico and Central America as a garden plant in other tropical areas of the world. In Indonesia itself, avocados are widely found because of the tropical climate, then people also like avocados because there are many choices from various food and beverage ingredients. Lack of attention to the cultivation and breeding of avocados makes the yields less good, and not optimal. so the author conducted this research in the hope that the yield and breeding of avocado plants can be maximized. This expert system was built using Web-based programming. The method applied is Naïve Bayes, which is a method that uses statistics and probability in predicting the chances of avocado plants having growth disorders based on the presence of pests (worms) in avocado plants.

Garden volunteer work and planting from the perspective of community garden coordinator

Garden volunteer work and planting from the perspective of community garden coordinator

Pengaruh Variasi Pupuk terhadap Pertumbuhan Benih Terung Hijau (Solanum melongena L.)

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is a garden plant grown for its fruit. Some green eggplant farmers in West Lombok, use NPK fertilizer as the main choice to produce quality fruit, they never use organic fertilizer when planting green eggplant for fear that the size of the fruit produced is not as big as the fruit grown using NPK. Low quality green eggplants are rarely in demand by the public, so it will have an impact on decreasing selling prices in the market. This study aims to determine the effect of fertilizer variation on the growth of green eggplant (Solanum melongena L). This research is a true experiment that wants to see the growth of green eggplant plants given a variety of fertilizers. In this study using 3 treatments, namely PA (chicken manure + soil in a ratio of 2:1), PK (goat manure + soil in a ratio of 2:1), PN (NPK fertilizer 20 g given to each polybag size 2 kg). The results of the analysis from the table and the average diagram, the application of fertilizer variations showed that there were differences in the growth of green eggplant plants on the parameters of plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, number of flowers and number of fruit. The results of the ANOVA statistical test showed that there was an effect of fertilizer variation on the parameters of the number of leaves and the number of branches, but it was not significant on the parameters of plant height, number of flowers and number of green eggplant (Solanum melongena L.).

Extraction and Phytochemical screening of Tagetes erecta L. Flower extract

Tagetes erecta L. is a widespread garden plant that is commonly known as the marigold, and it is widely used as a medicinal herb for its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-edematous properties, which are important for phytotherapeutic, dermatological and cosmetic applications. Essential oil from marigold has been shown to be an effective free radical scavenger, and the ethanol extract is reportedly effective against parakeratosis. The present work was aimed to perform extraction and phytochemical screening of the extract. Results revealed that the extract was rich in flavonoids, alkaloids glycosides and steroids. The phytochemicals could be utilized for health benefit properties.

Introduction of medicinal and aromatic plants in botanical gardens (current state, prospects, problems)

The article analyzes the state of introduction of medicinal and aromatic plants in botanical gardens, that have resources for expanding work in this area. The reasons are shown why, despite the fact that collections of these plants are available in many botanical institutions of the world and in Russia, and introduction work with them has been carried out for a long time, it is very difficult or almost impossible to introduce a new species into scientific medicine after the end of the introduction. An algorithm for performing the necessary tasks (with a description of actions during their implementation) of the introduction study of medicinal and aromatic plants is presented. The ways of their effective introduction, the earliest practical use of its results are indicated. Due to the fact that specialists of different profiles are involved in the development and production of the final product from plants (medicinal product, essential oil): biologists, chemists, agronomists, physicians, pharmacists, pharmacologists, engineers, economists, etc., then any botanical garden on its own, a new drug cannot make, and accordingly logically complete the introduction process of the medicinal and aromatic species. In this connection, it is necessary to cooperate with other research, medical institutions and industrial companies.

1015. INULA RHIZOCEPHALA: Compositae

SummaryInula rhizocephala Schrenk (Compositae: Inuleae: Inulinae) is described and illustrated, together with a commentary on the discovery of Kew's current plant stock. Notes on cultivation, propagation, pests and diseases and availability are provided. It is highly likely that I. rhizocephala is an annual or biennial, or possibly a short‐lived perennial, since no perennating rootstock has been retained in either pot grown or Rock Garden plantings at Kew. The position of Inula rhizocephala in the genus, and within the tribe Inuleae subtribe Inulinae, is discussed. The author citation of the binomial Inula rhizocephala is also discussed as is the type material of I. rhizocephaloides, a synonym of I. rhizocephala, and aspects of the pollen presentation in the disc florets.