Ornamental Garden Plants Research Articles

Linum usitatissimum: Anti-bacterial Activity, Chromatography, Bioactive Compounds, Applications: A Review

Flax is a food and fiber crop cultivated in cooler regions of the world. The flowers are pure pale blue, 15–25 mm in diameter, with five petals. The fruit is a round, dry capsule 5–9 mm in diameter, containing several glossy brown seeds shaped like an apple pip, 4–7 mm long. Flax is grown for its oil, used as a nutritional supplement, and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products. Flax is also grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. Flax fibers are used to make linen. The Latin species name usitatissimum means “most useful. The oil is applied externally to treat joint and muscle pains, non-healing wounds, skin disorders. Flaxseed oil also helps in speeding up the healing of skin lesions and has proved very effective for everything acne, psoriasis, eczema, and sunburn. Omega-3 fatty acids offer protection against heart disease by getting to the membrane of body cells and acting as guards that admit only healthy substances and bar damaging ones.

Fraxinus l. pollen dynamics in Ankara atmosphere

Fraxinus L. (Ash) is a deciduous wind-pollinated tree of the Oleaceae family widely extended intemperate zones of the North and Central Europe. In general, Ash trees are one of the most frequent natural species of riversides, forests, nonetheless, they are also commonly used as ornamental plants in parks and gardens of urban areas in Europe and Turkey as well. It is not clear whether ash pollen is a primary cause of sensitization or whether it is implied through cross-sensitization of other Oleaceae pollen. In aerobiological studies, Fraxinus pollen was the secondly dominant pollen types after Cupressaceae pollen during early spring. The aim of this study was to analyze Fraxinus airborne pollen dynamics in Ankara, describe their pollen season and effects of meteorological parameters on them. A 7day volumetric trap, running continuously throughout the year, was used to collect circulating pollen and aerobiological sampling was carried out three years (20142016). Fraxinus pollen was counted as grains/m3 and the main pollen season was deduced from these data. Correlations with climatic factors (temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed) impacts on pollen were assessed by Spearman’s rank correlation test. Risky days for allergic individuals were determined due to the AAAAI classification. Fraxinus pollen were observed from the second part of February to the end of the March during three years. The pollen seasons pattern was found quite similar and the peak days were in the last week of February in 2014 (523 pollen grains/m3) and 2016 (669 pollen grains/m3). However in 2015, the pollen concentrations was quite lower (204 pollen grains/m3) and the peak day was later than the other years. While the pollen levels of Fraxinus were positively correlated with mean daily temperature (99% probability), they were negatively correlated relative humidity (95% probability) and the total rainfall in 2015. The days number with moderate level, which have more than 15 pollen grains, were found higher in 2014 and 2016. Also, only one day was found with high level risky for both 2014 and 2016 years. However, there were only four days were observed with the moderate level risky in 2015.

The contribution of Sicilian historical gardens to biodiversity conservation

The potential value of private gardens for enhancing biodiversity has long been recognized, while, less investigated is the contribution of historical gardens. The complex history of Sicily, with its strategically central position in the Mediterranean basin, made the island an important crossroad of civilizations and also influenced the use of ornamental plants in gardens over the centuries. With the aim to investigate the biodiversity of historical gardens of Milazzo (North of Sicily), the flora of 31 gardens, dating from the late 19th to the early 20th century, were analyzed through a complete plant inventory. The gardens are localized in two areas: the first ('Piana' = 13 gardens) close to the rural area, the second ('Capo' = 18 gardens) close to the residential area. The determinants of taxonomic richness in individual gardens were carried out with the use of Shannon (H'), Simpson (D) and Evenness (J) indices. The values of the indices are, respectively for 'Capo' and 'Piana', 5.7 and 5.5 for H', 0.8 for J and 0.0046 and 0.0054 for D, and demonstrate the presence of a high biodiversity and an even distribution of individuals per species, with a few dominant species. In the 31 gardens, 529 taxa of ornamental plants were identified, belonging to 343 genera and 117 botanical families. The richness of species found in these green areas allow to consider them as living plant collections. About 80% of the taxa were present in less than 10% of the gardens; 43.5% of species were present in a single garden. Only one species (Cycas revoluta Thunb.) was present in 87.1% of gardens to underline the species diversity.

Exploring approaches for classifying ornamental garden plant purchasers

AbstractInvolvement scales have been widely used to measure the extent to which a product is associated with an individual's self‐concept, and the hedonic pleasure evoked by the activity or product. A number of studies have linked involvement with higher overall spending on a product. This study aimed to determine whether gardening involvement predicted increased garden plant purchasing behavior in Canada and to understand the implications of high gardening involvement by comparison with other measures, both subjective (self‐assessed expertise) and objective (hours spent gardening, objective gardening knowledge). Gardening involvement did not predict purchasing behavior nor did self‐assessed gardening expertise. However, objective measures (hours spent gardening and objective gardening knowledge) were found to predict plant purchasing. It is suggested that the involvement scale be used in combination with objective measures to distinguish between consumers with high product interest but low present use and those with high interest and high product use.Practical applicationsAlthough involvement was not found to predict garden plant‐purchasing behavior, by measuring involvement it is possible to identify individuals who have a high level of interest in a product or activity. In doing so, involvement helps to identify all potential users, some of whom may not be captured with questions around current product purchasing behavior. These users can be subdivided with objective measures according to those that are presently high product users and those that are low product users. Low product users with high involvement may require an additional incentive to engage with the product/activity due to barriers such as lack of knowledge or time. By combining the involvement scale with product usage information, it is possible to identify two sub‐groups of high product involvement individuals who can be targeted with customized advertising or versions of a product in order to attract a broader audience.

The effects of climate warming and disturbance on the colonization potential of ornamental alien plant species

SummaryA large number of alien plant species have been introduced as ornamental garden plants to Europe, but relatively few have become invasive. Low climatic suitability may be limiting the current invasion potential of many alien ornamental species. However, with ongoing disturbance and climate change, this barrier may be reduced for some species.Here, we tested how colonization ability (a prerequisite for invasion) of frequently planted alien ornamentals depends on disturbance and heating, and on their species characteristics. We sowed seeds of 37 non‐naturalized alien herbaceous garden‐plant species into native grassland plots with and without disturbance, and with and without infrared‐heating lamps. To assess whether their responses differ from those within the regional wild flora, we also sowed 14 native species and 12 naturalized alien species. During 2 years, we assessed the likelihoods of germination, first‐year survival, second‐year survival and flowering of these 63 study species.The heating treatment, which also reduced soil moisture, decreased all measures of colonization success, but more so for sown native species than for the non‐naturalized and naturalized alien ones. The disturbance treatment increased colonization success, and because heating decreased productivity of the undisturbed grassland plots, it also increased invasibility of these plots. Average colonization success of non‐naturalized aliens was reduced by heating, but some species were not affected or performed even better with heating, particularly those with an annual life span and a high seed mass. Winter hardiness improved colonization ability of non‐naturalized aliens, but this advantage was reduced in the heated plots.Synthesis. Disturbance increased and heating decreased the absolute colonization success of most of the 63 species sown. However, heating had stronger adverse effects on the resident grassland and sown native species than either type of sown alien species. Together, these results suggest that some alien plants may have greater colonization success relative to native plants under a warmer climate.

Dessecação e armazenamento de sementes de Adonidia merrillii (Becc.) Becc.

Palm species have wide use in the world as ornamental plants in gardens, parks and urban areas, and to support information on seed production of this family, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of drying and storage of seeds on the emergence and the initial growth of Adonidia merrillii (Becc.) Becc seedlings. The experiment was conducted in two trials, the first and the second would evaluate, respectively, the effect of desiccation (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 days) and storage (ambient condition and refrigerators for 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days) seeds on the emergence and early seedling growth through emergency percentage, length and dry mass of seedlings. The results showed that seeds with moisture content greater than 28% maintained the percentage of emergency over 92% seedlings, and seeds preserved environment showed higher viability to 81% at the end of 120 days of storage. Therefore, it is concluded that A. merrillii seeds are classified as recalcitrant and can be stored at room temperature condition for 120 days.

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF LANTANA CAMARA LINN.

ABSTRACTHerbal drugs are the potential sources of therapeutic aid for the treatment and prevention of number of ailments as recognized very early by Ayurveda,Unani, and traditional folk - medical practitioners. The rich biodiversity of plants makes them a treasure house for obtaining new and novel compoundseither themselves as drugs or lead molecules for drugs with different mechanisms of action. Lantana camara L. belonging to the family Verbenaceaeand universally known as wild or red sage is the most widespread species of the genus. It occurs in most parts of the world as an evergreen notoriousweed species. It is also considered as an ornamental garden plant. It is widely used in different traditional medical practices for treating various healthproblems. Different parts of the plant are used in treating various human ailments. The plant extracts and essential oil of L. camara possess variousbioactivities including antimicrobial activities. The therapeutic potential of the plant is due to the occurrence of many bioactive phytocompounds. Inlast decade, scientists and researchers around the globe have elaborately studied the chemical composition of the whole plant of L. camara as well asits biological activities. This article reviews the antimicrobial activities of L. camara.Keywords: Antimicrobial activities, Essential oils, Nanoparticles, Lantana camara, Solvent extracts.

Ornamental Costus

In recent years the spiral gingers (genus Costus) have become more and more popular as ornamental garden plants. Dave Skinner describes these plants, including his approach to identification of New World Costus, corrections to some common identification errors, information about cold hardy species, and information about Costus hybrids and cultivars.

Biological peculiarities of stem softwood cuttings of ornamental garden plants and their use in landscaping

Мета. Вивчити біологічні особливості зеленого живцювання трьох видів декоративних садових рослин з родини Hydrangea с eae L ., які інтродуковані в умовах ботанічного розсадника Уманського національного університету садівництва, та перспективи використання садивного матеріалу в озелененні. Методи. Польовий, лабораторний, статистично-математичний аналіз. Результати. Вивчено біоекологічні та декоративні особливості маточних рослин досліджених видів та їх збереження для забезпечення резерву вихідного рослинного живцевого матеріалу. Проаналізовано залежність регенераційної здатності у зелених живців досліджених видів від передсадивної обробки біологічно активною речовиною (КАНО), типу пагона, строків живцювання та ін. Зазначено істотне інтенсивне вкорінення базальних живців з трьома вузлами, менш інтенсивне – апікальних протягом усього періоду вкорінення. Висновки. Обробка зелених живців біологічно активною речовиною в концентрації 10–15 мг/л водного розчину стимулює коренеутворення та активізує ріст кореневласних рослин. Досліджені види родини Hydrangeaceae є перс­пективними для використання в озелененні на урбанізованих територіях різного функціонального призначення.

Genetic diversity and morphological characterization of half-sib families of Heliconia bihai L., H. chartacea Lane ex Barreiros, and H. wagneriana Peterson

The Neotropical Heliconia genus contains highly diversified plants and up to 220 species have been reported from the north of Mexico to the South of Brazil. Heliconia are cultivated as ornamental garden plants and as cut flowers. All species can be propagated by seeds or vegetatively, through rhizomes. Depending on the species, an individual plant can spread and form large clonal populations. H. bihai L., H. chartacea Lane ex Barreiros, and H. wagneriana Petersen are among the most cultivated Heliconia species. However, they still have undesirable characteristics that could be improved for the international market. This study aimed to characterize 15 half-sib families originating from commercial cultivations, by morphological and molecular markers. The genetic diversity (ĤE), considering all individuals of the three species was 0.103. For H. bihai half-sib families, the value of ĤE was 0.242, showing high genetic diversity. The ĤE value for H. chartacea was 0.068, indicating low genetic diversity. All individuals of H. wagneriana showed the same band patterns, suggesting that the two parental plants were propagated vegetatively from the same plant and may have undergone some endogamic crossings. These results showed that molecular characterization can differentiate individuals closely related as half-siblings for H. bihai and H. chartacea, despite the low variation observed with morphological descriptors. The high genetic diversity observed in H. bihai half-sibling genotypes can provide valuable resources for breeding programs.

Association of Nerine yellow stripe virus With Mosaic Disease of Crinum asiaticum Ornamental Plant in India

HomePlant DiseaseVol. 99, No. 11Association of Nerine yellow stripe virus With Mosaic Disease of Crinum asiaticum Ornamental Plant in India PreviousNext DISEASE NOTES OPENOpen Access licenseAssociation of Nerine yellow stripe virus With Mosaic Disease of Crinum asiaticum Ornamental Plant in IndiaS. Kumar, R. Raj, C. Kaur, and S. K. RajS. KumarSearch for more papers by this author, R. RajSearch for more papers by this author, C. KaurSearch for more papers by this author, and S. K. RajSearch for more papers by this authorAffiliationsAuthors and Affiliations S. Kumar R. Raj C. Kaur S. K. Raj , Plant Molecular Virology Laboratory, CPMB Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow-226001, Uttar Pradesh, India. Published Online:26 Aug 2015https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-02-15-0211-PDNAboutSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailWechat Crinum asiaticum L. (Amaryllidaceae), commonly known as spider lily, is widely grown as an ornamental plant in gardens of tropical and subtropical countries for its long, strap-like, green leaves and clustered white flowers. During a survey in December 2013, severe mosaic symptoms were observed on a number of C. asiaticum plants growing in gardens at Noida and New Delhi cities of India. The symptoms were similar to those described earlier from Brazil on a potyvirus-infected Crinum sp. (Barboza et al. 2006); therefore, potyvirus infection was suspected. Electron microscopy was performed with leaf dip preparations of six randomly collected symptomatic leaf samples which revealed the presence of flexuous, rod-shaped, ∼700 × 12-nm virus particles, suggesting association of a potyvirus. These samples were further subjected to RT-PCR using potyvirus degenerate primers (Gibbs et al. 2003). RT-PCR resulted in the expected size (∼1.5 kb) amplicon in all symptomatic samples. The amplicons were cloned and sequenced, and sequence data were deposited as GenBank Accession Nos. KJ886933 (Nod-1), KM066970 (Nod-2), KM066968 (Nod-3), KJ886934 (Del-1), KM066971 (Del-2), and KM066969 (Del-3) isolates. Local alignments of the sequences of these isolates in NCBI revealed the presence of partial nuclear inclusion body (NIb), complete coat protein (CP) genes, and the 3′ UTR untranslated region (UTR) of a potyvirus. The isolates under study shared 98 to 99% sequence identity together and showed 78 to 99% identities with Nerine yellow stripe virus (NeYSV) isolates (FJ618537, DQ407932, EF362621, EF362622, EU042758, and JX865782) reported from New Zealand, The Netherlands, and USA. During phylogenetic analysis by MEGA (V.5.1) (Tamura et al. 2013), the isolates under study clustered together and showed close relationships with NeYSV isolates, and the potyvirus associated with mosaic disease of C. asiaticum was identified as NeYSV. The six and other nine symptomatic leaf samples of C. asiaticum were also tested by nucleic acid hybridization assay using the probe prepared from a clone of NeYSV (KJ886933), which gave strong signals of hybridization confirming presence of NeYSV in them. The probe may be used for the indexing of leaf samples collected from various locations and to understand the geographical distribution of NeYSV. A literature survey revealed the only report of association of an unidentified potyvirus with the mosaic disease of Crinum sp. from Brazil (Barboza et al. 2006) based on RT-PCR amplification of 2.0 kb product by potyvirus genus-specific primers. To best of our knowledge, this is the first report of natural occurrence of NeYSV on C. asiaticum in India. Because C. asiaticum is being propagated through bulbs, the dissemination of virus from nursery to nursery and from place to place is a major concern and now warrants the indexing of mother culture of C. asiaticum for NeYSV.

First report of Clerondendron yellow mosaic virus on golden dewdrop (Duranta erecta) in India

Figure 2 Golden dewdrop (Duranta erecta,Verbenaceae) is a species of flowering shrub and is commonly grown as an ornamental hedge plant in gardens. During a survey in August 2013, yellow mosaic disease was observed on D. erecta growing in several public gardens/parks at Lucknow, India (Latitude: 26° 55' N; Longitude: 80° 59' E) with disease incidence 80-90%. Infected plants exhibited severe yellow mosaic accompanied by upward leaf curl symptoms (Fig. 1A, B) and stunting in severely infected plants as compared to healthy plants (Fig. 1C). These symptoms reminiscent of a begomovirus infection reported previously on D. erecta in Pakistan (Iram et al., 2004) and hence a similar infection was suspected. Twenty leaf samples from infected and four from healthy plants were collected from Goldmohar Park at Jankipuram, Lucknow, India and total DNA was isolated using a plant genomic DNA isolation kit (Sigma, USA). PCR amplifications were performed with begomovirus-specific degenerate primers (Rojas et al., 1993) which resulted in the generation of amplicons of the anticipated size of ~1.2 kb in all samples from leaves showing disease symptoms and no amplicons from any of the four healthy samples suggestive of begomovirus infection in D. erecta. To identify the begomovirus responsible for the infection, total DNA isolated from a representative sample was subjected to rolling circle amplification (RCA, TempliPhi kit, GE healthcare, USA) and the product was then digested with a range of restriction enzymes including EcoRI. Electrophoresis of the EcoRI digested product revealed a DNA fragment ~2.7 kb which was cloned into pCAMBIA1300 vector, sequenced and deposited in GenBank (Accession No. KR869857, MJGD1). Sequence analysis of isolate MJGD1 revealed 93-95% nucleotide identities with DNA-A of Clerodendron yellow mosaic virus (ClYMV): RKAS1 (KF704391) of Bougainvillea peruviana and IARI (EF408037) of Clerodendron spp. from India, and SA23 (HE863667) of Croton spp. from Pakistan. It also showed close phylogenetic relationships with these ClYMV isolates (Fig. 2) suggesting that begomovirus isolated from D. erecta is a new strain or species of ClYMV designated as ClYMV

Characterization of a new male sterility source identified in an invasive biotype of Helianthus annuus (L.)

Male sterile (MS) plants fail to produce functional anthers, pollen, or male gametes. This condition is useful in sunflower hybrid seed production. A MS form identified in an invasive population of H. annuus located in Las Malvinas was characterized by 37 morphological variables, six mitochondrial genes (atpA, atp6, coxIII, orfb, orfB and orfC) associated with cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), five SSR loci associated with ms9, ms10, and ms11 nuclear male sterility genes, and the HRGO2 marker associated with the Rf1 fertility restoration gene for CMS-PET1. Restoration of MS condition was evaluated through crosses with 13 sunflower inbred lines. Las Malvinas site was described regarding its population size, spatial distribution, and male sterility occurrence. Ten years after the first observation, population size was over 250,000 individuals. The adoption of this species as ornamental plant in home gardens has contributed its expansion. The low frequency of MS plants found in natural conditions (0.4 %) is concordant with a CMS form in combination with restoration genes. Wild individuals harboring the CMS-PET1 cytoplasm and individuals carrying a different mitochondrial genome were found. The Rf1 restorer gene for CMS-PET1 was not detected. The new type of male sterility was different than CMS-PET1 in pollen morphology; absence of orfC; and different response to crosses with inbred lines. Molecular differences were found with CMS-RES1 and CMS-MAX1. The male sterility could not be explained by differences in the cytoplasmic or nuclear regions studied. The new MS form will expand the genetic diversity available for commercial hybrid sunflower production.

Combined action of an antioxidant defence system and osmolytes on drought tolerance and post-drought recovery of Phoebe zhennan S. Lee saplings

Nanmu (Phoebe zhennan S. Lee) is a well-known rare tree species in China that is valued as an ornamental garden plant and for its high timber quality. Recently, the cultivation of nanmu has gained attention for use in tree resource conservation and ecological restoration projects. Drought is a major environmental factor that affects the growth and development of plants. In this study, the drought tolerance and post-drought recovery of nanmu, which is associated with antioxidative enzymes and osmotic adjustment, were examined by exposing nanmu saplings to drought for 30 days followed by 10 days of re-watering in a greenhouse. Drought stress resulted in increased levels of osmolytes, sugars and proteins in nanmu leaves compared with the well-watered controls as well as higher concentrations of superoxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide, leading to lipid peroxidation and significantly higher activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and guaiacol peroxidase and higher levels of ascorbic acid. After re-watering for 5 days, most of the antioxidant enzymes and ascorbic acid were restored to their original levels, whereas the activity of guaiacol peroxidase and the levels of soluble sugar and soluble protein remained markedly high. Moreover, nanmu saplings maintained normal turgor pressure under mild and moderate drought conditions, indicating the presence of a mechanism that affects osmotic adjustment and growth restriction, thus enabling the plant to adjust to drought stress. These results suggested that an antioxidant defence system and osmolytes play important roles in nanmu during drought stress and recovery.

New advances in chemical defenses of plants: researches in calceolariaceae

Evidences about the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites from plants point to constitutive or induce chemical defense generated for protection against to different phytopathogenic attack. Calceolaria spp. is regarded both as a notorious weed and as a popular ornamental garden plant and have medicinal application. Some taxa of the America distributed Calceolaria genus are toxic to insects, fungi and several bacteria strains, and its effect has been associated with the presence of phenolics. Calceolaria spp. produces a number of iridoids, flavonoids, naphthoquinones and phenylpropanoids that have been shown to possess interesting biological activities. All these aspects are considered in this review to allow an evaluation of the potential for utilization of the large biodiversity of Calceolaria available. An up-to-date of the phytochemistry and biological activities of several members of the Calceolariaceae family is show. New iridoids, flavonoids and phenylpropanoids for these Calceolaria species have been isolated, identified and tested for their antifeedant, igr, insecticidal, antimicrobial, anticancer, proteinase, tyrosinase, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities. Until now mixtures of flavonoids have been found to be potent insecticides and fungicides, followed by phenylpropanoids mixtures and iridoids showed to be antifeedant and in some cases repellent and attractant. Dose-dependent experiments shows that flavonoids are insecticidal against S. frugiperda and D. melanogaster at early growth stages. Bactericidal and fungicidal activity showed that dunnione (a naphthoquinone) have potent activity as fungistatic and fungicidal. O-methylflavonols, and different mixtures of them were very effective fungistatic. However, fungistatic quercetin and dunnione both combined with sublethal amount of kaempferol and gallic acid showed a strong fungicidal activity against phytopathogenic strains. Additionally, naphthoquinones possess a promissory activity as anticancer.

Study on the Vegetative Propagation Through Cuttings of Mentha x piperita Hybrid using Various Rooting Substrates

The growing demand for seasoning plants and aromatic herbs on the Romanian market led to the implementation of new research on the improvement of propagation technology. Mentha x piperita was chosen for the classical propagation, a plant used not only in the food industry and in the alternative medicine, but also as an ornamental plant in the rustic gardens. It is also used with great success for decorating terraces and balconies. It is part of the compositions made for kitchens, along with other seasoning plants. The aim of the research was to improve the multiplication of Mentha x piperita hybrid. During the experiences were studied the following: the influence of the substrate on the rooting of cuttings and the influence of substrate on growth and development of plants. Recorded data were interpreted statistically by variance analysis. Results showed that the rooting process were different and depends on the substrate. Mentha x piperita has rooted in perlite in 15 days, inpeat with perlite in 20 days and in peat mixed with sand in 25 days. The number of shoots was not influenced by the substrates under study. The root system best developed in the substrate composed of peat and perlite.

First Report of Phytophthora hydropathica Causing Wilting and Shoot Dieback on Viburnum in Italy

The genus Viburnum comprises over 150 species of shrubs and small trees such as Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus L.), which is one of the most widely used ornamental plants in private and public gardens. Furthermore, it commonly forms stands of natural woodland in the Mediterranean area. In autumn 2012, a survey was conducted to determine the presence of Phytophthora ramorum on Viburnum in commercial nurseries in the Latium region where wilting, dieback, and death of twigs were observed on 30% of the Laurustinus plants. A Phytophthora species was consistently recovered from soil rich in feeder roots from potted Laurustinus plants showing symptoms. Soil samples were baited with rhododendron leaves. Small pieces of leaf tissue cut from the margin of lesions were plated on P5ARPH selective medium (4). Pure cultures, obtained by single-hypha transfers on potato dextrose agar (PDA), were petaloid. Sporangia formation was induced on pepper seeds (3). Sporangia were almost spherical, ovoid or obpyriform, non-papillate and non-caducous, measuring 36.6 to 71.4 × 33.4 to 48.3 μm (average 53.3 × 37.4 μm) with a length/width ratio of 1.4. Chlamydospores were terminal and 25.2 to 37.9 μm in diameter. Isolates were considered heterothallic because they did not produce gametangia in culture or on the host. All isolates examined had 30 to 35°C as optimum temperatures. Based on these morphological characteristics, the isolates were identified as Phytophthora hydropathica (2). Morphological identification was confirmed by internal transcribed spacer (ITS), and mitochondrial partial cytochrome oxidase subunit 2 (CoxII) with BLAST analysis in the NCBI database revealing 99% identity with ITS and 100% identity with CoxII. The sequences of the three isolates AB234, AB235, and AB236 were deposited in European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) with the accession nos. HG934148, HG934149, and HG934150 for ITS and HG934151, HG934152, and HG934153 for CoxII, respectively. Pathogenicity tests were conducted in the greenhouse on a total of six 1-year-old shoots cut from V. tinus plants with two inoculation points each. Mycelial plugs cut from the margins of actively growing 8-day-old cultures on PDA were inserted through the epidermis into the phloem. Controls were treated as described above except that sterile PDA plugs replaced the inoculum. Shoots were incubated in test tubes with sterile water in the dark at 24 ± 2°C. After 2 weeks, lesions were evident at the inoculation points and symptoms were similar to those caused by natural infection. P. hydropathica was consistently re-isolated from the margin of lesions, while controls remained symptomless. In the United States in 2008, P. hydropathica was described as spreading from irrigation water to Rhododendron catawbiense and Kalmia latifolia (2). This pathogen can also attack several other horticultural crops (1), but to our knowledge, this is the first report of P. hydropathica causing wilting and shoot dieback on V. tinus.

Listmania: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Lists of Garden Plants to Help Pollinators

Pollinators are in global decline. One of the few ways in which the general public can help is by cultivating ornamental garden plants that attract pollinators by producing nectar, pollen, or both. Advice in the form of lists of recommended plants is available, but how good are these recommendations? Here, we overview a sample of 15 such lists and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. In particular, we found that the range of the number of plant genera per list was large (29–257) and that there was rather little overlap in the recommendations, even among lists addressing the same geographic region (e.g., Britain or North America). Furthermore, the lists often included poor recommendations, omitted many good plants, lacked detail, and were almost invariably based on their authors’ general expertize rather than on empirical data. Nevertheless, some advice given in the lists was good, because these recommendations were presumably backed by personal observations and less formally gathered data. The lists were also very appealing to the public, which makes them an excellent tool in communication and a useful starting point for further research.

Transcriptome sequencing and analysis of sweet osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans Lour.)

Osmanthus fragrans is a woody, evergreen species of shrubs and small trees that is extensively planted in sub-tropical and temperate climates as an ornamental plant in gardens and for its health benefits. The flower color ranges from ivory to orange to pink among different varieties and even color difference during the whole blossom in the sweet osmanthus. Sweet osmanthus is widely cultivated throughout China and other countries due to its prominent fragrance, colorful flowers, and medicinal properties. However, the scanty genomic resources in the Olea family have greatly hindered further exploration of its genetic mechanism on these economically important traits. In this study, transcriptome sequencing of O. fragrans was performed using the Illumina HighSeqTM2000 sequencing platform. Next generation sequencing (NGS) of the transcriptome of O. fragrans produced 31.7G of clean bases (211,266,818 clean reads) that were assembled into 256,774 transcripts and 117,595 unigenes. Of them, 197 and 237 candidate genes involved in fragrance and pigment biosynthesis respectively were identified based on function annotation. Meanwhile, 1 unnamed protein and 468 functional unknown genes were also identified. Furthermore, mRNA sequencing expression profiling of O. fragrans were compared to previous genes’. In summary, this comprehensive transcriptome dataset allows the identification of genes associated with several major metabolic pathways and provides a useful public information platform for further functional genomic studiesin O. fragrans Lour.

Biopesticides from plants: Calceolaria integrifolia s.l.

The effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on humans and biodiversity are multiple and varied. Nowadays environmentally-friendly pesticides are strongly preferred to POPs. It is noteworthy that the crop protection role of pesticides and other techniques, i.e. biopesticides, plant extracts, prevention methods, organic methods, evaluation of plant resistance to certain pests under an integrated pest management (IPM), could improve the risks and benefits which must be assessed on a sound scientific basis. For this directive it is crucial to bring about a significant reduction in the use of chemical pesticides, not least through the promotion of sustainable alternative solutions such as organic farming and IPM. Biopesticides are derived from natural materials such as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. Most of them are biodegradable in relatively short periods of time. On this regard, substances from Calceolaria species emerge as a strong alternative to the use of POPs. The American genus Calceolaria species are regarded both as a notorious weeds and popular ornamental garden plants. Some have medicinal applications. Other taxa of Calceolaria are toxic to insects and resistant to microbial attack. These properties are probably associated with the presence of terpenes, iridoids, flavonoids, naphthoquinones and phenylpropanoids previously demonstrated to have interesting biological activities. In this article a comprehensive evaluation of the potential utilization of Calceolaria species as a source of biopesticides is made. The chemical profile of selected members of the Chilean Calceolaria integrifolia sensu lato complex represents a significant addition to previous studies. New secondary metabolites were isolated, identified and tested for their antifeedant, insect growth regulation and insecticidal activities against Spodoptera frugiperda and Drosophila melanogaster. These species serve as a model of insect pests using conventional procedures. Additionally, bactericidal and fungicidal activity were determined. Dunnione mixed with gallic acid was the most active fungistatic and fungicidal combination encountered. Several compounds as isorhamnetin, combined with ferulic and gallic acid quickly reduced cell viability, but cell viability was recovered quickly and did not differ from that of the control. The effect of these mixtures on cultures of Aspergillus niger, Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium sporotrichum, Rhizoctonia solani, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes, was sublethal. However, when fungistatic isorhamnetin and dunnione were combined with sublethal amounts of both ferulic and gallic acid, respectively, strong fungicidal activity against theses strains was observed. Thus, dunnione combined with gallic acid completely restricted the recovery of cell viability. This apparent synergistic effect was probably due to the blockade of the recovery process from induced-stress. The same series of phenolics (iridoids, flavonoids, naphthoquinones and phenylpropanoids) were also tested against the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Salmonella typhi, and agaisnt the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Sarcinia lutea, and Staphyllococcus aureus and their effects compared with those that of kanamycin. Mixtures of isorhamnetin/dunnione/kaempferol/ferulic/gallic acid in various combinations were found to have the most potent bactericidal and fungicidal activity with MFC between 10 and 50μg/ml. Quercetin was found to be the most potent fungistatic single compound with an MIC of 15µg/ml. A time-kill curve study showed that quercetin was fungicidal against fungi assayed at any growth stage. This antifungal activity was slightly enhanced by combination with gallic acid. The primary antifungal action of the mixtures assayed likely comes from their ability to act as nonionic surfactants that disrupt the function of native membrane-associated proteins. Hence, the antifungal activity of isorhamnetin and other O-methyl flavonols appears to be mediated by biophysical processes. Maximum activity is obtained when the balance between hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions of the molecules of the mixtures becomes the most appropriate. Diterpenes, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, iridoids and phenolic acids were identified by chromatographic procedures (HPLC-DAD), ESI-MS, and NMR hyphenated techniques.