Public Gardens Research Articles

Twelve (Queer) Labours

In the first six months of 2022, the small South African town of Makhanda became the location for a series of queer public performance interventions. These interventions were framed as acts of civic labour and involved a diverse group of queer artists, students and allies labouring alongside local artisans and citizens. The project, entitled 12 Labours, was conceived by performance artist Gavin Krastin, and created in collaboration with the collective of labourers, who appeared, guerrilla-style, dressed as garden gnomes in brightly coloured overalls and with pointed hats, in several public places throughout the town. During these once-off interventions, the gnomes would work together, often for several hours, performing a range of mundane tasks for an incidental audience of passers-by. This paper positions the project as a departure point for wider consideration of some of the ways in which mundane acts of public labour, when approached as opportunities for queer performance, can become spaces for the expression of queer transgressive joy. The discussion critically reflects on three of the twelve labours: the communal repainting of a bus stop, the planting of a public garden and the laying of flowers in a derelict cemetery, as a means to consider how the public performance of mundane tasks by queer artists presents an intriguing opportunity for the performance of queer joy, and Black queer joy in particular, in contexts and spaces not typically associated with queerness and with queer bodies. The discussion also considers how the archiving of these labours, as a public exhibition of filmed documentation, constitutes an ‘archive of feelings’ (Cvetkovich 2003) that seeks to document experiences conjured through the performance of mundane labour, rather than merely archiving the act itself.

Advances on the Amaryllidacea Alkaloids Collected in South Africa, Andean South America and the Mediterranean Basin.

The alkaloids are one of the most represented family of natural occurring biological active compounds. Amaryllidaceae are also very well known for their beautiful flower and are thus used as ornamental plants in historic and public gardens. The Amaryllidacea alkaloids constitute an important group that is subdivided into different subfamilies with different carbon skeletons. They are well known from ancient times for their long application in folk medicine, and in particular, Narcissus poeticus L. was known to Hippocrates of Cos (ca. B.C. 460-370), who treated uterine tumors with a formulate prepared from narcissus oil. To date, more than 600 alkaloids of 15 chemical groups exhibiting various biological activities have been isolated from the Amaryllidaceae plants. This plant genus is diffused in regions of Southern Africa, Andean South America and the Mediterranean basin. Thus, this review describes the chemical and biological activity of the alkaloids collected in these regions in the last two decades as weel those of isocarbostyls isolated from Amaryllidaceae in the same regions and same period.

Traces of health-A landscape design task as a diagnostic aid for detecting mental burden? A qualitative focus group study.

Mental disorders are most common causes of illness worldwide. Studies on art and drawing tasks, such as the tree-drawing test have already proven their prognostic quality for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, depression or trauma. In the depiction of art in public space, gardens and landscapes are one of the oldest human forms of artistic expression. This study thus aims at exploring the impact of a landscape design task as a prognostic tool to detect mental burden. A total of 15 individuals (eight female) aged between 19 and 60 years completed the Brief Symptom Inventory BSI-18 and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) before being asked to design a landscape in a 3 × 3 m squared area. Material to be used included plants, flowers, branches, and stones. The complete process of landscape design was videotaped and the tapes were analyzed in a two-step focus group analysis from a group of gardening trainees, psychology students and students of arts therapies. Results were condensed in a second step into major categories. Scores of the BSI-18 showed a range of 2-21 points and STAI-S scores ranged between 29 and 54 points indicating a light to moderate mental burden. Focus group participants identified three mutually perpendicular major components associated with mental health: "Movement and Activity," "Material Selection and Design," and "Connectedness to the task." In a subsample of the three least and three most mentally stressed subjects (based on their GSI and STAI-S scorings), clear differences were found in body posture, action planning and the choice of material and aspects of design. In addition to the well-known therapeutic potential of gardening, this study for the first time showed that gardening and landscape design contains diagnostic elements. Our preliminary findings are in coherence with similar research indicating a high association of movement and design patterns with mental burden. However, due to the pilot nature of the study, the results should be interpreted cautiously. Based on the findings further studies are currently planned.

Rational Recreation: Regulating the historic gardens of Old Delhi 1912-1940s

Public gardens, in colonial imagination, were conceived as an ordered, moral and sanitised space for pursuing leisure. This study explores the imperial ideologies and notions of respectability, shared by the Indian upper classes, in delineating the contours of rational recreation. The paper argues that the regulation of leisure in public gardens was a soft face of civilising impulse and a subtle form of disciplinary strategy employed by the colonial state to inculcate codes of public conduct and discipline amongst the population of Delhi. This paper also examines the lived realities and the challenges that people posed to ideas of rational recreation. The notions of morality in public space were flouted by the presence and activities of those who were regarded as ‘Budmashes’; the sanitised space was fouled by the sewage, waste, and ‘smell’ of poor visitors; and the notion of public space as a regulated arena was questioned by the many ways in which the colonised occupied the public gardens.

Intelligent Video Surveillance using Deep Learning

In the current era, the majority of public places such as supermarket, public garden, mall, university campus, etc. are under video surveillance. There is a need to provide essential security and monitor unusual anomaly activities at such places. The major drawback in the traditional approach, that there is a need to perform manual operation for 24 ∗ 7 and also there are possibilities of human errors. This paper focuses on anomaly detection and activity recognition of humans in the videos. The anomaly detection system uses principal component analysis network (PCANet) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to solve the problems of manual operation such as the false alarms, missing of anomalous events and locating the position of an anomaly in the video. The frames wise abnormal event is detected using principal component analysis and Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier. The location of the abnormality in a frame is detected using Convolutional Neural Network.

The Terebrantia (Insecta: Thysanoptera) of the Maltese Islands

Thirty-nine species of terebrantian Thysanoptera belonging to four families and 22 genera are here recorded from the Maltese Islands. Of these, 33 represent new records to this archipelago. Thrips were collected from 65 different locations over a seven-year period, covering the main habitat types found across the Maltese Islands, namely steppe, garigue, maquis and woodland, but also sand dunes and saltmarshes as well as roadsides, private and public gardens, greenhouses and cultivated fields. An illustrated dichotomous key to identify the Terebrantia of the Maltese Islands is presented. Chorological data for the species researched in the current study shows that the majority of these insects are of a European Mediterranean origin, though the geographical distribution of some of them extends to Africa and the Middle East. Seven species associated with agricultural commodities were found to be of alien origin; however they were locally found in small numbers and do not pose a threat to horticulture.

First Report of Powdery Mildew Caused by Golovinomyces ambrosiae on New York Aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii) in Korea.

Symphyotrichum novi-belgii (L.) G.L. Nesom (syn. Aster novi-belgii L.), known as New York aster, is a perennial herb used in gardens and as a potted plant. The plant is native to North America but has been developed into various horticultural varieties. In Korea, it is one of the most common plants used for autumn bloom. In September 2011, New York asters (variety unknown) showing typical signs of powdery mildew were observed in a public garden in Seoul, Korea. Since then, the disease on New York asters has been continuously found in parks and flower markets in different regions of Korea. Voucher specimens (n=3) were deposited in the Korea University Herbarium (KUS-F 30752, 31865, and 32103). On leaves, circular to irregular white patches appeared which subsequently showed abundant hyphal growth on both sides of the leaves and on young stems and inflorescences, reducing the aesthetic value and vigor of the plants affected. Hyphae were septate, branched, and 4 to 8 µm wide. Appressoria on the mycelium were nipple-shaped. Conidiophores measured 110 to 200 × 9 to 11.5 μm, were simple, and produced 2 to 5 immature conidia in chains with a sinuate outline, followed by 2 to 3 cells. Foot-cells of conidiophores were straight, cylindric, and 55 to 125 μm long. Conidia were hyaline, ellipsoid to barrel-shaped, measured 22 to 52 × 15 to 20 μm (length/width ratio = 1.5-2.5), lacked distinct fibrosin bodies, and produced germ tubes on the subterminal position, with reticulate wrinkling of the outer walls. No chasmothecia were observed. The structures described above were typical of the Oidium subgenus Euoidium anamorph of the genus Golovinomyces, and the fungus measurements were consistent with those of G. ambrosiae (Schwein.) U. Braun & R.T.A. Cook (Braun and Cook 2012, Qiu et al. 2020). To confirm the identity of the causal fungus, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and large subunit (LSU) regions of rDNA were amplified with primers PM10/ITS4 for ITS and PM3/TW14 for LSU (Mori et al. 2000, Bradshaw and Tobin 2020). The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession No. OP028065-7 for ITS and OP028053-5 for LSU). A GenBank BLAST search of these sequences revealed 100% identity with sequences of G. ambrosiae on many asteraceous plants, including S. novi-belgii from China (MK452575-9 for ITS and MK452648-52 for LSU). Pathogenicity was confirmed through inoculation by gently pressing diseased leaves onto leaves of five healthy potted New York aster plants. Five non-inoculated plants served as controls. Plants were maintained in an incubator at 24°C. Inoculated plants developed signs and symptoms after three weeks, whereas the control plants remained symptomless. The fungus present on the inoculated plants was morphologically identical to that observed initially on diseased plants, fulfilling Koch's postulates. The powdery mildew infections of S. novi-belgii associated with G. ambrosiae have been widely known in Europe and North America but only recently in China (Qiu et al. 2020, Farr and Rossman 2022). In Japan, Podosphaera fuliginea was known to be associated with powdery mildew of S. novi-belgii (Farr and Rossman 2022). To our knowledge, this is the first report of powdery mildew caused by G. ambrosiae on S. novi-belgii in Korea. The powdery mildew on this ornamental plant can be considered a severe threat.

Evaluation Cytotoxicity Effects of Centaurea Cineraria Extracts Against some of Cancer Cell Lines

This research included the detection and determination of flavonoids from Centaurea Cineraria extract collected from public gardens using high-performance liquid chromatography technique. The compounds (Cirsilineol, Jaceosidin, Melitensin) were found, their concentrations were measured and found (36254,63719,89035 µg/ml), and qualitative chemical detections were performed. Study of the effect of the methanolic extract of Centaurea Cineraria containing the flavonoids mentioned above. The extraction process was carried out using an ordinary organic solvent ethanol and using a rotary evaporator device. The flavonoids present in the extract were detected, using standard flavonoids (Cirsilineol, Jaceosidin, Melitensin) and study the effect of the extacts on some cancer cell line also study on utilizing stable free extreme compound 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-Picryl-hydrazil (DPPH). Results uncovered that the more expanding in centralization of the concentrate the seriously rummaging level of the free extremists. The fixations that were utilized gone from36.12 to 2000µg/ml, considered the Methanol concentrate of Centaurea Cineraria essentially showed high anticancer activity agent movement (96% at 2000µg/ml) connected with hexane extricates which were 94.61% at 2000µg/ml. This work additionally planned to concentrate on the cytotoxic and anticancer impacts of Centaurea Cineraria extricates The predominant decrease in attainable count cell was 500/ml in various cell lines, which was associated to methanolic isolates and appeared to cause cell loss in the cell lines L20B, PC-3, and HCT116 separately.

First Report of Powdery Mildew Caused by Golovinomyces ambrosiae on Leucanthemum vulgare in Korea.

Leucanthemum vulgare Lam. (Asteraceae), known as ox-eye daisy, is a perennial herb native to Europe and western Asia (Clements et al. 2004, McDougall et al. 2018). In Korea, this plant was introduced for ornamental purposes but has been naturalized as a widespread invasive species. In June 2015, symptoms of a powdery mildew disease were observed on L. vulgare in a public garden in Goseong (38°14'18"N, 128°32'56"E), Korea. Since then, its findings have continued throughout the country, including Mokpo and Seogwipo (in 2018), Hongcheon and Seoul (in 2020), Boeun, Gunsan, and Namwon (in 2022), where the disease incidence was often higher than 80%. Symptoms first appeared as circular to irregular white powdery patches covering leaves and stems. Affected plants became distorted, eventually losing their aesthetic and ornamental value. A total of sixteen samples were deposited in the herbarium of Korea University (KUS-F), Korea. Microscopic observations showed that hyphal appressoria were nipple-shaped. Conidiophores were cylindrical, 98 to 157 × 9 to 12 μm, and produced 2 to 5 immature conidia in chains with a sinuate outline. Foot cells were cylindrical, straight, and 37 to 65 μm long. Conidia were ellipsoid to barrel-shaped, 23 to 39 × 12 to 19 μm, with a length/width ratio of 1.4 to 2.3 and devoid of fibrosin bodies. Germ tubes were produced in the perihilar position of the conidia. Primary conidia were apically rounded and basally subtruncated. No chasmothecia were found until the plants died in winter. The morphological characteristics were typical for anamorph of the genus Golovinomyces. To identify the fungus, genomic DNA was extracted from the four herbarium specimens (KUS-F 28650, 30839, 31728, and 31787). PCR products were amplified using the primer sets PM10/ITS4 for internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and PM3/TW14 for the large subunit (LSU) of the rDNA (Mori et al. 2000, Bradshaw and Tobin 2020). Sequences obtained in the present study were deposited at GenBank (accession numbers ON834488-91 for ITS and ON834494-7 for LSU). A BLASTn search of the Korean specimens showed 100% identity with reference sequences of G. ambrosiae in GenBank (KX98730, MK452580, and MK452588 for ITS and MF612182, MK452653, and MK452661 for LSU). In phylogenetic trees of a concatenated dataset of the ITS and LSU sequences, the Korean specimens formed a well-supported clade with the reference sequences of G. ambrosiae. Pathogenicity tests were carried out by touching and dusting an infected leaf (KUS-F 31787) onto the upper leaf surface of five healthy plants. Five non-inoculated plants served as controls. After two weeks, all inoculated plants formed white patches on the surface of leaves and stems, whereas the control plants remained symptomless. The fungus on the inoculated plants was identical to that observed on the initially diseased plant, fulfilling Koch's postulates. As a result, the causal agent of the powdery mildew on L. vulgare was confirmed as G. ambrosiae (Schwein.) U. Braun & R.T.A. Cook, based on the current taxonomy and nomenclature of this species by Qiu et al. (2020).. Previously powdery mildew collections on L. vulgare have been reported as Golovinomyces cichoracearum (≡ Erysiphe cichoracearum) s. lat. in Estonia, Finland, Germany, and Switzerland, Golovinomyces biocellatus in Spain, and Podosphaera fusca (probably P. xanthii according to the current taxonomy) in the former Soviet Union (now Russia and adjacent countries) (Farr and Rossman 2022). This study is the first report of powdery mildew disease caused by G. ambrosiae on L. vulgare in Korea. Qiu et al. (2020) confirmed the occurrence of G. ambrosiae on L. maximum, another species of the genus Leucanthemum. As powdery mildew causes damage to the cultivation of L. vulgare by loss of ornamental value, appropriate control measures should be developed.

“Ring up for an appointment”: Empirical & oral evidence of commercial & other freedoms in the heyday of the City

Informed by economic concepts of product competition, this paper uses publicly available and accurate business information on establishment names and addresses obtained from the Yellow Pages of the contemporary Hong Kong telephone book and census socio-economic data backed by oral testimonies, to dispel the myth that the “Kowloon Walled City” was an incarcerated ghetto. The use of this imagery in the title for this City as a built up, politically sensitive zone levelled to the ground to make way for a public Chinese garden shortly before Hong Kong was returned to China, is treated as a form of ‘product differentiation’ in the academic research marketplace. As a contribution to planning theory, the paper uses the City as a show case of how academic branding, through descriptors, creates images of places and offers a countervailing image. Technically, it demonstrates the immense archival value of telephone directories and business chronicles apart from census data as sources of socially significant data for urban studies and informed re-interpretation of subjective imageries of an urban place.

Financing the Infrastructure of Municipal Corporation on Sustainable Basis: A Case Study of Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation

Every Municipal Corporation must provide administrative services and develop infrastructure for people. The Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation is the fastest growing Municipal Corporation in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Urbanization is increasing rapidly in corporations, but infrastructure services are lagging behind. There is a mismatch between the revenue and expenditure of the corporation. The revenue receipts are significantly low due to lower property taxes and road construction. The revenue expenditure is increasing due to administration, architecture section, accounts, hospitals management, and construction sector. The capital receipts are significantly lower because of integrated health and family welfare receipts. The capital expenditure of the corporation has increased due to road repairing and construction, development work, and electricity expenditure. The municipal corporation must invest in civic infrastructure such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste and sewerage management, roads, public transportation, public gardens, street lights, and markets. Municipal Corporations must manage capital expenditure on a sustainable basis for civic infrastructure. It will improve the standard of living of the people.

Garden Hunter

Garden Hunter

Natural Volatile Organic Compounds (NVOCs) Are Greater and More Diverse in UK Forests Compared with a Public Garden

Forest bathing is based upon a Japanese practice known as Shinrin–Yoku and is a nature-based therapy involving mindful walks through ancient woodland to reduce stress and anxiety. One proposed mechanism behind the effectiveness of Forest bathing is based on the potential mental and physical health benefits of the natural volatile organic compounds (NVOCs) that fill the forest understory. Surprisingly little is known about the concentrations and diversity of plant NVOCs in ambient air particularly in the UK and this study aims to increase that knowledge. Air samples were collected in July 2022 in a UK forest and compared with samples from a walled garden environment. The samples were collected over a 2 h time period and analysed using GC-MS and showed clear differences in the chemical composition of the air. This study revealed NVOCs including limonene, carvone, terpenes, terpenoids and sesquiterpenoids were present within a UK forest but were either not present or present at little to low levels in the control setting of a walled garden. This study also found that the typical 2 h duration of a Forest bathing session was a long enough sampling period to detect these NVOCs, indicating that Forest bathers could benefit from exposure to NVOCs.

Occurrence of Phytophthora ramorum and Other Phytophthora Species on Woody Ornamentals in Public Gardens and Parks in Northwestern Spain

Phytophthora ramorum is a harmful pathogen of ornamental and forest trees in Europe and North America. This pathogen has been recovered from nursery plants in Galicia (northwestern Spain) since 2003 and, despite carrying out the measures implemented by Commission Decision 2002/757/CE, including the eradication of infected plants and periodic inspections in nurseries, it is likely that P. ramorum has spread in landscaped green areas through planting of infected nursery stock. The aim of this work was to survey woody ornamental plants in public parks and gardens in Galicia for the presence of P. ramorum from 2011 to 2018 and to identify and characterize any other species of the genus found. Samples of leaves, twigs, and rhizosphere soil of symptomatic ornamental trees and shrubs were analyzed. Morphological, physiological, and molecular characteristics of 93 collect isolates enabled the identification of 13 species of Phytophthora. The greatest diversity of Phytophthora species was detected on Rhododendron and Camellia. P. ramorum was isolated from leaf samples of Camellia sp., Rhododendron sp ., and Viburnum tinus grown in three sites. To our knowledge, this is the first time that P. ramorum has been detected in landscaped green areas in Spain. These results suggest that regular inspections of symptomatic ornamental woody plants are necessary to control the spread of P. ramorum and other Phytophthora species.

URBAN IMPROVEMENT URBAN IMPROVEMENT AS A PERFORMANCE INDICATOR OF CITY SELF-GOVERNMENT OF PERM IN 1905-1916

The article analyzes the activities of the Perm city government on the improvement of city streets, piers and public gardens in 1905 - 1916. The sources of the research were archival documents, journals of the Perm City Duma, materials of the periodical press, primarily the «Permskie Gubernskie Vedomosti» During the period under review, the effectiveness of Perm city self-government in solving issues of improvement was influenced more than ever by political events, forcing budget funds to be transferred to other areas. From 1905 to the first half of 1914, the effectiveness of city self-government bodies in the field of landscaping has been growing, since the second half of 1914, this growth has been slowing down. Nevertheless, activities in the field of landscaping did not stop, as did the progressive development of Perm.

Rust on Hosta longipes caused by Puccinia oncospora in Korea

Hosta longipes (Liliaceae), widely distributed throughout Korea, China, Japan, and eastern Russia, is one of the most popular ornamental perennials in public and private gardens. In Korea, this species has long been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of coughs, phlegm, burns, swelling and asthma (Kim et al., 2014), and its young leaves are also consumed as a salad vegetable. In June 2016, rust disease was observed on H. longipes plants growing naturally around a stream at Mount Gongjaksan in Hongcheon-gun, Korea (Fig. 1). The disease incidence rate was c. 10%. Symptoms appeared as yellowish, round, chlorotic spots on the upper surface of the infected leaves (Fig. 2) and yellow to orange-coloured aecia on the corresponding lower surface and petiole (Fig. 3). After the first findings, the same disease was observed in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Herbarium specimens of infected material were deposited in the Korea University Herbarium (Accession Nos. KUS-F29182, F29810, F30967, and F31685). Leaves affected by the rust infection were examined under a dissecting microscope (M205C; Leica, Germany), a DIC microscope (Axio Imager 2; Carl Zeiss, Germany), and a scanning electron microscope (S-4800+EDS; Hitachi, Japan). Spermogonia were mostly epiphyllous but rarely hypophyllous, densely grouped, pale brown, and subepidermal. Aecia were hypophyllous, often densely grouped, yellow, cupulate with peridia, and 196–300 μm in diameter (Fig. 4). Aeciospores were hyaline, globose to subglobose, angular, and (20.2-)22.0-24.9(-27.4) × (17.0-)19.6-22.5(-24.2) μm (mean 23.4 × 21.0 μm) (Fig. 5). Aeciospore wall was densely verrucose and 0.6-1.6 μm (mean 1.0 μm) in thickness (Fig. 6). Uredinial and telial stages were not observed. These morphological characteristics were consistent with those of Puccinia oncospora (Ji et al., 2022). To confirm the morphology-based identification, genomic DNA was extracted from four specimens using a MagListo 5M plant Genomic DNA Extraction Kit (Bioneer, Korea). Two ribosomal DNA regions were amplified: the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) with primers ITS5u and ITS4rust (Pfunder et al., 2001) and the large subunit (LSU) rDNA with primers LRust1R and LRust3 (Beenken et al., 2012). The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. OQ061206-9 for ITS and OQ073721-4 for LSU) and compared to other reference sequences using BLASTn. The ITS sequences of Korean specimens were identical to those of P. oncospora ex Trillium kamtschaticum and Phalaris arundinacea for ITS (MW404821-5) and LSU sequences (MW404981-5). In maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees for ITS (Fig. 7A) and LSU (Fig. 7B) sequences, the Korean samples were grouped with the reference sequences of P. oncospora with high bootstrap supporting values of 93% in ITS and 96% in LSU. Puccinia oncospora is a recently described rust species that is so far only known from China, where it completes its life cycle by forming an aecial stage on Trillium kamtschaticum (Melanthiaceae, previously Liliaceae) and a telial stage on Phalaris arundinacea (Poaceae; Ji et al., 2022). So far, three species of Puccinia have been recorded on Hosta longipes, namely, P. funkiae, P. hemerocallidis, and P. majanthemi (Hiratsuka & Sato, 1951; Farr & Rossman, 2022). Also, a species complex P. sessilis was considered parasitic on H. longipes (Hiratsuka & Sato, 1951), but it is phylogenetically and morphologically distinguishable from P. oncospora. To our knowledge, this is the first record of rust disease on Hosta longipes and this rust pathogen in Korea. As there have been no records of rust on P. arundinacea, a telial host plant of P. oncospora, in Korea, finding an alternative host for that rust is necessary to develop effective control measures. This work was supported by the National Academy of Agricultural Science grant (PJ0149560112020) from the Rural Development Administration, Korea.

Государственная национальная политика в Омске в 2013-2019 гг.: практика реализации, проблемы и перспективы

The article is devoted to the Omsk experience in the implementation of the state national policy. An analysis of the existing positive practices of interaction between the municipality and national and religious associations was carried out; the existing problems and main directions for optimizing the national policy at the municipal level were identified. The mechanisms for implementing the state national policy are built in accordance with the legislation of Russia, taking into account the specifics and the current state of the ethno-confessional sphere of the city of Omsk. Based on a broad factual material, the author shows the activities of the municipality in the formation of civic identity and the upbringing of the culture of interethnic communication. The article considers the positive experience of the Expert Board for Ethnic and Religion Affairs under the Administration of the city of Omsk. Examples of positive practices implemented by the municipality together with national and religious associations are given. The history of the Peoples' Friendship Public Garden, the creative project “ETNO Territory”, the festival of national cinema “300 years together”, an interconfessional dialogue platform is covered. Measures of support for national associations provided by the authorities, in particular the competition of municipal grants, are analyzed. The study identified a number of problems and made recommendations for solving them. The article uses materials of direct and participant observation. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the ways of cooperation between the municipality and the national community in the city of Omsk are built. The implementation of the state national policy should take place with the active participation of representatives of the national community.

DIVERSITY OF SPONTANEOUS PLANTS IN PUBLIC GARDENS AT ARID ENVIRONMENTS

Public gardens are necessary to improve the quality of life, and wellbeing of urban residents. The objective of this study was to inventory the floristic diversity of spontaneous species in three sites representing different public gardens in southwestern Algeria. To document all spontaneous species present, a total of 64 quadrats were established in August 2021. To express differences in diversity between sites, the species richness and biological diversity index were used. A total of 375 individuals, representing 15 families, 29 genera, and 31 species were recorded. The family Asteraceae is represented by the highest number of species (7 species) followed by Amaranthaceae and Poaceae (5 species), whereas, 10 families are represented by one species each. Therophytes (58.06%) and Chamephytes (16.13%) are relatively high life forms of the vegetation spectra. Phytogeographical analysis of the vegetation in the area revealed the forte representation of cosmopolitan elements. The ranges of diversity indices observed in the three sites were: Shannon- Weaver index (2.99-3.86), Evenness index (0.76-0.88) and Sørensen coefficient (53%-61%). The application of principal component analysis to the data characterized the ecological gradients responsible for the distribution of these taxa at the level of the three sites. This study contains important information on spontaneous plants in arid environments, which should be integrated into the priority of plant genetic resources valorization programs.

Gender inequalities in Transylvania's largest peri-urban forest usage

Urban green spaces (public gardens, parks, urban and peri-urban forests) offer multiple-use opportunities and spaces for recreational activities and played a key role in supporting mental and physical health of dwellers during covid-19 pandemic, being ones of few places where outdoor and social activities where allowed. This study was conducted in Brașov city (also known as Kronstadt, by its German name), the second largest metropolitan area of Romania and surrounded by a significant area of peri-urban forests in Transylvania. Brașov city own just 5.62 sqm of urban green space/inhabitant, one of the lowest in the country, so the presence of a large peri-urban forest area become very valuable for locals and tourists visiting the area. Due to its importance and because understanding visitors' expectations and perceptions is a key element to support decision-makers and ensure proper management of these forests, the Brașov’s forests administrator (Kronstadt Local Public Forest District – RPLPK) decided to investigate how dwellers generally interact with the peri-urban forests and to identify opportunities for improving the capacity of forests in providing social and recreational services. Data were collected through the administration of CAWI (computer assisted web interview) to 314 respondents at beginning of 2021, at exactly one year distance after the pandemic lockdown was imposed all around the country. Analyzing the participants responses, a surprising fact become evident: the use of peri-urban forest is not gender equal, women being less able than men to access these green natural spaces and, therefore, to uptake the benefits provided by the peri-urban forests.

Public Garden of São Manuel: a comparative study of the arboreal species from the project by Reynaldo Dierberger (1928) and nowadays (2022

The Public Garden of São Manuel was remodeled in 1928 by the Paulista landscaper Reynaldo Dierberger (1899-1977) and executed by the firm Dierberger & Cia, founded in 1893 in the city of São Paulo by the family' patriarch, João Dierberger. This firm was, until the 1940s, one of the most important ones in the production and commercialization of plants, projects, and execution of gardens. The project elaborated for São Manuel has particular importance for being one of the rare gardens executed by the firm Dierberger, still preserved in its structural aspects. The garden is also a testimony of São Manuel's history since its birth. Furthermore, there is a blueprint of the original project, with handwritten notes by the author about the plant species to be used in this garden. So far, this is the only author's project found in São Paulo´s state, among hundreds of projects, where there is a specification of the vegetation. In this context, the present study aimed to identify and locate the remaining trees and palms of the 1928 project that still exist today. The research used the remodeling project´s blueprint, historical iconography, dissertations, articles, and the georeferenced botanical survey (February 2022). The results show that most of the trees and palm are no longer present or have been replaced by other species and that the upper part of the garden is the one that still preserves part of the vegetal composition.