Variation in the senescence of carnation

Wu, M.J., Zacarias, L. and Reid. M.S., 1991. Variation in the senescence of carnation (Dianthus cao,ophyllus L.) cultivars. II. Comparison o f sensitivity to exogenous ethylene and of ethylene binding. Scientia Hortic., 48:109-116. Flowers o f the 'Sandra' and "Chinera" cultivars o f carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L. ) last about twice as long ( 14 days) as those o f 'Whi te Sim' cultivar (7 days). Application of C2H4 shortened the vase life of all three cultivars. "Chinera' flowers were the least sensitive to C2H4, and "~;~ndra' flowers were more than i 0 times as sensitive. Although 'Sandra" flowers normally produce :cry little Call4, C2H4 treatment induced a climacteric in C2H4 production by this cultivar~ The differences in C2H4 sensitivity could only partly be explained by differences in ethylene-binding activity (number of binding sites and Kd ) in petal tissues from lhe different cultivars.