It is well known that growth and yield of horticultural crops can be greatly increased by optimizing the nutritional status of the root environment. Based on plant response, involving numerous fertilizer experiments for the different plants and substrates involved, guidelines can be proposed for optimal nutrient solution and pot substrate conditions. The main factors to be considered are sampli...

Interspecific hybridisation and polyploidy are recognized as the most important sources of evolution and domestication of flowering plants. In ornamental plant breeding these phenomena go hand in hand and can be observed in the breeding history of many ornamental crops (Rosa, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Alstroemeria, Lilium, orchids etc). With lily as model crop techniques developed for overcomin...

Catharanthus roseus (L.) which is an important medicinal plant of the family Apocynaceae is used to treat many of the fatal diseases contains a virtual cornucopia of useful alkaloids, used in diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, constipation, and cancer and menetrual problem. There are about two common cultivars of C. roseus which is named on the basis of their flower colour that is the pink flowe...

Genetic model organisms have revolutionized science, and today, with the rapid advances in technology, there is significant potential to launch many more plant species towards model status. However, these new model organisms will have to be carefully selected. Here, we argue that Hemerocallis (daylily) satisfies multiple criteria for selection and deserves serious consideration as a subject of ...

Tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosaAndrews) is an important medicinal and ornamental plant. In China, its root bark is an important ingredient for traditional Chinese medicine. It is valued as an ornamental plant because its flower shows a wide variation in shape and color. We used flower buds at different developmental stages to construct the first cDNA library for this organism. A total of 2241 ...

Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) methods for evaluating invasiveness in plants have evolved rapidly in the last two decades. Many WRA tools exist, but none were specifically designed to screen ornamental plants prior to being released into the environment. To be accepted as a tool to evaluate ornamental plants for the nursery industry, it is critical that a WRA tool accurately predicts non-invasivene...

Coleus spp. have long been prized for their colorful foliage, which may combine shades of green, yellow, pink, red and maroon. They are plants for all locations. Besides their ornamental nature, Coleus spp. are also valued in folk medicine. C. blumei Benth., a natural hybrid of several Coleus spp. is an ornamental plant growing all over the world in an enormous number of different cultivars tha...

Costus speciosus Koen. (Keu, Crape ginger), an Indian ornamental plant, has long been medicinally used in traditional systems of medicine. The plant has been found to possess diverse number of pharmacological activities. The present article gives an account of updated information on its phytochemical and pharmacological properties. The review reveals that wide numbers of phytochemical constitue...

ophiopogon japonicus is a perennial, ornamental foliage plant, whichbelongs to the family liliaceae. it has a high demand in the local andinternational export market due to the presence of glossy white-green stripped lanceolate leaves. improved leaves and plants of o. japonicus will be more popular in the floriculture industry. hence, objective was to investigate the growth responses of o. japo...