• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.190-199
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• 2023

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.: Arecaceae) is a dioecious species where only female trees bear fruits. In their natural state, date palms produce dates once a year. However, in Thailand, some trees were observed to produce dates during the off-season, despite no variations in morphology. The availability of such off-season fruits can significantly increase their market value. Interestingly, most female off-season date palms investigated in this study were obtained through micropropagation. Hence, there is an urgent need for genetic markers to distinguish female offseason flowering plantlets within tissue culture systems. In this study, we aimed to develop random amplification of polymorphic DNA-sequence characterized amplified region (RAPD-SCAR) markers for the identification of female off-season flowering date palms cultivated in Thailand. A total of 160 random decamer primers were employed to screen for specific RAPD markers in off-season flowering male and female populations. Out of these, only one primer, OPN-02, generated distinct genomic DNA patterns in female off-season flowering (FOFdp) individuals compared to female seasonal flowering genotypes. Based on the RAPD-specific sequence, specific SCAR primers denoted as FOFdpF and FOFdpR were developed. These SCAR primers amplified a single 517-bp DNA fragment, predominantly found in off-season flowering populations, with an accuracy rate of 60%. These findings underscore the potential of SCAR marker technology for tracking offseason flowering in date palms. Notably, a BLAST analysis revealed a substantial similarity between the SCAR marker sequence and the transcript variant mRNA from Phoenix dactylifera encoding the SET DOMAIN GROUP 40 protein. In Arabidopsis, this protein is involved in the epigenetic regulation of flowering time. The genetic potential of the off-season flowering traits warrants further elucidation.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2006

Ecological correlates of flowering times often are examined to infer evolutionary mechanisms for flowering time diversities. We examined ecological characteristic associations such as growth habits and pollination modes with flowering times among 3,037 Korean angiosperms experiencing strong climatic seasonalities. We first examined taxonomic membership effects on flowering times across diverse taxonomic levels. Phylogeny constrained flowering times at all levels down to the genus level. We then analyzed the effects of ecological characteristics using subset data consisting of species randomly selected from each genus to control phylogenetic effects. The commonly observed patterns of early flowering of woody species in temperate regions existed. Spring flowering shrubs and trees, however, both being woody, were involved with biotic and abiotic vectors, respectively. In two herbaceous groups of annuals and perennials, annuals flowered later in the growing season than perennials although both herbs tended to be associated with abiotic vectors when flowering in autumn. These results support our hypothesis that species able to decouple vegetative and reproductive growth flower in spring's dry season, but species with different habits, even when they flower within the same season, are subjected to different selective pressures for efficient pollination.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.134-145
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• 2023

Background: The flowering and fruiting periods play an important role in biological processes. The deciduous dipterocarp forest is an important forest type in Thailand, however the phenological studies are still limited, particularly in different plant life forms. Thus, the present study focused on the flowering and fruiting phenology of herbs, climbers, shrubs, and trees in the deciduous dipterocarp forest at Lampang province of Northern Thailand. Field visits were made to record plant life forms and observe reproductive phenological events at monthly intervals from November 2018 to October 2019 and September to December 2020. Results: The phenological observations were based on 126 species of 45 families and 102 genera. Flowering and fruiting periods showed similar patterns in herbaceous plants, climbers, and shrubs. Most of these species produced flowers and fruits from the end of the rainy season (October) to the winter season (November-January). Whereas most of flowering and fruiting trees were found from the summer season (March-April) to the beginning of the rainy season (May-June). Most of the dry-fruited species occurred during the dry period (winter and summer seasons), while the majority of fleshy-fruited species dominated in the wet period (rainy season). The statistical analysis supported the phenological patterns of flowering and fruiting in the present study. There were significant negative correlations between the number of flowering and fruiting species and temperature. The number of flowering and fruiting species is significantly impacted by the interaction between seasons and plant life forms. Conclusions: Plant life form seems to be the important factor that affects the different phenological patterns in the studied plants. The abiotic and biotic factors play major roles in reproductive phenology. However, long-term study and in-depth phenological observations are necessary for better understanding.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.21 no.5_1
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• pp.457.2-486
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• 1998

Ecological success of introduced species is frequently attributed to the reproductive characters of those species. We examined the relationship between both flowering season and plant size and reproductive characters in two introduced species of Taraxacum, e.g., T. officinale and T.laevigatum. Seventy six plants of T. officinale and 23 plants of T. laevigatum were randomly tagged from a population at the sungshin Women's University in April of 1997. The size and number of vegetative characters such as rosette diameter, leaf number, and the largest leaf length and width were measured for each plant at the onset of flowering. The infructescence was collected continually from each plant before seed dispersal from April to August of 1997. The number of infructescence per plant, and seed number and total seed weight per infructescence were measured. Mean individual seed weight per infructescence was also obtained. T. officinale possessed larger sized, but smaller number of, leaves than T. laevigatum, thereby resulting in no significant difference in total leaf area. There was a trend that vegetatively larger plants in both of these species produced reproductive characters larger in size or greater in number, except for seed number and total seed weight per infructescence in T. laevigatum. All reproductive characters examined in T. officinale decreased toward the end of flowering season. In T. laevigatum, infructescence number per plant also declined during a flowering season: however, mean seed number per infructescence increaed toward the end of flowering season with no significant seasonal change in the total seed weight per infructescence. T. officinale produced on average about twice as many seeds per plant as T. laevigatum during a growing season. These two Taraxacum species produced quite small seeds in size compared to the endemic species, exhibiting a far better dispersal ability of introduced species. These data demonstrate that most reproductive characters decline in size and number in both species during a long flowering period, but the two species appear to employ different strategies to achieve reproductive success in disturbed habitats.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2001

Life form, flower color, flowering and seed-ripening seasons of 59 alpine plants in Paeknokdam, the crater of Mt. Halla, were investigated in order to obtain the information about ornamental potentials of alpine plants. Life form spectrum of alpine plants are characterized by a high percentage of hemicryptophytes (67.8%). This result was similar to those of other alpine plant communities. Flowering season of alpine plants was July to August and seed-ripening season was August to September. Flower color of these alpine plants was dominated by white (27%), blue (22%) and yellow (20.3%).

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 1998

The effects of inflorescence herbivory and flowering time on plant architecture and reproductive yields were examined with a perennial herbacious species, Vicia cracca, occurring in Natick, Massachusetts, USA. Natural herbivory on inflorescences was observed among the total of 157 plants during a growing season. Vegetative and reproductive characters were measured in the field as well as in the lab depending on the characters. Approximately 64% of the plants were subjected to herbivory on inflorescences. Plants were classified into three groups; unbrowsed plants, partially browsed, and totally browsed plants, according to the level of herbivory on inflorescences of each plant. Plants were also categorized by their flowering time such as early vs late flowering plants. Herbivores tended to favor inflorescences on rather small plants, resulting in a pattern of totally contact or partially intact inflorescences on taller plants. The mean number of stems, which was assumed to be a direct result of severe herbivory in this population, differed among herbivory groups. There also was a tendency that plants flowering late in the season had more nodes with more leaves, suggesting that herbivory on stem tips early in the season before flowering might have induced growth of side branches or branchlets along the main stems. Comparison between unbrowsed and partially browsed plants showed that the latter compensated for browsing in terms of numbers of inflorescences, fruits, seeds and seed size (weight), though they did not compensate in flower number. The probability of fruit production (presence vs absence of fruits) and seed weight declined toward the end of the season. These results suggest that resources are deficient at the end of the season. Almost complete reproductive failure in totally browsed plants is attributed to the destruction of inflorescence display and the disadvantage of small vegetative size of those plants. After all, in this population, a moderate level of herbivory on inflorescences did not reduce the maternal fitness of the plants. However, severe herbivory on inflorescences resulted in antagonistic interactions between plants and herbivores.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.439-442
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• 2008

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Cherry Blossom' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Korea in 2007. A cross was made in 2002 between 'Relance', a spray cultivar with red petals and resistant to white rust and 'Yeonja', a spray cultivar with pink petals. Trials were conducted from 2005 to 2007 for the evaluation and selection of this cultivar, including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in autumn. The natural flowering time of "Cherry Blossom" is late October, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and lighting treatment. This cultivar is single type flowers with dark pink petals and green flower center and resistant to white rust. It is very stable color of petals when the variety is cultivated under high temperature conditions in summer season. The diameter of flower is 55.0 mm. The number of flowers per stem is 10.5 and the number of petals per flower is 24.0. The days to flowering under the short day treatment is about 45 in spring season.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.217-219
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• 2004

Cissus quadrangularis L. variant I (Family: Vitaceae), the common variant with square stem is widely used for peptic ulcer disorders (PUD) in traditional medicine. Aerial parts were collected during flowering and vegetative seasons and analysed. Aqueous (hot and cold) and solvent extracts (acetone, chloroform and ethanol) were screened for their anti-Helicobacter pylori (Hp) activities. Among them chloroform extract was observed to recover bioactive principles markedly with low minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal lethal concentration (MLC). MIC was $30\;{\mu}g$ in both samples and MLC was $35\;{\mu}g$ for vegetative and $30\;{\mu}g$ for flowering seasons, respectively. Extracts from samples collected during flowering season were better than thse of vegetative season.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.61-64
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• 2013

This study identified the effect of night time temperatures on the flowering period of spray-chrysanthemum during the summer season in South Korea. According to the results for 2005, the temperature at night time sustained more than $25^{\circ}C$ for 23.6 days during the short day period and delayed the flowering period for 22 days. Similar observations were reported in 2006, as the night time temperature sustained more than $25^{\circ}C$ for 23.6 days during the short day period and delayed flowering period for 23 days. The results for 2007 year showed that night time temperature sustained more than $25^{\circ}C$ for 31.9 days during the same period and delayed flowering for 31 days. In conclusion, based on the results for 2005 to 2007, a specific correlation was found between high night time temperatures and a delayed flowering period for the 'Euro' spray-chrysanthemum.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2003

Frequencies of each size class, annual change of tuber state and above ground/belowground rate in sect. Pes-gallinaceua group of Corydalis (Fumariaceae) were studied to clarify spring ephemeral´s growth characteristics from 1999 to 2000 in Namhansansung area. Shoot grew from the tuber corresponding with soil thawing in the early growth season, and the deeper tuber was located in soil, the later shoot germinated. Shoot appeared in middle March and died early in May, and the period of total growth season was 45 days. Frequencies were 40% (in total dry weight) or 53% (in tuber´ dry weight) in the smallest size class, and 93% (in total dry weight) or 96% (in tuber´ dry weight) below medium size, therefore, almost all of plants were small. Specific gravity of tuber (SGT) gradually decreased from late growth season to the time that leaf unfolded in next year. At this time, the value of SGT was 0.14. Thereafter, SGT increased to 0.42 at withering time of aboveground part. During growth season, the SGT of flowering plants was lower than that of non-flowering plants. And SGT difference between flowering plants and non-flowering plants was significant at 1% level. In the late growth season, SGT decreased along the increase of tuber volume. The tuber volume roughly increased along the leaf area but there was no a conspicuous trend. Shoot/tuber rate had nothing to do with tuber volume. SGT decreased and leaf area increased along the tuber dry weight, and tendencies of increase or decrease were conspicuous. Therefore, the smaller the plants were, the larger organic matter accumulated in tuber during a growth season. Shoot/tuber rates were various along each plant.