Katsuyuki Yomogida

In vitro propagation of Iris pallida

Plantlets were regenerated from callus of Iris pallida, an important perfume plant. Only the leaf base attached to the rhizome had the ability to generate yellow-colored callus on LS medium supplemented with 1 mg/l 2,4-D and 0.1 mg/l KT in the dark. Yellow calli grew with partial differentiation into white tissue, probably embryogenic, during subculture on the same medium with a 16-h photoperiod. Only yellow-colored calli with the white tissue could differentiate into plantlets after transfer to kinetin- or gibberellin- supplemented LS medium. Regenerated plantlets which grew on the medium without growth regulators were transferred to the soil. After 2 years of cultivation in soil, the regenerated plants flowered and formed rhizomes. The components of the essential oil in the rhizome of regenerated plants were essentially the same as those in natural plants.

The Scent of Lotus Flowers

ABSTRACT A solvent extract of Nelumbo nucifera ‘Shinnyoren’ flowers was investigated by GC and GC/MS. Seventy compounds were identified with the major constituents being hydrocarbons representing more than 75% of the extract. 1,4-Dimethoxybenzene, 1,8-cineole, terpinen-4-ol and linalool were found to be indispensible in characterizing the scent of lotus flower. Using headspace analysis, the volatiles of 44 cultivars of N. nucifera, one cultivar of N. Pentapetala and four hybrids were compared chromatographically. Although 1,4-dimethoxybenzene was found to increase daily during anthesis, it was found to be at a higher concentration in N. pentapetala of American origin than in N. nucifera of Oriental origin.