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Torenia fournieri Lind. (2n=18) is known to occur in three flower colors, deep blue-purple, pale blue-purple and white. The pale blue-purple form was found in a population of the deep blue-purple form. The deep blue-purple and pale blue-purple flowers and those of six F1 hybrids among the three forms were determined to contain the same three anthocyanins, namely, malvidin-, petunidin- and delphinidin-glycosides. The white flowers were also found to contain traces of the anthocyanins. Malvidin-glycoside is the major component in all forms; it was isolated in crystalline form and identified with malvin. The other two are minor components.It was concluded from F2 segregation that the genotypes of the three forms were AABB, AAbb and aaBB for deep blue-purple, pale blue-purple and white respectively, and that A and B are basic complementary genes controlling anthocyanin formation. The double recessive genotype aabb may be ascribed to the completely acyanic segregant with pure white flowers. Further, the effects of genes A and B on anthocyanin formation were estimated for six different genotypes.Thus the concentrations of the anthocyanins show the following relations;AABB=AaBB>AABb>AaBb>AAbb>aaBB>aabb=0It was found that dominance of A over a is complete and that of B is incomplete under the present environmental conditions.

1. Fatigue may be demonstrated in the stigmas of Catalpa speciosa, Tecoma radicans, Mimulus luteus, and Torenia fournieri. 2. The stigmas of Mimulus luteus and of Torenia fournieri are somewhat more sensitive to stimulation during the day than during the night. 3. The stigmas of these species respond as a result of a summation of stimulations of not less than 70 per cent of the threshold value presented at intervals of not more than fifteen seconds.

The transformation of Torenia fournieri L. mediated by Agrobacterium rhizogenes was studied. Almost all roots induced by four bacterial strains, R1000, R1601, A4 and R1205 were putative hairy roots. The effects of bacterial strains, bacterial concentration, acetosyringone, silver nitrate and co-cultivation pH on Torenia transformation were investigated. Strain R1000, co-cultivation for 3 days, 30 μmol L− 1 acetosyringone, 4 mg L− 1 silver nitrate and pH 6.5 in the cultivation medium provided the optimal conditions under which transformation frequency approached 90%.

Torenia fournieri (Torenia) plants were infected with Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV) by pollination with RBDV-infected raspberry pollen grains. The infected raspberry pollen grains germinated on Torenia stigmas, and then the pollen tubes penetrated into the stigma, even though the pollen tubes were arrested in the styles. In whole-mount in situ hybridization of germinating infected raspberry pollen grains, RBDV accumulated in the tips of the pollen tubes. Tissue blot hybridization of Torenia plants pollinated with infected raspberry pollen grains revealed that the first virus infection site leading to systemic infection is the stigma. When infected raspberry pollen grains that had lost germination capacity were pollinated on Torenia stigmas, RBDV could not infect the stigmas, and no horizontal transmission occurred. These results indicate that penetration of pollen tubes with accumulated RBDV into stigmas is essential in causing the first viral infection in the stigma to lead to systemic infection.

Summary Pistils were isolated from flowers of a clone of Mimulus luteus . The ovary wall was removed and pollen of Torenia fournieri was placed directly onto the ovules. In 1% of the carpels treated in this way a haploid parthenogenesis was induced.

The present study is partly a consequence of our interspecific cross research programme in Lilium spp. (Van Tuyl et al., 1987). Van Roggen et al. (1988) demonstrated that sperm cells generally do not reach the embryosac following the cut-style pollination method which is necessary for interspecific lily crosses. As a first step to study the fate of sperm cells in a non-specific embryo sac, we developed a system for artificial (intraspecific) sperm cell injection into the embryo sac. For this, Torenia fournieri was used as a model plant, since the embryo sac emerges from the integuments in this species (Van der Pluijm, 1964; Wilms and Keijzer, 1985).

Intra and Interspecific Fusion of Protoplasts from Petals of Torenia baillonii and Torenia fournieri

The cellular amino acid composition of plant cells was analyzed. The callus of carrot (Daucus carota), leaves of Torenia fournieri and protocomb-like body of Cymbidium, s.p. were examined as examples of plant cells. The cellular amino acid compositions differed in the plant cells, but their basic patterns were quite similar. It is concluded that the basic pattern of the cellular amino acid composition is conserved in all terrestrial organisms, including plants.