Anatomy of Petal Drop in Sunflowers

Abstract

The petals of some sunflower (Helianthus annuus) cultivars used as cut flowers are easily knocked off the flower; this ruins its appearance and destroys its market value. The objectives of this study were to characterize an abscission zone, if present, at the base of petals of sunflower florets in cultivars that differ with respect to petal drop and to determine if differences in the nature and/or development of the abscission zone among cultivars were correlated with differences in timing with respect to petal drop. In the first experiment, we measured the force required to pull petals from the flower head; in the second we investigated changes in the anatomy of the petal–achene juncture. Anatomical analysis revealed a differentiated region (the abscission zone) at the junction of the petal and achene consisting of cells with a different morphology from those above and below it. Cell division at the abscission zone of the short-lived cultivar occurred earlier than in the long-lived cultivar. These differences indicate that whereas the anatomical nature of the abscission zone is similar in the two cultivars, Procut Yellow Lite (PYL) and Procut Bicolor (PBC), the tempo of development differed. Specifically, the abscission layer reached full differentiation, or maturity, sooner in PBC, hence its earlier petal drop, than in PYL.