Photomorphogenesis in Sinningia speciosa, cv. Queen Victoria I. Characterization of Phytochrome Control

Abstract

The morphological development of Sinningia speciosa plants that were exposed to supplementary far red light was very different from that of plants receiving dark nights. After several nights of such irradiation, stems and petioles were elongated, petioles were angulated, leaf blade expansion was inhibited, plants were chlorotic and the accumulation of shoot dry weight was retarded. Red reversibility of the morphological changes potentiated by far red light indicated control by the phytochrome system. A high PFR level during the last half of the night inhibited stem elongation and promoted leaf blade expansion, but both of these processes were hardly affected by the PFR level during the first half of the night. Thus sensitivity to PFR was cyclic. The interpretation of our experiments was complicated by quantitative morphological differences resulting from long, as compared to short, far red irradiations.