Echeveria Gibbiflora D. C. - A New Ornamental Plant From Mexico. I. Vase Life*

Abstract

Experiments were conducted with cut flowering stems of Estrella del Coral (Coral Star) (Echeveria gibbiflora DC). The aim was to explore the feasibility of keeping the stems in dry or wet vase and storing the stems under dry conditions, wrapped in paper in a semi-dark room. Later, the dry stored stems were placed in a dry or wet vase. The basal part of the stem showed the highest losses in water with ensuing collapse of the stem; which was more frequent in the southern window. The bracts did not modify the water status of flowering stems. Their removal at harvest is recommended. The daily water loss was low and varied from 1.0 to 3.6 g in four weeks. The hydration of dry matter (g H 2 0 • g-1 m. s.) in the dry stored flowering stem was: stem apex>lateral inflorescence>stem base, whereas in freshly harvested material stem base>stem apex>lateral inflorescences. The number of flowers opened in five weeks varied from 9 to 44 per stem. The average number of open flowers per one lateral, in one week was 1.2. The aesthetic value of the flowering stem is determined by the number of flowers, closed buds, closed flowers, peduncles appearing weekly per stem and the red color of the stem. The vase life is limited by the relatively early collapse of the stem. The stored stems should be kept vertically. The dry storage conditions should be determined in the future.

Submillimetre constraints on hyper-extremely red objects in the Subaru Deep Field

“…The average flux density at 450 µm is 0.4 (±3.1) mJy. If HEROs comprise a large fraction of the submillimetre source counts of Borys et al (2003), the measured mean brightness of 1.15 (± 0.46) mJy would correspond to sources with a mean density of 6.7 (± 3) sources per 2 arcmin × 2 arcmin area of sky, consistent with the four sources found in the SDF.…”

“…If they represent a large fraction of bright submillimetre sources, then their surface density suggests a flux density of around 10-20 mJy (see for e.g. Borys et al 2003).…”

“…We used SURF (SCUBA User Reduction Facility; Jenness & Lightfoot 1998) together with locally developed code, written by Borys (2002), for data reduction. The reduction steps were standard, except that the flux from the negative off-beams were then 'folded in' to increase the overall sensitivity of the 850-µm map by a factor of roughly √ 3/2.…”

A multiply imaged, submillimetre-selected ultraluminous infrared galaxy in a galaxy group atz∼ 2.5

“…A second, multiply imaged submm galaxy has been identified by Borys et al (2004), giving two high‐magnification examples from the 24 cluster lenses at z > 0.1 mapped with sufficient sensitivity using SCUBA (Chapman et al 2002; Smail et al 2002; Knudsen et al, in preparation). The surface density of ≥ 1‐mJy submm galaxies is ∼3 arcmin −2 (Smail et al 2002; Cowie et al 2002), suggesting that roughly 10 clusters need to be surveyed to detect a strongly lensed mJy‐flux submm galaxy.…”

“…To investigate the properties of the mJy population in detail we require a high‐signal‐to‐noise detection of a submilliJansky submm galaxy. Such systems can arise in rare configurations where the source is located within a small region on the background sky defined by the caustic of the lens, which then forms multiple, highly magnified images of the background galaxy (see also Borys et al 2004). This situation not only provides a tool for investigating the properties of intrinsically faint galaxies in detail, but also provides a unique opportunity to measure the redshift of the background galaxy from the geometry of the images combined with an accurate model of the cluster lens, using a ray‐tracing technique to triangulate the three‐dimensional position of the galaxy in the volume behind the lens.…”