The Role of Leaf Petiole in Photoperiodic Induction of Flowering

Explants of Chenopodium rubrum, a short-day plant, were decapitated and exposed to floral inductive treatment, and the extent of flowering of axillary buds was afterwards assessed. Isolated buds never responded to induction, whereas the presence of the petiole of the subtending leaf already assured a high degree of flowering. We may assume either that the petiole is the receptor organ of the photoperiodic signal or that its transporting role is indispensable.