Flower and Ornamental Crops Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The key gives Bignonia venusta for golden shower. The golden shower creeper, Pyrostegia venusta, is also known by the older name Bignonia venusta, and the orange flower clusters give it its name.

Gloriosa superba is the glory lily, Cryptostegia grandiflora is rubber vine, and Aristolochia grandiflora is the pelican flower, so none of these is golden shower. The golden shower tree Cassia fistula is not among the options.

Answer: C

The rose cultivars Jwala and Himroj were developed at IHBT, Palampur (CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology), which has worked on rose varieties for essential oil. This is the key's answer.

NBRI and CIMAP are both in Lucknow and IIHR is in Bengaluru, so they are not the source of these two cultivars.

CSIR-IHBT at Palampur works on aromatic and floricultural crops of the Himalaya, including roses for the oil. Jwala and Himroj are two of its rose cultivars, which agrees with the key.

Answer: B

Lutein is obtained in sufficient quantity from marigold flowers, which are the commercial source of the xanthophyll pigment used in poultry feed and food colouring.

Palash flowers, rose hips and bird of paradise are not commercial sources of lutein.

Marigold petals are rich in the xanthophyll lutein, and the meal of marigold is used commercially in poultry feed to colour the yolks and skin of birds. Lutein is also extracted for use as a food colour and supplement.

Answer: B

The key gives incurving. A handout on chrysanthemum classes that I found lists Dr. S. Mukherjee among the incurving class of large-flowered types, along with Classic Beauty, Pink Cloud and White Cloud. I could not find a primary variety register, so this rests on the handout and the key.

Reflexing has petals curving outward, quilled has tubular florets, and regular incurving has a compact ball shape.

Answer: B

Netting is an important practice in carnation. The stems are weak and tall, so layers of wire or plastic netting are stretched over the bed and raised as the plants grow, which holds the stems upright and gives straight flowers.

Gerbera, rose and cornflower do not need this support netting as an essential practice.

Carnation stems are slender and bend easily, and the netting supports them so they grow straight. Layers of netting are raised as the plants get taller.

Answer: A

White Friendship is a popular mutant variety of gladiolus; the key gives gladiolus. Mutation breeding has been used in gladiolus to obtain new flower colours from existing varieties, which makes it a crop where named mutant varieties are common.

Marigold, gerbera and tuberose are not the crop of this variety, and I could not find a source describing the origin of White Friendship, so the answer rests on the key.

Answer: D

Bull head is the malformation of rose flowers in which the flower is flat-topped and has too many petals and an unopened, deformed centre. The key gives bull head.

Balling is when buds fail to open in wet weather, blind shoots are shoots that do not produce a flower, and bent neck is a bending of the stalk below the flower.

In a bull-head rose the flower has many extra petals and a flat top with a deformed centre, and the cause is often a nutritional or temperature imbalance. It is a malformation of the flower, unlike blind shoots, which carry no flower bud at all.

Answer: B

For cut flower production of rose in north India, pruning is done in the first week of October. The key gives this month; the pruned bushes then flower in winter and spring.

September is too early and there is rain; November and December are too late for the flush.

In north India the bushes are pruned about the first week of October, after the rains, so that flowers come in the cool season of winter and spring, which is the best period for cut flowers. Pruning in September is too early and risks disease in humid weather.

Answer: D

Fixture is not a principle of flower arrangement. The principles are harmony, balance (formal or informal), space, proportion, rhythm, dominance and contrast.

A fixture is a tool or holder used to support the arrangement.

The principles of flower arrangement are the rules of design that give a pleasing result: harmony, balance, proportion, rhythm, dominance, contrast and space. A fixture, such as a pin holder or a block of foam, is only an aid and is not a principle.

Answer: B

Geotropic bending is associated with gladiolus: the flower spike curves upward when the plant lies horizontal, because the spike is negatively geotropic. This is a known problem in cut gladiolus, which is stored upright.

Marigold, jasmine and China aster are not known for this.

Gladiolus is known for spikes that bend upward when the stems are laid flat, because the stem tip grows against gravity (negative geotropism). Cut spikes are therefore stored and shipped upright.