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The article focuses on two low-growing cultivars of black chokeberry, 'UCONNAM012' (Ground HugVR) and 'UCONNAM165' (Low Scape MoundVR), highlighting their landscape adaptability and breeding origins. Topics include the characteristics, landscape use, and clonal propagation methods of these cultivars, emphasizing their potential as ornamental shrubs with multiseason interest and ecological benefits.

This document provides information about a specific cultivar of black chokeberry called 'UCONNAM166'. It is a non-rhizomatous shrub with upright growth and compact form, and it does not produce fruit. The plant is well-suited for full sun or partial shade conditions and can tolerate challenging landscape situations, such as dry soils. It has ornamental features throughout the year, including white flowers in May, shiny green leaves in summer, and colorful fall foliage. The cultivar is mostly sterile and unlikely to establish in native habitats. The document also provides information on the clonal propagation and availability of the cultivar. [Extracted from the article]

New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus L. [Rhamnaceae]), sand cherry (Prunus pumila L. [Rosaceae]), and sweetbells (Eubotrys racemosa L. [Ericaceae]) are eastern US native shrubs with high potential for expanded landscape use because of their numerous ornamental attributes and adaptability. Micropropagation protocols were developed for these species that produce acceptable shoot multiplication rates, 100% microcutting rooting, and high-quality liner plants. New Jersey tea is not easily produced from seed or stem cuttings for commercial purposes, but we have demonstrated that micropropagation is a viable method for commercial propagation. In addition, micropropagation can be effectively used to rapidly propagate new superior genotypes of sand cherry and sweetbells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Aronia Medik., also known as chokeberry, is a group of deciduous shrubs in the Rosaceae family, subtribe Malinae. The two commonly accepted black-fruited Aronia species are black chokeberry [Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott] and aroniaberry [Aronia mitschurinii (A.K. Skvortsov & Maitul)]. The geographic range of wild A. melanocarpa is the Great Lakes region and the northeastern United States, with a southerly extension into the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains. Wild A. melanocarpa found in New England are diploids, whereas plants throughout the rest of the range are tetraploids. A. mitschurinii is a cultivated hybrid between ×Sorbaronia fallax (C.K.Schneid.) C.K.Schneid. and A. melanocarpa and exists as a tetraploid. There is currently limited diversity of Aronia genotypes in the ornamental and fruit industries, and many of the current cultivars are not adapted to the southern United States and similar environs with limited chilling to break winter dormancy. The goal of this study was to determine 1) the chilling requirements for A. mitschurinii 'Viking' and 2) the range of chilling requirements for wild A. melanocarpa genotypes from different geographic origins. Two experiments were conducted in which plants were subjected to various chilling accumulation treatments and then moved to a greenhouse for observation of budbreak and subsequent growth. Expt. 1 was conducted at the University of Maryland at Wye, MD, and focused solely on the commercial cultivar A. mitschurinii 'Viking'. Outdoor, ambient fall and winter temperatures were used to achieve the chilling treatments. In Expt. 1, we determined the optimal chilling requirements for A. mitschurinii 'Viking' to be greater than 900 h using the single temperature model. Expt. 2 was conducted at the University of Connecticut and focused on wild genotypes, plus A. mitschurinii 'Viking'. A fixed temperature cold room was used to achieve chilling treatments. In Expt. 2, we found A. melanocarpa genotypes from southern regions in the United States required chilling accumulation of 600 h (single temperature model), compared with genotypes from northern regions that required more than 900 h of chilling accumulation. Tetraploid A. melanocarpa required 900 h of chilling to break bud, but diploid A. melanocarpa required 1200 h of chilling to break bud. Expt. 2 confirmed the 900-h chilling requirement for A. mitschurinii 'Viking'. For both experiments, the rate of budbreak and shoot growth was positively correlated with increasing amounts of chilling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on purpleleaf sandcherry, Prunus and cistena, was first released in 1910 by N.E. Hansen at the South Dakota Agricultural Research Station (Jacobson, 1992). Topics include the hybrid was the result of a cross between Prunus pumila var. besseyi, a cold hardy shrub of North America, and Prunus cerasifera var. atropurpurea, and the hybrid appears to be mostly sterile, but can produce occasional small, and dark-purple to black fruit.

The article offers information about the Prunus pumila (L.), sandcherry, a native North American small shrub. It mentions about the ‘UCONNPP002' sandcherry is a new cultivar of the North American woody native species Prunus pumila. It discusses that U.S. plant patent application has been submitted and accepted by the U.S. Office of Patents and Trademarks for Prunus pumila ‘UCONNPP002'.

• AFLP analysis and ploidy were used to evaluate 132 accessions of Aronia. • Aronia was found to be comprised of four, or possibly five, species and seven taxonomic groups. • arbutifolia was tetraploid, and A. prunifolia was typically tetraploid, and rarely triploid. • Diploid A. melanocarpa were found in New England, but elsewhere they were tetraploid. • Formation of A. prunifolia as a hybrid of A. arbutifolia by A. melanocarpa is supported by AFLP analysis and ploidy. Speciation in Aronia is complex based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and ploidy analysis of 132, mostly wild, accessions. There are four species of Aronia and seven taxonomic groups comprised of species by ploidy combinations. A. melanocarpa can be diploid or tetraploid, with diploid forms occurring in New England and tetraploid forms occurring primarily outside of New England. A. arbutifolia was only found as a tetraploid and did not appear to occur throughout parts of New England as is generally accepted. It is likely that numerous misidentifications of A. arbutifolia have occurred historically. Almost all wild A. prunifolia were tetraploid, with the exception of a single triploid plant. Evidence from AFLP analysis and several accessions expressing a continuum of morphological characteristics between those of A. arbutifolia and A. melanocarpa suggest that A. prunifolia is of interspecific hybrid origin. The occurrence of a natural triploid A. prunifolia accession and our ability to easily create triploid A. prunifolia progeny from diploid A. melanocarpa by tetraploid A. arbutifolia crosses supports the hybrid formation of the A. prunifolia species. Hybrid A. prunifolia origin is also supported by the prevalence of A. prunifolia accessions in geographic areas where A. arbutifolia and diploid A. melanocarpa interface. Most likely, tetraploid A. prunifolia found in the wild result from repeated formation of triploid F 1 interspecific hybrids and the triploid bridge mechanism. AFLP analysis, along with morphology and phenology, suggest that a new species of black-fruited Aronia (melanocarpa S) exists in the southern part of the A. melanocarpa geographic range. A. melanocarpa S plants are placed on a separate branch of the AFLP dendrogram that is separate from other Aronia species. Several accessions with large, wide leaves, large fruits and non-rhizomatous growth were found to be A. mitschurinii , an intergeneric hybrid between Aronia and Sorbus. All A. mitschurinii accessions were tetraploid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the discovery of a population of Photinia villosa or Oriental photinia plants, growing in a disturbed woodland in Windsor, Connecticut, along with other plant species and native wetland shrubs and reports that voucher specimens of the plant were collected from the area.

The objective of this study was to develop an in vitro shoot regeneration procedure and to evaluate the frequency of adventitious shoot regeneration from: (1) in vitro leaves of a commercial cultivar of Aronia mitschurinii on various media treatments; (2) cotyledons of closely related Pyrinae taxa; and (3) 21 wild Aronia genotypes. Optimum regeneration of leaf explants occurred when they were wounded with two transverse cuts along the midrib and placed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal media containing 5 μM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 10 μM thidiazuron (TDZ). TDZ was more effective than 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) as a cytokinin, and IBA was more effective than the no auxin control, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Regeneration from cotyledons of seven Pyrinae taxa was evaluated using 10 μM BAP in combination with 0.1, 1 and 5 μM NAA. Adventitious shoot formation for A. melanocarpa and P. communis responded best to 1 μM NAA, whereas all other taxa formed a greater number of adventitious shoots on 5 μM NAA. A. mitschurinii cotyledon explants produced a significantly greater number of shoots compared with in vitro leaf explants. The number of shoots forming per cotyledon explant and the percent of explants forming shoots were both significantly different among the 21 Aronia genotypes. Significant differences were observed between the six Aronia taxonomic groups for the number of shoots forming per explant. Diploid and tetraploid Aronia genotypes produced a significantly greater number of shoots per explant than did triploid genotypes. Regenerated shoots were rooted in vitro and plants grew normally in the greenhouse. These results will be useful for future studies using leaf and cotyledon explants for genetic transformation, genome editing and mutation breeding with Aronia and related taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Aronia Medik., also known as chokeberry, is a group of deciduous shrubs in the Rosaceae family, subtribe Pyrinae. The four commonly accepted species include A. arbutifolia (L.) Pers., red chokeberry; A. melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott, black chokeberry; A. prunifolia (Marshall) Reheder, purple chokeberry; and A. mitschurinii (A.K. Skvortsov & Maitul). Wild and domesticated Aronia species are found as diploids, triploids, and tetraploids. Genetic improvement of polyploid Aronia genotypes has been limited by suspected apomixis, which may be widespread or distinct to tetraploids. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the reproductive mechanisms of Aronia species and reveal the occurrence of apomixis within the genus and along ploidy lines. Twenty-nine Aronia accessions [five A. melanocarpa (2×), five A. melanocarpa (4×), eight A. prunifolia (3×), four A. prunifolia (4×), six A. arbutifolia (4×), and one A. mitschurinii (4×)] were used in this study. Intra-accession variability was evaluated by growing out progeny from each open-pollinated maternal accession and comparing plant phenotypes, ploidy levels, and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) marker profiles between the progeny and maternal accession. Progeny of diploid and tetraploid maternal plants had ploidy levels identical to maternal plants, except for UC009 (A. melanocarpa, 2×) which produced a mix of diploids and tetraploids. UC143 and UC149 (A. prunifolia, 3×) produced all triploid offspring, whereas all other triploid accessions produced offspring with variable ploidy levels including 2×, 3×, 4×, and 5×. Pentaploid Aronia has not been previously reported. Diploid accessions produced significant AFLP genetic variation (0.68-0.78 Jaccard's similarity coefficient) in progeny, which is indicative of sexual reproduction. Seedlings from tetraploid accessions had very little AFLP genetic variation (0.93-0.98 Jaccard's similarity coefficient) in comparison with their maternal accession. The very limited genetic variation suggests the occurrence of limited diplosporous apomixis with one round of meiotic division in tetraploid progeny. Triploid accessions appear to reproduce sexually or apomictically, or both, depending on the individual. These results support our understanding of Aronia reproductive mechanisms and will help guide future breeding efforts of polyploid Aronia species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]