Effect of Ferricyanide, Ferrocyanide and KCN on Growth and Flowering in the Short-Day Plant Lemna paucicostata 6746

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Abstract
Flowering in the short-day plant Lemna paucicostata 6746 can be induced under continuous light by the addition of ferricyanie, ferrocyanide or KCN to M-sucrose medium. Each substance is nearly 10 times more effective when the flasks are covered by glass beakers than when cotton plugs are used. By contrast, when flowering is induced under continuous light by copper or by short-day treatment, neither flowering nor growth are affected by whether glass beakers or cotton plugs are used. Ferricyanide, ferrocyanide and KCN are also able to induce long-day flowering when the plants are grown on Msucrose medium in small beakers that are placed in a covered storage dish that also contains a solution of one of these compounds. Addition of a KOH trap to the storage dish completely blocks the flowering induced by these compounds. If [14C]ferrocyanide is added to the storage dish both the M-sucrose medium and the plants contain significant amounts of radioactivity, the amount of radioactivity being proportional to the flowering response. These results indicate that ferricyanide, ferrocyanide and KCN break down to release HCN and that it is the HCN which is responsible for inducing flowering in L. paucicostata 6746 under continuous light.