Temperature and Ethylene Effects on Cut Flowers of Carnation (Dianthus carophyllus L.)1

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Abstract
Cut carnation flowers shipped from California by air occasionally arrive at eastern markets in a senescent condition with losses greater in the warm autumn months. CO2 and C2H4 production by the flowers has a pattern similar to that of climacteric-class fruits, with senescence correlated with a rise in release of the gases. Cut carnation flowers show an enormous increase in respiratory heat with increasing temperature: 89 BTU/ton/hour at 0°C versus 14,718 at 50°C. In C2H4-free air, the flowers tolerate elevated temperatures but their vase life is reduced. Their sensitivity to C2H4 increases dramatically with increasing temperature, with the threshold concentration partially depending on prior stresses on the flowers. Flowers in containers exposed to direct sunlight developed temperatures as high as 49.5°C. Air temperatures inside containers shipped via jet aircraft were as high as 35°C. The C2H4 concentrations in the containers may reach 10.5 ppm. The remarkable resistance of cut carnation flowers to mechanical injury, combined with their low metabolic rates at low temperatures, makes refrigerated surface shipments feasible and perhaps economically desirable. Their resistance to injury seems related to their light weight, the damping action of the petals, and the lack of phenolase or readily oxidizable phenolic compounds in the petals.

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