Herbaceous perennial ornamental plants can support complex pollinator communities.

Human-designed landscapes can host diverse pollinator communities, and the availability of floral resources is central to supporting insect biodiversity in highly modified environments. However, some urban landscapes have relatively few pollinator-attractive plant species and management in urban environments rarely considers the function of these plants in generating and supporting a stable ecological community. Evaluations of 25 cultivars within five commercially popular herbaceous perennial ornamental plant genera (Agastache, Echinacea, Nepeta, Rudbeckia, and Salvia) revealed variation in the total and proportional abundance of visitors attracted. These varieties supported multiple pollinator functional groups, however bees were the primary visitors to in this system. Cultivars were assessed according to their function within a plant-pollinator network. Comparisons of artificial networks created with the six most attractive and six least attractive cultivars demonstrated that a planting scheme using the most attractive cultivars would attract nearly four times as many bee species, including several specialists and rare species. Plant diversity in the landscape was correlated with abundance and diversity of pollinator visitors, demonstrating that community context shapes a plant's relative attractiveness to pollinators. We conclude that herbaceous perennial cultivars can support an abundance and diversity of pollinator visitors, however, planting schemes should take into consideration the effects of cultivar, landscape plant diversity, floral phenology, floral area, and contribution to a stable ecological community.

High accumulation of tilianin in in-vitro cultures of Agastache mexicana and its potential vasorelaxant action.

Agastache mexicana has gained importance during the last decade as a natural source of bioactive compounds, mainly due to the antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, and vasorelaxant effects derived from its flavonoids, particularly tilianin. The goal of this work was to evaluate the production of tilianin during the in-vitro process of morphogenesis leading to plant regeneration and to investigate the vasorelaxant activity of its methanolic extracts. The cultures were established from nodal segments and leaf explants, inoculated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with various concentrations of benzyl aminopurine (BAP) alone or in combination with 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Callus inductions were obtained in all treatments from both types of explants, but the presence of auxin was essential. Maximal shoot multiplication and elongation was achieved with 0.1 mg/l 2,4-D and 1.0 mg/l BAP from nodal- segment explants. Shoots were rooted in 75% MS medium and the plantlets were transferred to a greenhouse with 33% average survival. Analysis of tilianin production in methanolic extracts from calli (0.15-2.01 ± 0.06 mg/g dry weight), shoots (4.45 ± 0.01 mg/g DW), and whole plants (9.77 ± 0.02 mg/g DW) derived from in-vitro cultured nodal segments reveals that tilianin accumulation is associated with high cell differentiation and morphogenetic response to the plant-growth regulators. All of the extracts showed strong vasorelaxant activity, as compared to those of wild plant extracts. These results indicate that plant-tissue cultures of A. mexicana possess vast potential as a source of tilianin and other bioactive compounds.