Three cut flowers were placed in a beaker con-
taining distilled water, and placed in a transparent
polycarbonate-vessel with a septum (1000 ml). A
known amount of ethylene was introduced into
the vessel through the septum. The vessel was
kept at 23°C under 10 mmol m − 2 s − 1 provided
from fluorescent lamps for 6 h. After the treat-
ment, the flowers were removed from the vessel,
kept under the same environmental conditions as
above and observed until wilting. Flowers were
regarded as senescent when the petals had lost
turgor. Six flowers were used for each treatment