Siraj Datta is a Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Botany, Bose Institute, Kolkata. His present field of interest is to identify and characterise a terminal flower mutant. He is fond of writing articles on various aspects of plant science.

Malay Das
is a Junior Research Fellow in a CSIR Sponsored Project at the Plant Molecular and Cellular Genetics Section, Bose Institute, Kolkata. His field of interests are micropropagation and in vitro induction of flowering.

The concepts of photoperiodic induction, hormonal regulation and florigens used to form the basis of our knowledge of flowering. Consequent upon the advancement of technology, our present day understanding suggests that a number of events like switching on of a cascade of genes, and the subsequent activation of MADS box genes, result in the activation of the the genes responsible for flowering in angiosperms.

Flowers, like stars and the moon have long been a staple of poets around the world. A poetic mind may be thrilled and inspired with the beauty of flowers, but a scientific mind also looks for an explanation of the process of flowering. A number of questions need to be answered to understand the complex process of flowering in angiosperms. How does a plant receive the signal for shifting from a vegetative to a reproductive stage? What is the nature of the stimulus received by a plant to initiate blossoming, as well as the termination of the reproductive stage in perennials, are a couple of such basic questions.

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Address for Correspondence

Siraj Datta
Department of Botany
Bose Institute, 93/1 APC Road
Kolkata 700 009, India.
Email: sizu@mailcity.com

Malay Das
Plant Molecular and
Cellular Genetics Section
Bose Institute, P1/ 12 CIT
Scheme VII-M
Kolkata 700 054, India.