Fig. 6: Exogenous 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA) prolongs the duration of the cell division phase in rose petals.

a Cytokinin contents in petals during the early development phase. The petals were sampled at 1 and 5 days after stage 0. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 3). Different lowercase letters above each bar indicate significant differences according to one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (P < 0.05). b, c Flower opening progression of mock-treated and 6-BA-treated rose plants. For (c), Scale bars, 2 cm. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 10). d Petal size of mock-treated and 6-BA-treated rose at the fully opened stage. The outmost layer of fully expanded petals was measured. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 3). Scale bars, 1 cm. e, f Number of adaxial epidermal (e) and abaxial epidermal (f) cells in mock-treated and 6-BA-treated petals from 1 day after floral stage 0 to the fully opened stage. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 3). Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences (two-sided Student’s t-test; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ns no significant difference).