Red-flowered strawberry possesses both ornamental and edible value, but its short single-flower lifespan severely limits its ornamental potential. In this study, petals of the red-flowered strawberry cultivar ‘140’ were collected at five developmental stages (large bud, half-bloom, full-bloom, initial withering, and withered) to systematically analyze the senescence process from morphological characteristics, physiological, and ethylene-related gene expression perspectives. The results showed that the epidermal cell breakage rate increased continuously during petal senescence, with lower epidermal cells consistently exhibiting higher breakage rates than the upper epidermal cells. Moisture content decreased progressively, while relative electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and superoxide anion contents increased continuously. Superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase activities, as well as glutathione content, exhibited unimodal responses, peaking at different stages. Both ethylene and abscisic acid contents increased and then decreased, with ethylene showing greater amplitude and faster rate of change. The ethylene biosynthesis gene FaACO1 and signaling genes FaETR1, FaETR2, FaEIN2, FaEIN7, FaERF13, and FaERF118 were significantly upregulated at full-bloom or initial withering stages, with FaERF118 showing the highest and continuously increasing expression. These findings indicate that water loss, membrane lipid peroxidation, and reactive oxygen species accumulation synergistically drive petal senescence, with the ethylene signaling pathway playing a key regulatory role.

Red-flowered strawberries possess both floral and foliage ornamental characteristics, making them highly promising as landscape groundcovers and potted ornamental plants. To establish a standardized ornamental evaluation system and screen for superior germplasm, this study used 18 strawberry accessions from China and abroad as experimental materials. Twelve core ornamental indicators were selected across three dimensions: flowering period, morphological traits, and disease resistance. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to construct a multi-level ornamental value evaluation model. The results indicate the following weight rankings across the constraint layers: morphological traits (60.66%) > flowering period (27.71%) > disease resistance (11.63%). Among these, flower color (21.96%), plant flowering period (16.41%), corolla diameter (15.69%), and single-flower flowering duration (11.30%) were the core indicators determining ornamental value. The comprehensive score rankings showed that the accessions ‘140’, ‘Pink Panda’, ‘Summer Breeze-Cherry’, and ‘Summer Breeze-Rose’ exhibited the best overall ornamental performance. These accessions feature vibrant flower colors, a prolonged flowering period, abundant blooms, and good disease resistance. ‘Frisan’ and ‘246’ had the lowest composite scores, exhibiting significant shortcomings in ornamental traits. The AHP-based evaluation system established in this study provides a quantitative tool for ornamental trait assessment in red-flowered strawberries. The four elite accessions identifed using this system—‘140’, ‘Pink Panda’, ‘Summer Breeze-Cherry’, and ‘Summer Breeze-Rose’—can serve as priority candidates for protected landscape applications and container gardening in subtropical southern China.

Flower color is a core ornamental trait. Jasminum sambac (L.) Ait., a famous raw material for jasmine tea and fragrance, produces white flowers with extremely low seed-setting, which limits its hybrid breeding. Jasmine petals naturally accumulate pigments under biotic/abiotic stress or senescence, while relevant studies on its regulatory mechanism are limited. Here, we established a stable artificial system to reproduce petal coloration, defined four petal developmental stages, and identified cyanidin 3-rutinoside as the main pigment. At 0 h, petal abscisic acid (ABA) was at a relatively high level, and salicylic acid (SA) and ethylene (ETH) peaked at 12 h. Cyanidin 3-rutinoside initiated accumulation at 24 h and peaked at 36 h. By integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic datasets, we uncovered the regulatory TF-gene-metabolite network linked to pigment formation and pinpointed two key structural genes, dihydroflavonol 4-reductase gene (DFR) and anthocyanidin synthase gene (ANS), whose expression surged over five-fold and tightly correlated with pigment accumulation, highlighting their core functions in anthocyanin biosynthesis. JsWRKY70 and two MYBs were further identified as potential regulators of flavonoid and anthocyanin pathways. These findings deepen the understanding of jasmine petal coloration at metabolic and transcriptional levels, and reveal the molecular basis of its flavonoid and anthocyanin biosynthesis.