Cultural diversity is a challenge for community nurses and can present many difficulties in the provision of quality nursing care and in achieving optimal health outcomes. In this paper seven enabling principles are identified and their application to diverse groups discussed. These include: willingness to recognize expert family skills and knowledge, acknowledging own and other nurses' strengths and weakness, taking time to establish rapport and acceptance, assessing influences on health and health care, providing care that is culturally appropriate, developing cultural competent practice and advocating for CLD appropriate resources and expertise. The aim of this paper is to assist community nurses to provide nursing care congruent with the many lifeway practices encountered in the community. Diverse cultural groups with distinguishing dominant characteristics of ethnic orientation, aboriginality, and disability are selected as examples to demonstrate the application of the principles.

Alstroemeria flowers are classically considered to be insensitive to ethylene, and silver treatments are usually only recommended to prevent leaf yellowing. However, some US sources indicate that silver treatment may be effective at prolonging floral vase life and delaying perianth abscission. Floral longevity was examined in a number of cultivars of Alstroemeria following treatment with STS. Levels of ethylene detectable by gas chromatography were only obtained with pre-treatment with 1 or 10mM ACC. The extremely sensitive technique of laser photoacoustics was able to show that cv. Rebecca flowers produce approximately (3ppb) 4 pL.flower(-1.)h(-1) at a maximal peak that was coincident with the 24h prior to perianth abscission. Partial cDNAs of one ACO and two ACS genes were cloned and their transcripts were shown to have extremely low levels of expression, but up-regulation of ALSACS1 and ALSACS2 was shown to be concomitant with endogenous ethylene production. It is hypothesised that Alstroemeria floral abscission is both sensitive to small amounts of ethylene and produces equally small quantities of this plant growth regulator.

•  In the Liliaceous species Alstroemeria, petal senescence is characterized by wilting and inrolling, terminating in abscission 8-10 d after flower opening. •  In many species, flower development and senescence involves programmed cell death (PCD). PCD in Alstroemeria petals was investigated by light (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (to study nuclear degradation and cellular integrity), DNA laddering and the expression programme of the DAD-1 gene. •  TEM showed nuclear and cellular degradation commenced before the flowers were fully open and that epidermal cells remained intact whilst the mesophyll cells degenerated completely. DNA laddering increased throughout petal development. Expression of the ALSDAD-1 partial cDNA was shown to be downregulated after flower opening. •  We conclude that some PCD processes are started extremely early and proceed throughout flower opening and senescence, whereas others occur more rapidly between stages 4-6 (i.e. postanthesis). The spatial distribution of PCD across the petals is discussed. Several molecular and physiological markers of PCD are present during Alstroemeria petal senescence.