ATCC medium: 2041 Carnation leaf agar
Carnation leaves, dried (see below)
Water agar..................20.0 g
Distilled water..............1.0 L
Carnation leaf preparation:
Harvest young carnation leaves, Dianthus caryophyllus, from actively
growing disbudded plants that are free from pesticide residues. Cut the
leaves into pieces approximately 5 mm square and dry them in an oven at
40 to 55C for 2 hours.
(When dry, the leaves should be green and crisp. Loss of pigmentation
indicates that the drying temperature was too high.)
Place the leaf pieces in aluminum canisters 5 cm deep and 9 cm in
diameter and sterilize with 2.5 megarads of gamma irradiation from a
cesium-135 source for 4 days.
Dissolve agar in water and autoclave at 121C for 15 minutes; cool to 45C
and dispense into Petri dishes or culture tubes. Float several sterile
leaf pieces on each agar surface.
Leave medium at room temperature for 3 to 4 days before use to check for
growth of possible contaminants on the leaf pieces.