A new Penstemon plant, particularly distinguished by its violet flower color with white throat, early flowering, and good branching habit.

A new phlox plant particularly distinguished by having pure white flowers, compact plant habit, healthy foliage and good mildew resistance, is disclosed.

A new and distinct cultivar of Cordyline plant named `Charlie Boy` characterized by cerise pink uniform leaf margins on a brown background, and improved root performance leading to a sturdier, healthier plant.

A new and distinct highly ornamental Elaeagnus plant is provided. Unlike common Elaeagnus ebbingei plants, the new cultivar displays attractive variegated green leaves that are irregularly margined with yellow. An upright and dense growth habit is displayed. The plant asexually reproduces well through the use of cuttings, and is well suited for providing distinctive ornamentation in the landscape.

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry plant named `PRESTIGE`. This new strawberry plant named `PRESTIGE` is primarily adapted to the growing conditions of the central coast of California, and is primarily characterized by its medium to large plant size; medium fruit size; spreading calyx segments; long petiolule length; three to four leaflets/tri-foliate; moderate fruit production with very good flavor; and medium green foliage with medium glossy texture and medium i...

A new variety of mandarin (Citrus L.) designated `Valley Gold` is described. The novel characteristics of the fruit include late onset of maturity of fruit, a distinct tougher rag and rind, and a darker external orange colour as compared to known varieties.

Probe structures and fabrication techniques are described. The described probe structures can be used as probes for various applications such as conductance measurement probes, field emitter probes, nanofabrication probes, and magnetic bit writing or reading probes.

An optical system suitable for use in an optical instrument such as a handheld optical probe, the optical system including a scanning element and an objective, the objective including a variable focus lens that can be electronically controlled to change the focal length of the optical system. In some embodiments, the optical system can axially and laterally scan a subject material by sequentially focusing at an axial depth using the variable focus lens and laterally scanning the material at that...

An improved method of loading tips and other surfaces with patterning compositions or inks for use in deposition. A method of patterning is described, the method comprising: (i) providing at least one array of tips; (ii) providing a plurality of patterning compositions; (iii) ink jet printing at least some of the patterning compositions onto some of the tips; and (iv) depositing at least some of the patterning compositions onto a substrate surface; wherein the ink jet printing is adapted to prev...

A scanning probe microscope is provided, which can be stably used for a long time even if excitation efficiency varies during scan. A cantilever (5) is excited, and the cantilever (5) and a sample are subjected to relative scanning. A second-harmonic component detection circuit (31) detects second-harmonic component amplitude of oscillation of the cantilever (5) as integral-multiple component amplitude. The second-harmonic component amplitude is amplitude of a second-harmonic component having a ...