How was Tenacity herbicide discovered?
A Syngenta scientist in California noticed that there were fewer weeds growing under his bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus) plant, far fewer than can be explained by shading alone. He concluded that the plant must be producing allelochemicals to suppress weed competition. Syngenta synthesized mesotrione based on the allelochemicals produced by the bottlebrush plant.
