UF Develops New White Caladium Variety

By:
Tom Nordlie (352) 392-1773 x 277

Source(s):
Baldwin Miranda bdmiranda@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, (941) 751-7636 ext. 234
Brent Harbaugh brenth@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu, (941) 751-7636 ext. 238
Don Bates sales@caladiumsonline.com, (863) 465-3274

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BRADENTON, Fla. — A new kind of moonlight will soon brighten yards, but it comes from the University of Florida and it’s best seen during the day.

Florida Moonlight, a white-leaved, white-veined caladium variety developed by UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has been approved for release to commercial growers, said Baldwin Miranda, leader of UF’s caladium breeding program.

“Consumers should look for it at nurseries in spring 2003, the beginning of the planting season,” Miranda said. “Since white-colored plants and flowers are popular with gardeners now, we think Florida Moonlight will be a great addition to the market.”

With its large, heart-shaped leaves and overall height of 18 to 22 inches, Florida Moonlight is broadly classified as a “fancy-leaved” caladium, Miranda said. Because its leaves and major leaf veins are white, the UF variety is part of a smaller group of caladiums known as “June Bride-type” caladiums.

He said a thin green margin runs around the edges of Florida Moonlight’s leaves, and its minor leaf veins are green. Each leaf also sports a bright purple streak on the leaf edge at the center of the “heart,” and the stem-like structures called petioles that support the leaves are light purple with black marbling.

“As with other white caladiums, there’s a little bit of mystery surrounding Florida Moonlight,” Miranda said. “Where’s the chlorophyll? Chlorophyll is a pigment that caladiums and other plants use to produce food by photosynthesis, and it gives the leaves their green color. White caladiums either get along with very little chlorophyll, or they somehow conceal its presence.”

Despite their striking appearance, June Bride-type caladiums have made little impact on the market, accounting for about 1 percent of total caladium sales, said Brent Harbaugh, a floriculture specialist who developed Florida Moonlight with Miranda at UF’s Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Bradenton. Current varieties such as June Bride and Aaron are too vigorous to raise in the 4-inch pots often used by commercial growers.

“Florida Moonlight was bred to do well in small containers, so we think growers will find it practical,” Harbaugh said. “It also matures about three weeks faster than the popular June Bride variety, and that will help growers use their space efficiently.”

Traditionally, white is the most popular caladium color, said Don Bates, co-owner of Bates Sons & Daughters, a caladium producer in Lake Placid, Fla.

“White caladiums are especially popular in Japan and the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” Bates said. “The Candidum variety was our best-seller for a long time, and it has white leaves with contrasting green veins. So Florida Moonlight could do very well.”

Florida’s Highlands County area produces 80 percent to 90 percent of the world’s commercially raised caladium tubers, Harbaugh said. Caladiums are grown from tubers rather than seeds. UF’s caladium breeding program began in 1976 and has developed most of the new caladium varieties released since then.

Known scientifically as Caladium x hortulanum, caladiums are tropical foliage plants native to South America, particularly Brazil, he said. Florida’s caladium industry produces an annual crop with a wholesale value of $11 million to $14 million.

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Posted: February 26, 2002


Category: UF/IFAS



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