The development of new products through the collection of old cultivars and wild species of Ranunculus genus

The commercial production of ornamental plants, and thereby their introduction in the daily economic and cultural life, depends upon the availability of “new” products; novelty is an important goal for selection and breeding activities. Therefore, new designs, colours and uses are tools to create new varieties. In developing novelties, scientists, plant collectors and gardeners introduce new cultivars better adapted to people’s desires and look for ornamental plants previously unknown in their regions. The ornamental species Ranunculus asiaticus L. is a leader product at Sanremo Flower Market and a high percentage (about 84%) of dealers is involved in its commercialisation. This species is widely used as cut flower, but dwarf types can be forced as pot and border plants. R. asiaticus has a long and distinguished history in cultivation. Its popularity began in the 17th century. Most of the old cultivars are apparently extinct, few of them being still present in botanic gardens or nurseries. A propagation scheme for this species using in vitro techniques has been outlined (Beruto and Debergh, 2004) as an attractive alternative for rapid clonal multiplication to bring novelties (clones) onto the market. In this work, the collection of old cultivars of R. asiaticus and wild species of the Ranunculus genus was undertaken. The botanic wild species were chosen by taking into consideration particular aesthetic characteristics (foliage, flower or sepal colour, habitus, number of flowers per stem, etc…) and different local ecopedological conditions. In vitro techniques have been applied in order to save, collect and propagate the different genetic resources which will be evaluated under in vivo conditions as garden and cut flower products. A historical research was also performed, in order to report the names and, eventually, the description and the date of introduction of old cultivars of R. asiaticus.