Aug 9, 2010

Researchers Seeking Less Invasive OrnamentalsSource: University of Florida

Scientists from the University of Florida are seeking ways to balance beauty and low-risk traits in cultivars, altered varieties that often vary from their genetic ancestors in their ability to survive and reproduce.

The university’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences is performing research on varieties least likely to become invasive nuisances in their environments. Researchers have two goals: to identify low-risk cultivars that won’t infringe on native plants and develop new, low-risk cultivars.

“The green industry and homeowners realize some of the plants that have been sold in the U.S. became a problem, and they wanted to avoid having that happening again “¦ some native plants exist in very narrow niches, and invasives can force them out,” said Gary Knox, a UF environmental horticulture professor at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy.

Research is ongoing, but Knox recently presented an overview of the program at the American Society for Horticultural Science annual meeting in Palm Desert, Calif.

For more information, visit ifas.ufl.edu.