The World Foliage Plant Industry - Acta Horticulturae

Chronica 

HORTICULTURAE 

Volume 45 - Number 4 - 2005 

A PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE 

IHC2006 

coming soon ... 

ISHS 

Horticultural Highlights 

Distance Learning in Horticulture • World Foliage Plant Industry • 

Taxus spp. • Tree Fruit Growing in Kazakhstan • Southeast 

Anatolia Project of Turkey 

Symposia and Workshops 

Pistachio and Almond • Plant Bioregulators in Fruit Production • 

Sweetpotato and Cassava • Pineapple • Artificial Lighting in 

Horticulture

Chronica 

HORTICULTURAE 

Chronica Horticulturae © ISBN: 90 6605 057 8 (Volume 45 - Number 

4; December 2005); ISSN: 0578-039X. 

Published quarterly by the International Society for Horticultural Science, 

Leuven, Belgium. Lay-out and printing by Drukkerij Geers, Gent, Belgium. 

ISHS © 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced 

and/or published in any form, photocopy, microfilm or any other 

means without written permission from the publisher. All previous issues 

are also available online at www.ishs.org/chronica. Contact the ISHS 

Secretariat for details on full colour advertisements (1/1, 1/2, 1/4 page) 

and/or mailing lists options. 

A publication of the International Society for 

Horticultural Science, a society of individuals, organizations, 

and governmental agencies devoted to horticultural 

research, education, industry, and human 

well-being. 

CONTENTS 

ISHS 

Editorial Office and Contact Address: 

ISHS Secretariat, PO Box 500, B-3001 Leuven 1, Belgium. Phone: 

(+32)16229427, fax: (+32)16229450, e-mail: info@ishs.org, web: 

www.ishs.org or www.actahort.org. 

Editorial Staff 

Jules Janick, Science Editor, janick@purdue.edu 

Jozef Van Assche, Managing Editor, jozef@ishs.org 

Kelly Van Dijck, Assistant Editor, kelly.vandijck@ishs.org 

Peter Vanderborght, Associate Editor - Production & Circulation, 

peter.vanderborght@ishs.org 

Editorial Advisory Committee 

Jules Janick, Purdue University, USA, Chair of the Editorial Advisory 

Committee 

Tony Biggs, Australian Society of Horticultural Science, Australia 

Byung-Dong Kim, Department of Plant Sciences and Center for Plant 

Molecular Genetics and Breeding Research, Seoul National University, 

Korea 

António A. Monteiro, College of Agriculture and Forestry, Technical 

University of Lisbon, Portugal 

Robert K. Prange, Atlantic Food and Horticulture Resarch Centre, 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 

Manfred Schenk, Institute of Plant Nutrition, University of Hannover, 

Germany 

Membership and Orders of Chronica Horticulturae 

Chronica Horticulturae is provided to the Membership for free: Individual 

Membership 45 EUR annually (special rate for Individual Members from 

selected developing countries: 45 EUR for 2 years), Student Membership 

15 EUR per year. For all details on ISHS membership categories and membership 

advantages, including a membership application form, refer to the 

ISHS membership pages at www.ishs.org/members. 

Payments 

All major Credit Cards accepted. Always quote your name and invoice or 

membership number. Make checks payable to ISHS Secretariat. Money 

transfers: ISHS main bank account number is 230-0019444-64. Bank 

details: Fortis Bank, Branch “Heverlee Arenberg”, Naamsesteenweg 

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Acta Horticulturae 

Acta Horticulturae is the series of proceedings of ISHS Scientific Meetings, 

Symposia or Congresses. (ISSN: 0567-7572). ISHS Members are entitled to 

a substantial discount on the price of Acta Horticulturae. For an updated 

list of available titles go to www.ishs.org/acta. A complete and accurate 

record of the entire Acta Horticulturae collection, including all abstracts 

and full text articles is available online at www.actahort.org. ISHS 

Individual membership includes credits to download 10 full text Acta 

Horticulturae articles. All Acta Horticulturae titles-including those no longer 

available in print format-are available in the ActaHort CD-ROM format. 

■ News from the Board 

3 ISHS Progress and Future Planning: Highlights of the 2005 Board and Executive 

Committee Meetings, Lillehammer, Norway, N.E. Looney and I.J. Warrington 

5 A Call for Nominations: ISHS Honorary Membership and Fellowship 

■ Issues 

5 The Challenge of Distance Learning in Horticulture, G.R. Dixon 

■ Horticultural Science Focus 

9 The World Foliage Plant Industry, J. Chen, D.B. McConnell and R.J. Henny 

■ Horticultural Science News 

16 Taxus spp.: A Genus of Ever-Useful and Everlasting Evergreens, J.M. DeLong and 

R.K. Prange 

■ The World of Horticulture 

21 Tree Fruit Growing in Kazakhstan, R.K. Karychev, Y. Salnikov, M.T. Nurtazin and 

D. Doud Miller 

23 Southeast Anatolia Project of Turkey: Implications for Horticulture, S. Güler 

24 New Books, Websites 

26 Courses and Meetings 

26 Opportunities 

■ Symposia and Workshops 

26 IVth Int’l Symposium on Pistachio and Almond 

29 Xth Int’l Symposium on Plant Bioregulators in Fruit Production 

31 IInd Int’l Symposium on Sweetpotato and Cassava 

32 Vth Int’l Pineapple Symposium 

33 Vth Int’l Symposium on Artificial Lighting in Horticulture 

■ News from the ISHS Secretariat 

35 New ISHS Members 

36 Calendar of ISHS Events 

37 Available Issues of Acta Horticulturae 

38 Index to Volume 45 of Chronica Horticulturae 

40 The ISHS in the Tropical World: The Committee for Research Cooperation (CRC) 

Scripta Horticulturae 

Scripta Horticulturae is a new series from ISHS devoted to specific horticultural 

issues such as position papers, crop or technology monographs 

and special workshops or conferences. 

Cover photograph: Marketable Bromeliads from Deroose Plants, Inc., Apopka, 

Florida. Photo by courtesy of Chris Fooshee, University of Florida, IFAS, Mid- 

Florida Research and Education Center, see article p. 9 

www.ihc2006.org 

ISHS • 2

NEWS FROM THE BOARD 

ISHS Progress and Future 

Planning: Highlights of the 2005 

Board and Executive Committee 

Meetings, Lillehammer, Norway 

Norman E. 

Looney 

Norman E. Looney, ISHS President 

Ian J. Warrington, ISHS Vice-President 

Each annual meeting of the ISHS Executive 

Committee (EC), involving the Board and Chairs 

of all ISHS Sections and Commissions, is planned 

several years in advance. The invitation to 

host the June 2005 meeting came in 2002 from 

the ISHS Council members for Norway, 

Professor Roar Moe of the Agricultural 

University of Norway and Dr. Lars Sekse of the 

Ullensvang Research Centre of Planteforsk. It 

was purposely scheduled to overlap the Fifth 

International Symposium on Artificial Lighting 

that was held at the same venue in picturesque 

Lillehammer. As is normal practice, the ISHS 

Board met independently just ahead of the EC 

meeting. Every meeting room detail, tour and 

social event was carefully planned and executed 

by our Norwegian hosts - the result being a 

very productive and enjoyable week for all 

Symposium participants and Society leaders. 

THE BOARD MEETING 

Ian J. Warrington 

Reports from the Secretariat and each Board 

member revealed the healthy financial state of 

the Society, the success we are having in improving 

web resources and diversifying our publications, 

the impressive growth in membership, 

and the smooth functioning of the Secretariat. 

The efficiency of the latter is illustrated by the 

fact that 22 of the expected 34 volumes of Acta 

Horticulturae to be published in 2005 were 

completed and distributed by mid-year. 

We learned that recent efforts to attract new 

Country-State members from the developing 

ISHS Board* and Executive Committee. From left to right: Lyle Craker, Ayman Abou-Hadid, Robert K. Prange, Johan van Scheepen, Gert Groening, 

Norman E. Looney*, Jules Janick*, Isabel Ferreira, Kim Hummer, Robert J. Bogers*, Uygun Aksoy*, Ian J. Warrington*, John Erwin, Alfons Vanachter, 

Víctor Galán Saúco, Omer Verdonck, Daniel J. Cantliffe, Ted DeJong, Peter Oppenheim, Geoffrey R. Dixon, Jung-Myung Lee*, Errol W. Hewett, 

Sadanori Sase, Gene Albrigo, Jozef Van Assche*, Ben Ami Bravdo, Carmine Damiano. 

CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 45 • NUMBER 4 • 2005 • 3

Scenic beauty of Norway. 

world are proving very successful. With the 

addition of Indonesia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, 

the ISHS Council now represents 52 countries. 

Furthermore, the Executive Director reported 

that discussions are well advanced with five 

other countries. The Board is hopeful that the 

2006 meeting of Council (at IHC2006 in Seoul) 

will set a new record for country representation. 

Every country that has expressed an interest in 

joining the Society will be invited to send observers. 

As per recent changes to the Rules, low 

income countries represented at Seoul will be 

granted Category IV membership status for one 

year. 

Much discussion at this meeting related to rethinking 

the long-standing category of 

“Organizational Membership” in the Society. 

Efforts by this Board to extend the reach of ISHS 

through strategic partnerships with international 

development agencies and other organizations 

is largely behind this initiative. To illustrate, 

while ISHS has long had a healthy working 

arrangement with FAO, a United Nations body 

that supports several of our Working Groups, 

we have not had a way to recognize FAO as an 

official partner. This will change with the introduction 

of a new category of association to be 

called ISHS Partners. This designation will recognize 

those agencies and organizations with 

which ISHS has a negotiated agreement and a 

clear business relationship - Partners support 

the Society in some substantial way while ISHS 

contributes importantly to their business. 

Another good example is the International 

Horticultural Congress. 

In addition to the FAO, we see several of the 

CGIAR Future Harvest Centers, the World 

Vegetable Center (AVRDC), the European 

Union’s Technical Centre for Agricultural and 

Rural Cooperation (CTA), and France’s Centre de 

Coopération Internationale en Recherche 

Agronomique pour le Développement - 

Département Productions Fruitières et Horticoles 

(CIRAD-Flhor) as being strong candidates for 

ISHS Partner recognition. It would also seem 

appropriate that our recently concluded arrangements 

with the International Society of 

Citriculture and the International Peat Society be 

recognized with the ISHS Partner designation. 

What were previously called Organizational 

Members will now be called Institutional 

Members. For an annual fee the Society provides 

publications and access to web-based 

resources to research centers, libraries, and 

other public sector institutions. 

And finally, in recognition of the growing proportion 

of ISHS members working in the private 

sector, there will be a new non-voting category 

of “membership” called Corporate 

Associates. Here, for an annual fee reflecting 

the package of products and services requested, 

Corporate Associates will be recognized as 

supporters of the Society and at the same time 

receive valuable products and services for their 

professional staff. 

The next Board meeting is set for Rome in early 

December. In addition to dealing with the normal 

agenda of Society business the Directors 

will hold meetings with senior officials of FAO 

and its Global Forum for Agricultural Research 

(GFAR). They will also sign a Memorandum of 

Understanding with the Global Crop Diversity 

Trust - a document recognizing ISHS and its 

Commission on Plant Genetic Resources as key 

players in the community of scientists engaged 

in protecting and improving horticultural crop 

genetic resources. The GCDT is the “action 

arm” of the International Treaty for Plant 

Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 

and is administered by staff at FAO and at the 

International Plant Genetic Resources Institute 

(IPGRI), also in Rome. 

These meetings are seen by the Board as being 

key to our goal of achieving greater cooperation 

with FAO and the CGIAR (represented in 

Rome by IPGRI). Thus, there was much discussion 

at Lillehammer about how to get the most 

from these consultations. 

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

MEETING 

The Executive Committee, chaired by the ISHS 

Vice-President, also had a very full schedule of 

business to consider at the Lillehammer meeting. 

It was a pleasure to welcome to the meeting 

the Chairs of the new Section on Citrus 

(Dr. Gene Albrigo) and Commission on 

Sustainability through Integrated and Organic 

Horticulture (Dr. Robert Prange). The EC continues 

to review the depth and breadth of the 

Society’s scientific activities. In that regard, an 

area of growing interest is the many contributions 

that fruits and vegetables make to human 

health and well-being. A major ISHS conference 

on this topic was recently held in Canada 

(Québec, August 2005). A new Working Group 

has now been formed to ensure that the 

momentum gained in this area is not lost and a 

proposal to launch a new Commission on 

Horticulture and Human Health will be before 

the EC at its next meeting (at IHC2006 in 

Korea). 

The forward schedule of new symposia approved 

or re-confirmed at Lillehammer is very 

impressive - the essential information about 

each is posted at www.ishs.org (click on 

Calendar of Events). Every effort is made to 

avoid clashes in the overall symposia programme 

and feedback is welcomed at any time on 

improvements that might be considered. 

Much attention was devoted to the next 

International Horticultural Congress and 

Exhibition to be held in Seoul on August 13-19, 

2006. Members will now have received the 

Second Announcement and Call for Papers, a 

late draft of which was discussed in depth by 

the Board and EC at Lillehammer. The EC was 

pleased by the exciting line-up of scientific symposia, 

the very interesting colloquia and the 

intention to have a major exhibition on horticulture 

that will be open to the public throughout 

the Congress. The schedule of Workshops and 

Working Group Meetings is still very much 

under development - there is still time to forward 

suggestions to IHC President Lee and his 

organizing team for consideration. 

It is important to point out that the ISHS Vice- 

President and Executive Committee have had 

significant input during the development of 

IHC2006. It will be a Congress that every horticultural 

science professional will want to 

attend! 

The Rules of the Society require that leadership 

at all levels is renewed regularly. The leadership 

of our Sections and Commissions is no exception 

and some ten EC members will become 

ineligible to stand for re-election at the time of 

the Seoul Congress. Thus, it is certain that there 

will be new leaders of the three Sections 

dealing with Vegetables, Tropical and 

Subtropical Fruits, and Medicinal and Aromatic 

Plants. Likewise, the Chairs of seven 

Commissions: Economics and Management, 

Education and Training, Landscape and Urban 

Horticulture, Plant Protection, Plant Substrates, 

Protected Cultivation, and Quality and Postharvest 

Horticulture, will retire at Seoul. Every 

Society member belonging to one or more of 

these Sections and/or Commissions is urged to 

watch for the Call for Nominations and to consider 

offering his or her energy, ideas and experience. 

One consideration to keep in mind 

during this leadership renewal process is that 

the number of women holding ISHS leadership 

positions is well below what it should be. 

Leadership of a Section or Commission is a 

rewarding experience and provides the opportunity 

to make an important contribution to our 

profession. 

ISHS • 4

A Call for Nominations: ISHS Honorary 

Membership and Fellowship 

Nominations for new Honorary Members and Fellows of the ISHS will be considered by 

the Council at its meeting in Korea next year. Any nomination for this should be received 

at the Secretariat not later than April 15th, 2006, for consideration by the ISHS 

Nomination and Award Committee and the ISHS Board prior to the meeting of the 

Council. 

ISHS HONORARY 

MEMBERSHIP 

Honorary Membership, the Emeritus Award of 

the ISHS, is given by the Council to a person 

who is a member of the ISHS, at the end of 

his/her career, in recognition of his/her outstanding 

service to the Society. A certificate will be 

given to the recipients of this ISHS Award. 

ISHS FELLOWSHIP 

The ISHS Fellowship is presented to any person, 

regardless of his/her age, ISHS member or nonmember, 

in recognition of this person’s out- 

standing contribution to horticultural science 

worldwide and/or for his/her meritorious service 

on behalf of the Society. A precious metal 

pin and a certificate is given to the recipients of 

this ISHS award. The total number of ISHS 

Fellows should not exceed 1% of the total 

membership, averaged over a period of 4 years. 

PROCEDURE 

The ISHS Nominations and Awards Committee 

(hereafter: ‘The Committee’) invites the members 

of the Society, through this announcement 

in Chronica Horticulturae, to bring possible 

candidates for an ISHS Honorary Membership 

and Fellowship to the attention of the Society. 

Nominations should be accompanied by five 

letters of support, giving reasons why a nominee 

is considered worthy of an honour; these 

letters must come from members in no less 

than three different countries. Nominations 

must be received by the Executive Director at 

least three months prior to the Council meeting. 

The Executive Director will collect the suggestions 

and will send these, together with the 

letters of support, to ‘The Committee’. After 

consideration by ‘The Committee’ and the ISHS 

Board, the suggestions received and motivated 

recommendions will be presented to the 

Council, which will decide who will receive the 

Awards. The presentation ceremony will take 

place at the next Congress (IHC2006 Seoul, 

Korea) during the General Assembly of the 

ISHS. 

ISSUES 

The Challenge of Distance Learning in 

Horticulture 

Geoffrey R. Dixon 

Education in any discipline and at any level of 

attainment should increase the student’s 

powers of understanding, deduction, integration 

and prediction based on an enhanced 

store of knowledge. It should not be the accumulation 

and regurgitation of information that 

is readily available in reference books and the 

World-Wide-Web. Learning how to use information 

to build knowledge and scholarship in 

an integrative manner is the essence of an 

effective education. 

Most systems of education are dependent on 

public tax raised finance to a greater or lesser 

extent. As a consequence, political priorities for 

simplification (modularisation or unitisation), 

mass delivery, increased speed, reduced cost, 

and provision for career changes have become 

dominating and driving forces in the formulation 

of public education. These processes are 

frequently clothed in the framework of the 

“market economy” and encapsulated in terms 

such as “value for money,” “satisfying customer 

demands,” “achieving client satisfaction” 

and “student-centred learning.” The underlying 

logic of pedagogical arguments that shift education 

towards learning as opposed to teaching 

have much to recommend them. This shift 

does, however, require greater provision of 

human and physical resources if it is to improve 

education and this adds to the overall costs of 

education. Without such increased financial 

investment the student-centred learning 

approach levels down education and erodes 

scholarship. 

Some educationists and more particularly policy 

makers and politicians see electronic delivery at 

a distance as one route towards student-centred 

learning as opposed to teaching-centred 

learning that avoids the penalty of increasing 

costs. Experience shows that the reverse is true 

and that good quality, effective distance learning 

provided by electronic delivery demands 

an investment in teaching staff and resources 

that is at least on a par with face-to-face learning. 

This article considers the particular requirements 

for an education in horticulture and 

how these may be satisfied by electronic distance 

delivery using examples from leading centres 

of excellence. 

WHAT IS EDUCATION IN 

HORTICULTURE? 

Traditionally education in horticulture has integrated 

the relevant arts, sciences, humanities 

and husbandries into students’ knowledge 

bases that allowed entry into widely differing 

careers with a considerable span of responsibilities 

(Dixon, 2005). Essentially this is not radically 

different to the education offered to engineers 

or architects. 

Face-to-face education in each of these disciplines 

demanded the availability of a large tea- 


ching staff composed of individuals possessing 

specialist knowledge and expertise. An additional 

luxury offered to horticultural students was 

that institutions attempted to maintain small 

areas of production for a multitude of different 

vegetable, fruit, and protected ornamental 

crops. The force of institutional finances has 

largely consigned the latter luxury to history 

except in a few cases of special provision such 

as the Niagara Parks Department, Canada 

(Klose and Whitehouse, 2004) (Fig. 1) or the 

Royal Botanic Gardens in Great Britain. 

The essential elements for an education in horticulture 

are firstly, knowledge drawn from 

across a wide range of interrelating subjects 

and secondly, exposure to and involvement 

with the practical and sustainable manipulation 

of plant growth and reproduction. Delivery of 

the first part of these requirements at least 

should be amenable to electronic delivery at a 

distance. 

WHAT IS DISTANCE 

LEARNING? 

Distance learning is any situation whereby the 

teacher and student are separated by space and 

possibly by time. The greatest experience with 

this form of learning is probably in Australia 

which boasts a world renowned educational 

system for school-age children living in the 

“outback” based originally on the use of radio. 

In Great Britain the Open University was founded 

in the 1960s and continues offering very 

successfully high quality undergraduate education 

in most disciplines based initially on the 

use of television. Teachers across the USA 

pioneered the use of video systems from the 

late 1970s onwards. The advent of the World- 

Wide-Web (www) and easy availability of low 

cost electronic desk and laptop computers 

expands the opportunities for distance learning 

to an unlimited extent. 

MANAGING THE DILEMMA 

OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY 

The World-Wide-Web offers students access to 

oceans of information (Scott and Dixon, 2004) 

and a myriad of courses. It becomes ever more 

important that the student is capable of rejecting 

or ignoring irrelevant information and able 

to concentrate on nub issues and differentiate 

between valuable and useless courses. Huge 

numbers of educational institutions world-wide 

are now offering courses via electronic means. 

Students in one country can sign up and pay 

electronically for courses originating on the 

other side of the planet in the matter of a few 

minutes. This might be termed “fast-food education” 

(England, 2005). The plethora of 

courses raises the question of how the students 

differentiate between them especially as initially 

they will have only limited knowledge on 

which to make a quality judgement. It is feasible 

to take the free-market approach of “buyer 

beware” (caveat emptor) but is that fair to users 

who do not have the knowledge with which to 

make informed choices? 

Certainly it is not possible to police or even 

mildly regulate what is placed on the web in the 

name of horticultural education. It does however, 

behove professionals such as members of 

the International Society for Horticultural 

Science (ISHS) to ensure that material for which 

they are responsible is fit for the purpose that is 

claimed. National horticultural professional 

bodies, especially those offering “Continuing 

Professional Development” (CPD) to their members, 

have responsibilities to ensure the veracity 

of web based courses accepted for such schemes. 

The situation is more straightforward where 

web courses are offered by bona fide educational 

institutions as part of their existing provision 

for awards, such as colleges and universities, 

leading on to their degree structures. Here the 

institutions, particularly in Europe and increasingly 

Australia, are regulated for the quality of 

their provision. Alternatively the courses may 

adhere to a format and even content that has 

been designed by the awarding body and yet 

may be delivered by other organisations. This is 

the case with the development of a modularised 

form of the Master of Horticulture (M. 

Hort.) qualification of the Royal Horticultural 

Society of London, which is amenable to delivery 

in an electronic form. 

SUCCESSFUL ELECTRONIC 

DELIVERY AT A DISTANCE 

The key feature regarding the use of electronic 

delivery at a distance is that the original teacher 

should totally review and revise what is to be 

learnt and analyse the substance of the traditional 

course in great depth. It is essential to offer 

in the electronic format rounded core issues 

that form the key components of the topic 

being considered. Electronically delivered 

courses should not take the form of simply a set 

of lecture notes posted on the web. If they do 

then the teacher is short changing the student 

Figure 1. The Niagara Parks Botanic Garden. 

in a reprehensible manner. Many other aspects 

of electronic provision are similar to those for 

conventional delivery. Indeed where courses 

have been transferred to the virtual classroom, 

it is found that the problems thrown up by distance 

student are remarkably similar to those 

normally encountered in face-to-face delivery. 

There is of course a running-in phase when the 

electronic software is being tested for reliability 

and robustness but once this is concluded most 

problems can be resolved by access to appropriate 

members of staff, either in real time or 

via bulletin boards and email addresses. It is 

found that distance students make use of each 

other’s knowledge and expertise in a similar 

fashion to those in a physical classroom. 

Experiences and abilities are shared and valued 

by the student body. This is important because 

it enables distance students to develop the 

camaraderie of conventional peer groups. 

Much the most important element is that students 

should have reliable and scheduled access 

to members of staff for mentoring and tuition. 

There should also be provision for a rapid response 

where there are software problems so 

that electronic faults do not impede the process 

of learning and submission of course work. The 

latter is of especial importance where 

assignments require to be submitted by specified 

dates. 

ELECTRONIC COURSES FOR 

DISTANCE DELIVERY 

Examples of courses leading towards a recognised 

award are typified by the Degrees awarded 

in Arboriculture, Horticulture, and Turf Science 

offered electronically by Myerscough College in 

collaboration with the University of Central 

Lancashire, Preston, UK (Anon, 2005). These 

courses have been transferred successfully from 

the traditional face-to-face full time classroom 

format to part time delivery by electronic means 

(Fig. 2). This requires the student to commit 15 

hours per week for the duration of the course 

that may require several years. These courses 

are divided into an established framework of 

ISHS • 6

Figure 2. Teaching tree anatomy by electronic distance learning. Picture by courtesy of Dr. Julie 

Young and Myerscough College, UK. 

modules that are completed in a regulated 

manner. Progress is measured by the fulfilment 

of course work assignments and end of year 

examinations. Details of the courses can be 

obtained from: www.myerscough.ac.uk 

At a higher level still the University of 

Melbourne, Australia offers masters courses in 

agribusiness by distance learning. These are 

especially suited to students who have several 

years experience and may be reaching the ranks 

of middle and upper management (Anon, 

2004; McSweeney, 2005). 

Alternatively single courses may be designed to 

achieve more limited but specific targets within 

a larger program. This provides an easy and 

effective means of teaching crop yield and density 

relationships to distance students. It enables 

students to examine a wider range of production 

variables that impact on crop yield than if 

real crops were grown. VirtualCarrots is an 

online tool designed to improve students’ 

understanding and lecturers’ teaching of yielddensity 

relationships in field crops (MacKay et 

al., 2005, email: b.mackay@masey.ac.nz). With 

VirtualCarrots (Fig. 3) students “grow” crops of 

carrots under a range of production variables 

Figure 3. Teaching plant density x yield relationships using the Virtual Carrot. Picture by 

courtesy of Dr. Bruce MacKay and Massey University, New Zealand. 

(e.g. required marketable size, time of year, 

location and density). VirtualCarrots generates 

sets of data and graphs that students evaluate 

and interpret based on their theoretical understanding 

of yield and density relationships. 

Students can, for example, examine the influence 

of sowing density, sowing dates, and cultivar 

differences for prescribed market yields and harvest 

dates by instantly “growing” crops of carrots 

on-line. They can examine relative outcomes 

for a range of prescribed conditions (e.g. 

how is root size distribution influenced by 

sowing pattern?). For each set of input variables, 

VirtualCarrots generates predicted yield 

quantity and quality data sets in a downloadable 

form for subsequent off-line analysis and 

interpretation by students. 

A widespread failing of many on-line university 

courses is that they replicate passive and traditional 

pedagogical methods in an on-line environment. 

Without the opportunity to participate 

and interact with case studies and problemsolving 

activities students do not engage with 

on-line content. This results in poor learning 

achievement. Sites with good practice that 

avoid these pitfalls are found for example at: 

www.hort.purdue.edu. 

New Zealand and USA researchers (MacKay and 

Fisher, 2005) have developed a case study based 

on nutrient toxicity symptoms for a glasshouse 

flower crop. This includes photographic and 

text descriptions of the problem and a series of 

laboratory tests that provide additional data. 

But there is a “cost” to purchase the added 

information. This case study was presented to 

students, growers, and educators using an 

internet based tool for case studies in horticultural 

education - the Ramosus maze. Ramosus is 

an active learning tool, based on the maze 

metaphor of a simulated situation created to 

mimic the strategic decision-making of real life 

(Fig. 4). Users commented that Ramosus provides 

users with “the feel of the real situation” 

and made them think “diagnostically.” 

Ramosus encourages deep learning and adds 

value to on-line courses, by balancing the need 

to increase the student’s knowledge base and 

their use of that knowledge. The ability to track 

student progress through the maze also provides 

additional feedback to instructors on the 

student’s level of knowledge and ability to integrate 

concepts. 

CAN SKILLS BE DELIVERED 

AT A DISTANCE? 

Distance learning opens up opportunities for 

learning practical skills that require the use of 

tools and hand manipulation which have previously 

been taught by face-to-face instruction, 

demonstration, and practice with immediate 

(synchronous) feedback, e.g. budding and grafting. 

Hennigan and Mudge (2004) set up the 

course “The How, When and Why of Grafting” 

(http://www.instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ho 

rt494/mg/index.html) which embraces top 


Figure 4. Teaching plant nutrient demand and fertiliser applications using the Ramosus Maze. 

Picture by courtesy of Dr. Bruce MacKay and Massey University, New Zealand. 

REFERENCES 

wedge grafting, chip budding and t-budding. 

Student grafting was evaluated by them on 

basis of pressure, avoidance of desiccation, and 

cambial alignment. This program was tested in 

a statistically validated experiment that showed 

that students could effectively learn grafting by 

distance learning equally as well as by face-toface 

methods. 

The Maryland Nursery Crops Nutrient and 

Water (Lea-Cox et al., 2004) program provides 

tuition for campus based and off-campus students 

and industry professionals. There is a problem-based 

approach by which students analyse, 

synthesise, and evaluate information enabling 

them to create and implement on site 

water and nutrient management plans for individual 

nursery and glasshouse operations. The 

course consists of six content modules covering 

science or subject matter necessary to understand 

the nutrient and water management 

planning processes. These modules are supported 

and enhanced by text resources, hypertext 

links to external websites and resources, photographs, 

graphic illustrations, powerpoint presentations 

and video clips. 

An unusual part of this scheme is that growers, 

consultants, extension professionals and students 

are partnered into teams. Each team writes 

a management plan for a real nursery or 

glasshouse (usually the operation of the grower 

on the team) during the course. By interacting 

as teams students not only apply theoretical 

knowledge from the course, but also learn from 

the experiential knowledge of the various professionals 

on the team, in situations where they 

are faced with solving real-life challenges. The 

actual nursery or glasshouse site used in the 

case study is a unique resource that is integral 

to the course. Students are not given a theoretical 

paper-based case study to work on but a 

real operating nursery or glasshouse site from 

which to collect data and prepare a nutrient 

management plan. The assignments are therefore 

based in reality. Student progress is evaluated 

by several means including quizzes, the 

quality of participation in discussion forums, 

individual and team assignments posted to the 

students and ultimately the quality of the team 

project - the water and nutrient management 

plan. There is no final examination for this 

course. The nutrient management plan is the 

main assessment tool that is used to ascertain 

whether a student is competent. Final plans are 

signed by a certified nutrient management 

planner and submitted for final review by officials 

of the Maryland Department of 

Agriculture, the regulatory authority in 

Maryland. This electronically delivered course 

makes particularly admirable use of the interactions 

between students; the manner by which 

they learn from the experiences of others is 

especially good practice. 

THE FUTURE 

Electronic delivery at a distance is a major addition 

to the manner by which horticultural education 

is provided around the world. It provides 

many new opportunities for a discipline that 

provides the intellectual base and drive for a 

major global industry. Educationists specialising 

in the discipline of horticulture have responsibilities 

to ensure that such courses are of the 

highest possible quality and fitness for purpose. 

This can only be achieved by dialogue within 

our peer group. The ISHS provides the opportunity 

for this dialogue through Symposia such as 

that held in Perth, Western Australia in 2004 

and at the International Horticultural 

Congresses. At the IHC planned for Seoul, 

Korea in 2006 there will be opportunities for 

scholars and educationists in horticulture to discuss 

this and related topics. Come along and 

benefit from and contribute to these meetings. 

Anon. 2004. Master of Agribusiness Online. The 

University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 

available 

at 

http://www.agribusiness.unimelb.edu.au 

Anon. 2005. Foundation degrees in arboriculture 

and turf grass science online. Myerscough 

College, Preston, United Kingdom, available at 

http://www.myerscough.ac.uk 

Dixon, G.R. 2005. A review of horticulture as an 

evolving scholarship and the implications for 

educational provision. Acta Hort. 672:25-34. 

England, V. 2005. Thai students forced to get a 

loan for ‘fast-food’ education. The Times 

Higher Education Supplement published 6th 

May, p.10. 

Hennigan, K. and Mudge, K.W. 2004. Effect of 

interactivity and learning style on developing 

hands-on horticultural skills via distance learning. 

Acta Hort. 641:85-89. 

Klose, E. and Whitehouse, D. 2004. The Niagara 

Parks Commission School of Horticulture. Acta 

Hort. 641:145-146. 

Lea-Cox, J.D., Ross, E.N., Varley, E.N. and Teffeau, 

K.M. 2004. A webCT-based distance learning 

course to teach water and nutrient management 

planners for the nursery and greenhouse 

industries. Acta Hort. 641:101-110. 

MacKay, B.R., Reid, J. and Love, R. 2005. 

VirtualCarrots: an online tool for teaching yield 

x density relationships. Acta Hort. 672:227-231. 

MacKay, B.R. and Fisher, P.R. 2005. Interactive 

case studies on the internet: the Ramosus maze 

tool. Acta Hort. 672:217-225. 

McSweeney, P. 2005. Experiences in delivering 

the University of Melbourne’s Master of 

Agribusiness online. Acta Hort. 672:257-264. 

Scott, P.R. and Dixon, G.R. 2004. Knowledge 

management for science-based decision 

making. Acta Hort. 642:115-118. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Geoffrey R. Dixon 

Professor Geoffrey R. Dixon, University of 

Strathclyde, Glasgow and GreenGene International, 

UK, is Chairman of the ISHS Commission 

for Education and Training. He is a Council 

Member for the UK, Immediate Past President of 

the Institute of Horticulture, and Vice-President 

(Science Policy) of the Institute of Biology. 

Email: 113541.1364@compuserve.com 

ISHS • 8

HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE FOCUS 

The World Foliage Plant Industry 

Jianjun Chen, Dennis B. McConnell and Richard J. Henny 

During the last century and a half, the foliage 

plant industry has become truly global. 

The current situation can be simplified as 

four centers of foliage plant origins (Africa, 

Asia, Australia, and Central and South 

America), four regions producing propagules 

(Asia, Central and South America, Europe, 

and North America), and three regions of 

finished plant production (Asia, Europe, and 

North America). Today someone living in 

Poland may be watering a Dieffenbachia cultivar 

in his home that was initially propagated 

in a tissue culture laboratory in China, 

finished in the United States, and then sold 

at the Aalsmeer auction in the Netherlands. 

That scenario omits the fact that the 

Dieffenbachia species used to develop the 

cultivar were collected in Brazil and 

Colombia and then hybridized in England! 

Figure 1. Potted foliage plants: (A) Codiaeum, (B) Monstera, (C) Cordyline, (D) Tacca, (E) 

Nepenthea, (F) Dracaena, (G) Anthurium, (H) Alocasia, (I) Syngonium, (J) Vriesea, (K) 

Aglaonema, (L) Chlorophytum, (M) Calathea, (N) Spathiphyllum, (O) Guzmania, (P) 

Philodendron, (Q) Dieffenbachia, (R) Schefflera. 

Foliage plants, defined literally, would include 

all plants grown for their beautiful leaves rather 

than for flowers or fruits. In general horticultural 

terms, foliage plants are those with attractive 

foliage and/or flowers that are able to survive 

and grow indoors (Fig. 1). Thus, foliage 

plants are used as living specimens for interior 

decoration or interior plantscaping (Fig. 2). In 

common terminology, foliage plants are referred 

to as houseplants. However, in the tropics 

they may also be grown under shade as landscape 

plants (Fig. 3). 

Starting from cuttings, tissue cultured liners, or 

seeds, foliage plants are generally produced in 

soilless media confined by containers in shaded 

greenhouses or shadehouses. Some foliage 

plants used as interiorscape trees are grown in 

full sun for the first part of their production 

cycle, and then grown under shade. Regardless 

of their specific production protocols, all plants 

have to be managed properly including light, 

temperature, water, fertilization, and pest control 

until they approach marketable sizes called 

finished plants (Chen et al., 2005). The plants 

are then acclimatized, graded, and shipped to 

destinations for interiorscaping. Acclimatization 

is a seriate procedure in which light intensity, 

nutrient supply, and irrigation frequency are 

reduced to anatomically and physiologically 

alter the plant so that it will survive and even 

thrive after shipping and placement in an interior 

environment. Small pot plants may require 

several weeks to acclimatize, while large 

interior trees may require a minimum of six 


Figure 2. Foliage plants used for interiorscaping: (A) Hotel lobby in Orlando, Florida, (B) 

Convention center, Kissimmee, Florida, (C) Anthurium with water fall in hotel in Nashville, 

Tennessee, and (D) Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea elegans) in office lobby. 

months. Therefore, the complete foliage plant 

cycle comprises: (1) plant propagation via tissue 

culture, rooting of cuttings, or seed germination; 

(2) production of marketable plants from 

tissue cultured liners, rooted cuttings, or seedlings; 

and (3) postproduction plant care, including 

shipment, interiorscape installation, and 

maintenance. 

Because of their varied growth habits, multitude 

of foliar charms, brilliant patterns of leaf 

variegation and texture, elegant flower shapes 

and colors, as well as tolerance to low light 

levels, foliage plants have become an integral 

part of contemporary design for building interiors 

and play an important role in our daily 

lives. Plants bring beauty and comfort to our 

surroundings, contribute to the psychological 

well-being of people, and remind us of nature 

(Manaker, 1997). In addition, plants in building 

interiors reduce dust, act as natural humidifiers 

(Lohr and Pearson-Mims, 1996), and purify 

indoor air. A NASA-funded project concluded 

that foliage plants can remove nearly 87% of 

air pollutants from sealed chambers within 24 

hours. For example, each Peace Lily 

(Spathiphyllum ‘Mauna Loa’) plant removed 16, 

27, and 41 mg formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, 

and benzene, respectively, from sealed 

chambers after a 24-hr exposure to the respective 

chemical (Wolverton et al., 1989). Later, 

researchers at the Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory (Cornejo et al., 1999), from 

Germany (Giese et al., 1994), Australia (Wood 

et al., 2002), and Japan (Oyabu et al., 2003) 

also demonstrated that foliage plants are able 

to abate toxic levels of air-borne pollutants in 

building interiors. 

The esthetic and psychological enhancement of 

interior environments and purification of indoor 

air have become catalysts in promoting foliage 

plant production and increasing their wholesale 

value. For instance, the wholesale value of 

foliage plants in the United States (U.S.) increased 

from $13 million in 1949 to $663 million in 

2002, which was a 51-fold increase in 53 years. 

With increasing worldwide urbanization and an 

innate desire for naturalistic environments 

within our building interiors, foliage plant production 

and utilization have become a truly globalized 

industry. Propagation, production, and 

interior use of foliage plants as well as plant 

related transportation, retail sales, and services 

contribute significantly to the world economy 

and our sense of well-being. 

FOLIAGE PLANT ORIGINS 

Most foliage plants are native to the world’s 

tropical or subtropical regions. It is estimated 

that plants from more than 100 genera and at 

least 1,000 species have been and can be 

grown as foliage plants (Chen et al., 2005). 

Important genera of foliage plants indigenous 

to tropical Africa include Aloe, Asparagus, 

Chlorophytum, Chrysalidocarpus, Coffea, 

Crassula, Cyanotis, Dracaena, Haworthia, 

Hypoestes, Kalanchoe, Leea, Pandanus, 

Saintpaulia, Sansevieria, Senecio, Strelitzia, and 

Zamioculcas. Asia is the origin of Aeschynathus, 

Aglaonema, Alocasia, Aspidistra, Asplenium, 

Aucuba, Begonia, Chlorophytum, Codiaeum, 

Coleus, Cordyline, Epipremnum, Fatsia, Ficus, 

Gynura, Homalomena, Hoya, Phoenix, 

Pittosporum, Polyscias, Sansevieria, Schefflera, 

and Spathiphyllum. The distinction of foliage 

plant origin between Australia-Oceania and 

Southeast Asia is difficult. It is generally believed 

that Araucaria, Asplenium, Blechnum, 

Cissus, Cordyline, Dizygotheca, Howea, 

Platycerium, Polyscias, and Schefflera are largely 

native to the Australia-Oceania region. The 

warm and humid climate of South and Central 

America nurtures diverse foliage plants including 

Adiantum, Aechmea, Anthurium, Ananas, 

Aphelandra, Billbergia, Calathea, Chamaedorea, 

Dieffenbachia, Episcia, Fittonia, 

Guzmania, Maranta, Monstera, Neoregelia, 

Nephrolepis, Nidularium, Nolina, Peperomia, 

Philodendron, Pilea, Polypodium, Ruellia, 

Senecio, Spathiphyllum, Stromanthe, Syngonium, 

Tillandsia, Vriesea, Yucca, and Zebrina. A 

few foliage plants, chiefly Agave, Peperomia, 

Yucca, and some Bromeliaceae and Cactaceae 

genera, are native to North America. Hedera is 

probably the only important foliage plant genus 

indigenous to Europe. 

Foliage plants that are native to tropical regions 

are generally tolerant of low light intensities, 

sensitive to chilling temperatures, and day-neutral 

to photoperiod since they grow either as 

understory plants shaded by giant forest trees 

or as vines climbing on trees. In subtropical 

climates, both temperatures and humidity may 

vary with the seasons; foliage plants originating 

in this climate tolerate limited degrees of heat, 

drought, and chilling temperatures and may 

also show dormancy in winter. Some plants 

used indoors are native to climatically extreme 

conditions, such as deserts, and have evolved 

mechanisms to adapt to heat and drought 

stresses. These plants, predominately succulents 

and cacti, often have unique leaves or distinctive 

shapes and/or flowers. 

A BRIEF HISTORY 

The Sumerians and ancient Egyptians started 

growing plants in containers about 3,500 years 

ago, and writings on ornamental cultivation of 

container plants in Chinese date back to 3,000 

Figure 3. Foliage plants used as landscape 

plants in the tropics with 

Philodendron bipinnatifidum planting 

and Epipremnum aureum vine. 

ISHS • 10

Figure 4. Wardian case invented by Dr. 

Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward in 1833 used for 

shipping collected tropical plants to 

Britain. 

Figure 5. Dieffenbachia x Bausei was a hybrid selected from a cross between D. maculata 

and D. weirii in 1870 (A) and D. x Memoria-corsii was a hybrid developed from a cross of D. 

maculata and D. wallisii made in 1881 (B). 

to 4,000 years ago. However, there is no 

known record as to precisely when humans first 

started to use foliage plants for interior decoration. 

A likely scenario for the early use of foliage 

plants could be that these plants were initially 

collected as curiosities due to their varied 

forms, styles, colors, and textures; when used 

to esthetically enhance building interiors, they 

actually survived for extended time periods. 

Although the definitive beginnings of interior 

plant use is not clear, it is known that during 

the Renaissance, plant collectors in Holland and 

Belgium imported plants from Asia Minor and 

the East Indies, and wealthy merchants of 

Florence, Genoa, and Venice introduced plants 

from the East into Europe in the late 15th century 

(Smith and Scarborough, 1981). A desire 

for exotic plants developed among the aristocracy 

of France and England by the middle of 

the 16th century, and orangeries and conservatories 

became commonplace on the estates of 

the nobility and wealthy class by the 17th century. 

By the following century, an estimated 

5,000 species of exotic plants had been 

brought into Europe from the world’s tropics. 

The number of plants brought to Europe from 

the tropics increased after the invention of the 

Wardian case in 1833 (Fig. 4). The protected 

environment of the Wardian case dramatically 

increased the number of living specimens that 

survived the long sailing voyage from the 

tropics to Europe. The availability of diverse and 

exotic plants that could tolerate the environment 

typical of Victorian homes promoted the 

use of living plants indoors and gave birth to 

the modern foliage plant industry. During the 

second half of the 19th century, foliage plants 

became a symbol of social status, and the 

grand drawing rooms of Victorian houses all 

had their fill of palms and ferns. Plants from 

conservatories, botanical gardens, and private 

estates were brought into commercial production, 

and bought for use in middle- and upperclass 

households. Hybridization of Dieffenbachia 

species dates to almost the same time 

period as hybridization of peas by Gregor 

Mendel. The oldest known Dieffenbachia 

hybrid is ‘Bausei’, a cross between D. maculata 

and D. weirii made in 1870 in the greenhouses 

of the Royal Horticultural Society of London at 

Chriswick, while ‘Memoria-corsii’ is a cross 

between D. maculata and D. wallisii made in 

1881. Both are still in cultivation in the industry 

(Fig. 5). Within a decade, shiploads of foliage 

plants from greenhouses in England and mainland 

Europe were sold to greenhouse growers 

in the Northeast U.S. for either immediate 

resale or for “growing on” and subsequent 

resale. These shipments may be considered as 

the beginning of globalization of foliage plant 

production. 

PROPAGATIVE MATERIALS 

The majority of propagative materials used in 

the industry are cuttings and tissue culture 

Figure 6. Tissue culture facilities in Sunshine Horticulture LLC., Quanzhou, Fujian Province, 

China: (A) culture room, (B) employees transferring culture, (C) tissue culture plantlets shipped 

to the U.S., (D) liners grown in shaded greenhouses. 


Figure 7. Stock plant and cutting production in Central America: (A) Dieffenbachia production 

in Honduras and (B) Sansevieria trifasciata divisions arriving in the U.S. from Costa Rica. 

liners, with seeds used for just a few selected 

genera. Currently, there are four main regions 

of foliage plant propagule production: Asia, 

Central and South America, the European 

Union (E.U.), and the U.S. 

Asia is a region predominately providing massive 

numbers of tissue culture plantlets (Fig. 6). 

Dongguan Agristar Biotechnoloy Co., Ltd., 

Guangdong Province, China, produces 20 million 

tissue culture plantlets of foliage plants, 

including Aglaonema, Alocasia, Anthurium, 

Calathea, Cordyline, Dieffenbachia, Dracaena, 

Ficus, and Syngonium as well as various 

Bromeliads, ferns, and Musa species. Almost all 

these plantlets are exported to Australia, E.U., 

and Southeast Asia. Sunshine Horticulture LLC., 

Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China exports 68% 

of its tissue culture plantlets of Anthurium, 

Alocasia, Ficus, Spathiphyllum, and bare rooted 

‘Lucky Bamboo’ (Dracaena sanderiana) and 

‘Money Tree’ (Pachira macrocarpa) to the U.S. 

Other countries involved in tissue culture plantlet 

production include India, Singapore, Sri 

Lanka, and Thailand. Commercial tissue culture 

firms in India export more than 40 million tissue 

culture plantlets to the U.S. and other countries 

(Govil and Gupta, 1997). 

Many foliage plant species are native to Central 

and South America, and commercial nurseries 

are mainly located in Brazil, Colombia, Costa 

Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras. Climatic conditions 

are favorable for extensive stock bed 

plantings to produce vast numbers of 

Aglaonema, Codiaeum, Cordyline, Dieffenbachia, 

Epipremnum, Dracaena, Peperomia, 

Philodendron, Sansevieria, and Schefflera cuttings 

which are exported to the U.S., E.U., and 

several Asian countries (Fig. 7). According to 

the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the 

wholesale value of unrooted foliage plant cuttings 

imported from Central and South America 

to the U.S. was $29 million in 2002. 

Although there are few foliage plants native to 

Europe, the collections made during 17th to 

19th centuries provided diverse germplasm for 

propagation and production. The Netherlands 

emerged as the predominant European country 

for foliage plant propagation during the 20th 

century. For example, Anthura B.V. in Bleiswijk 

has developed an extensive breeding program 

and uses modern facilities for Anthurium, 

Bromeliad, and Palaenopsis propagation. 

Uniform and healthy propagative materials are 

exported to other European countries, China, 

Japan, Australia, and the U.S. Several nurseries 

in the Netherlands produce hybrid seeds of 

Spathiphyllum cultivars sold to other European 

countries and the U.S. 

In the continental U.S., large nurseries in 

California and Texas produce numerous foliage 

plant propagules, but the greatest numbers are 

produced in Central Florida, primarily in the vicinity 

of Apopka, Florida, often considered the 

indoor foliage capital of the world (Fig. 8). 

There are more than 900 certified nurseries, 

largely for foliage plants, clustered in Apopka 

vicinity. Agri-Starts, Inc. and Twyford Plant 

Laboratories, Inc., in the Apopka area, and 

Oglesby Plant International, Inc., in Altha, 

Florida, have an annual production capacity of 

more than 50 million tissue culture liners of 

various foliage plants including Alocasia, 

Anthurium, Calathea, Dieffenbachia, Ficus, 

Musa, Philodendron, Syngonium, Spathiphyllum, 

and different species of ferns and 

Bromeliads. In addition to meeting the needs of 

foliage plant producers in Florida and other states, 

tissue culture liners are also exported to 

Canada, E.U., and Asian countries. Hawaii with 

its tropical climate produces propagative materials 

of Anthurium, orchids, and Dracaena cuttings 

and sells to the U.S. mainland, Japan, and 

E.U. markets. 

FOLIAGE PLANT 

PRODUCTION 

The E.U. 

Commercial production of foliage plants started 

in Europe and was based on the extensive collection 

of foliage plants made during the 17th 

to 19th centuries. The availability of foliage 

plants capable of surviving extended periods 

indoors promoted the widespread use of living 

plants for interior decoration. The demand for 

plants provided the stimulus for construction of 

commercial greenhouses to supply this burgeoning 

market. As production output increased, 

additional markets were sought and large shipments 

of foliage plants were sent to the U.S. in 

Figure 8. Indoor foliage capital of the world, Apopka, Florida: (A) city of Apopka slogan and (B) fern statue commemorating Boston Fern 

(Nephrolepis exaltata) that started foliage plant production in Apopka, Florida. 

ISHS • 12

Figure 9. Foliage plant production and trading in the Netherlands: (A) Dutch greenhouse 

production of foliage plants, (B) Anthurium production, (C) Aalsmer auction building, and 

(D) auction of plants. 

about 14% of the Netherlands’ foliage plants 

were imported, of which India, Italy, and 

Germany accounted for 26%, 14%, and 14%, 

respectively, in 2000 (EU Market Survey, 2002). 

A great part of the Netherlands’ imports was 

re-exported to other countries. The 

Netherlands exported about 21%, 22%, and 

52% to Germany, United Kingdom, and 

France, respectively. Although there is no data 

available for foliage plants per se, the 

Netherlands’ auctions now handle 89% of the 

Netherlands’ production and 80% of imported 

floricultural crops including foliage plants with 

a total value of US $3.0 billion in 2001 (EU 

Market Survey, 2002). 

the late 19th and early 20th century. The E.U. is 

still a major region of foliage plant production. 

In addition to the Netherlands, Belgium, 

England, France, Germany, and Italy are significant 

producers of foliage plants for the 

European and international markets (Fig. 9). 

Almost all foliage plants produced in the E.U. 

are sold through a wholesaler or auction 

houses. The floriculture auction houses in the 

Netherlands play a crucial role in the trade of 

foliage plants. Through their concentration of 

supply and demand, they act as a price-setting 

mechanism for the trade and have developed 

into a major center for the distribution of 

domestic and foreign grown products to the 

markets of the E.U. Major foliage plants in 

Dutch auctions include Anthurium, Dracaena, 

Ficus, Hedera, Saintpaulia, Phalaenopsis, 

Howea, as well as ferns and Bromeliads. In 

addition to plants from domestic production, 

Figure 10. Foliage plant production in the U.S.: (A) Dieffenbachia and Epipremnum production 

in shaded greenhouse in Apopka vicinity, Florida, (B) Anthurium production in Dade 

county, Miami area, Florida, (C) Tropical plant industry exhibit (TPIE) in Ft. Lauderdale, 

Florida, and (D) interior of TPIE in 2003. 

The U.S. 

The resale or planting of foliage plants shipped 

from Europe to the Northeast U.S. in the 19th 

century were the beginning of the foliage plant 

industry in the U.S. Because of favorable climatic 

conditions, large scale production of foliage 

plants moved to California and Florida within 

the first two decades of the 20th century. 

Predominant plants grown in California during 

the 1920s include Kentia palm (Howea forsterana) 

and Pothos (Epipremnum aureum), followed 

by Philodendron and Araucaria in the 

1940s. Production in Central Florida was confined 

to Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) from 

1912 to 1928 until Heart-leaf Philodendron 

(Philodendron scandens oxycardium) was introduced. 

The primary foliage plants grown in 

South Florida during the same time period were 

Snake Plant (Sanservieria trifasciata) and Screw 

Pine (Pandanus veitchii). During the 1930s, 

Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema modestum), 

Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica), and Oval-leaf 

Peperomia (Peperomia obtusifolia) became 

widely grown in Florida (Smith and 

Scarborough, 1981). Florida produced $1.8 million 

of the national foliage plant wholesale 

value of $13 million in 1949. However, 10 years 

later, Florida supplanted California as the leading 

state in the nation in production of foliage 

plants, and has accounted for more than 55% 

of the national wholesale value since the 1960s. 

Foliage plant wholesale value in Florida increased 

from $1.8 million in 1949 to $459 million in 

2002, which was a 255-fold increase. Other 

important U.S. foliage plant producing states 

include Hawaii and Texas. Foliage plant marketing 

in the U.S. is through trade show contacts 

and direct sales to mass merchandisers, mainly 

super markets, wholesale stores, and interior 

plantscape firms. One of the most important 

trade shows is the Tropical Plant Industry 

Exhibition (TPIE), organized by the Florida 

Nursery, Growers, and Landscape Association 

(Fig. 10) and held every January in Ft. 

Lauderdale, Florida. The TPIE features booths filled 

with living and vibrant plants creating a virtual 

indoor garden. Other booths display a multitude 

of products necessary for production and 

utilization of foliage plants. With more than 

500 exhibiting companies from different coun- 


tries, TPIE offers wholesale buyers an extensive 

selection of foliage plants and associated products 

in one location. 

Asia 

Many foliage plants are associated with good 

luck or fortune in Asian culture; for example, 

Aglaonema is believed to bring good fortune to 

life, Dracaena sanderiana is called Lucky 

Bamboo, and Pachira macrocarpa is known as 

the Money Tree. However, commercial production 

of foliage plants in Asia is a more recent 

trend. An accidental discovery of Aglaonema 

alumina armandi on a mountain in the province 

of Rizal on Luzon Island of the Philippines in 

1976 sparked a large scale search for new species 

in Southeast Asia. New Aglaonema species 

were found in Thailand in the south along the 

Malaysian border and in the west along the 

border with Burma. New species not only enriched 

the gene pool of Aglaonema, but also led 

to the establishment of active breeding programs 

in Thailand, Philippines, and India. In the 

early 1980s, Sithiporn Donavanik of Thailand 

successfully crossed A. rotundum with A. 

marantifolum ‘Tricolor’ resulting in a cultivar 

with colors so vibrant in shades of red that the 

plant strongly resembles a Codiaeum variegatum. 

In Thailand, this new cultivar was named 

A. sithiporn. Twyford Plant Laboratories, Inc., of 

Apopka, Florida, procured several plants of A. 

sithiporn’s new hybrids in 1998. Sunshine 

Foliage World, Zolfo Springs, Florida, introduced 

more than 30 new Aglaonema hybrid cultivars 

developed by breeders in Thailand. These 

cultivars have different leaf sizes, shapes, and 

variegation patterns, and white, green, or pink 

petioles. ‘Emerald Star’ and ‘Jewel of India’ are 

two cultivars developed by breeders in India 

that, along with ‘Stars’, have been identified as 

highly tolerant to chilling temperatures (Chen et 

al., 2001). Cacti are a unique group of foliage 

plants. There are about 15 million grafted cacti 

sold yearly in the international market, of which 

Korea produces 10 million (Jeong et al., 2004). 

Other foliage plant genera produced in Asian 

countries include Aglaonema, Anthurium, 

Calathea, Ficus, Phalaenopsis, Bromeliads, and 

ornamental gingers as well as braided Lucky 

Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana), Money Tree 

(Pachira macrocarpa), Buddha’s Hand (Alocasia 

cucullata), and Ginseng Fig (Ficus macrocarpa). 

Much of this production is exported to other 

countries including the U.S. In 2000, the values 

of foliage plants exported to the E.U. from 

India, China, and the Philippines were $9.7, 

3.6, and 1.7 million, respectively. These values 

should increase significantly since China has 

joined the World Trade Organization. To facilitate 

the rapidly expanding production and marketing 

of foliage plants, China and Japan have 

adopted the Dutch auction model. Currently 

there are functioning flower auctions in 

Kunming and Guangzhou, China, and the 

Flower Auction Japan in Tokyo has over 1,400 

registered buyers. 

Other Regions 

In addition to the production and export of propagative 

materials, commercial foliage plant 

production in countries of Central and South 

America has started to shift from domestic or 

regional markets to the international market. 

Although many foliage plants are native to tropical 

Africa, foliage plant propagation and production 

is primarily limited to South Africa. The 

export value of foliage plants from South Africa 

to the E.U. was $3.4 million in 2000. Precise 

export figures for the Australian foliage plants 

are not available but their largest foreign markets 

are Japan, the U.S., Germany, and the 

Netherlands. New Zealand’s greenhouse and 

nursery industry has focused primarily on exportation 

of cut flowers and foliage plants are currently 

a minor commodity in international trade. 

INTERIOR PLANTSCAPES 

The final destination for finished foliage plants 

is a building interior. Throughout the international 

community, interior plantscapes are commonplace 

in commercial public spaces, such as 

airports, convention centers, hospitals, hotel 

lobbies, libraries, offices, and shopping malls. 

Botanical conservatories may have large plantings 

featuring many genera and species while 

residential private homes may have just a few 

favorite foliage plants. No matter where they 

are used, the installed foliage plants are expected 

to adapt to the new environmental conditions 

and maintain their esthetic appearance for 

a prolonged time, several months to several 

years. Proper nutrient, irrigation, and pest 

management are required, and maintenance of 

large interiorscape plantings is generally handled 

by commercial firms that specialize in interior 

plants. These firms employ professionals 

who are familiar with characteristics of individual 

plant species and are often specialized in 

interior design to maximize esthetic features of 

individual and collective grouping of the plants. 

Installation of varied colors, forms and styles of 

foliage plants indoors provides a feeling of physiological 

well-being to the individuals utilizing 

these facilities, reduces stress levels associated 

with urbanized environments, and also increase 

property values. 

THE FUTURE 

The evaluation of the effects of events and 

trends in the distant and near past may help 

foresee what will happen in the years to come. 

Most of the past changes in the foliage plant 

industry have been interlinked with changes 

that affect our daily lives. These include changes 

in transportation, population demographics, 

architectural innovations, application of new 

technologies to production processes, and economic 

factors. In many countries of the world, 

the number of people living in urban areas is 

increasing. China, India, and the U.S. are three 

examples of this trend. Increasing urbanization 

will undoubtedly increase urban population 

densities as clustered housing units (apartments, 

townhouses, etc.) will increase. 

Historically, increased urbanization has been 

coupled with an increase in use of interior 

plants if economic factors permit. Consequently, 

the world market for foliage plants will 

increase. The future of the foliage industry 

looks bright because interiorscaping has become 

an integral part of contemporary life. New 

architectural technology may incorporate a 

critical number of plants within a structure to 

serve as living air purifiers and ameliorate psychological 

stress associated with high population 

densities. One very clear long term trend is 

the expansion of the socio-economic groups 

that can afford and use indoor plants. For thousands 

of years, only top echelons of society collected 

and displayed plants. Societal and demographic 

changes that began during the mid 

19th century and continued during the 20th 

century dramatically broadened the socio-economic 

segments of the population purchasing 

plants. As foliage plant production practices 

become more cost efficient and the world economies 

continue to grow, the purchase and use 

of foliage plants will become an international 

commonality. 

The foliage plant industry needs to respond to 

this expanding demand by providing high quality 

and durable plants with increased drought 

and low light tolerance, and improved leaf color 

and growth habits. These ‘plants of the future’ 

can be developed by exploiting centers of foliage 

plant origins for new germplasm and using 

traditional breeding and/or genetic engineering 

technologies to incorporate desired traits into 

new cultivars (Henny and Chen, 2003). 

Expanding tissue culture facilities for propagating 

more foliage plant species and refining protocols 

for propagating true-to-type liners and 

creating desired somaclonal variants will not 

only increase the availability of healthy and 

disease-free propagative materials but also 

generate new cultivars (Chen et al., 2003). 

Changes in production technology have progressed 

quickly. Automation of greenhouse 

environmental control systems and potting, 

spraying, irrigation and fertilization has greatly 

reduced production cost and improved the quality 

of finished plants. The recent introduction of 

grading machines to select plants for shipping 

may help standardize foliage plant quality entering 

the world’s markets. Increased professionalism 

of interiorscapers will aid in installing the 

right plants in the right locations and using 

scientific-based guidelines to provide best 

management practices. 

Marketing is the process of converting products 

into capital, and the continued growth of the 

foliage plant industry is dependent on efficient 

and effective marketing methodologies. The 

auction model developed in the Netherlands 

appears to be the dominant method in the near 

future for marketing plants on an international 

basis. In addition to China and Japan, Hungary 

ISHS • 14

has just opened a floriculture auction house to 

better serve neighboring countries. Transportation 

logistics and economic considerations 

may increase the number of regionally located 

facilities. However, a new trend that may affect 

future marketing of foliage plants is the use of 

direct sales via images transmitted on the internet 

from the foliage grower’s greenhouse. The 

effects of new technology will continue to alter 

past production and sales practices. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

Authors thank Mitcheal Thompson for technical 

assistance in preparation of the figures and Hui 

Cao for providing photos taken from China. This 

study was supported by the Florida Agricultural 

Experiment Station and approved for publication 

as a Journal Series No. N-02690. 

Jianjun Chen 

Dennis B. 

McConnell 

REFERENCES 

Chen, J., Henley, R.W., Henny, R.J., Caldwell, R.D. 

and Robinson, C.A. 2001. Aglaonema cultivar differences 

in resistance to chilling temperatures. J. 

Environ. Hort. 19:198-202. 

Chen, J., Henny, R.J. and Chao, T.C. 2003. 

Somaclonal variation as a source for cultivar development 

of ornamental aroids. p.31-43. In: S.G. 

Pandalai (ed.), Recent Research Development in 

Plant Science. Vol. 1. Research Signpost, Kerala, 

India. 

Chen, J., McConnell, D.B., Norman, D.J. and Henny, 

R.J. 2005. The foliage plant industry. Hort. Rev. 

31:47-112. 

Cornejo, J.J., Munoz, F.G., Ma, C.Y. and Stewart, 

A.J. 1999. Studies on the decomtamination of air 

by plants. Ecotoxicology 8:311-320. 

EU Market Survey 2002. Cut flowers and foliage. 

Centre for the promotion of imports from developing 

countries. The Netherlands. 

Giese, M., Bauer-Doranth, U., Langebarthels, C. and 

Sandermann, H. 1994. Detoxification of formaldehyde 

by spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum L.) 

and soybean (Glycine max L.) cell suspension cultures. 

Plant Physiol. 104:1301-1309. 

Govil, S. and Gupta, S.C. 1997. Commercialization 

of plant tissue culture in India. Plant Cell Tissue 

Organ Culture 51:65-73. 

Henny, R.J. and Chen, J. 2003. Foliage plant cultivar 

development. Plant Breed. Rev. 23:245-290. 

Jeong, M.II., Cho, C.H. and Lee, J.M. 2004. 

Production and breeding of cacti for grafting in 

Korea. Chronica Hort. 44:7-10. 

Lohr, V.I. and Pearson-Mims, C.H. 1996. Particulate 

matter accumulation on horizontal surfaces in 

interiors: influence of foliage plants. Atmos. 

Environ. 30:2565-2568. 

Manaker, G.H. 1997. Interior plantscapes: 

Installation, maintenance, and management. 3rd 

ed. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 

Oyabu, T., Sawada, A., Onodera, T., Takenaka, K., 

Wolverton, B. 2003. Characteristics of potted 

plants for removing offensive odors. Sensors 

Actuator B 89:131-136. 

Smith, C.N. and Scarborough, E.F. 1981. Status and 

development of foliage plant industries. p.1-39. 

In: J.N. Joiner (ed.), Foliage Plant Production, 

Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 

Wolverton, B.C. 1989. Interior landscape plants for 

indoor air pollution abatement. Interiorscape 

8(6):37-62. 

Wood, R.A., Orwell, R.L., Tarran, J., Torpy, F. and 

Burchett, M. 2002. Potted-plant/growth media 

interactions and capacities for removal of volatiles 

from indoor air. J. Hort. Sci. Biotechnol. 77:120- 

129. 

Richard J. Henny 

Jianjun Chen is an Associate Professor and plant 

physiologist at the University of Florida. 

Contact: University of Florida, IFAS, Mid-Florida 

Research and Education Center, Apopka, 

Florida, 2725 Binion Road, Apopka, FL 32703, 

USA, Phone: (1) 4078842034 ext. 161, email: 

jjchen@ifas.ufl.edu 

Dennis B. McConnell is a Professor and plant physiologist 

at the University of Florida. Contact: 

University of Florida, IFAS, Environmental 

Horticulture Department, 1519 Fifield Hall, P.O. 

Box 110670, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA, 

Phone: (1)3523921831 ext. 378, email: 

DMcConnell@ifas.ufl.edu 

Richard J. Henny is a Professor and plant geneticist 

at the University of Florida. Contact: 

University of Florida, IFAS, Mid-Florida Research 

and Education Center, Apopka, Florida, 2725 

Binion Road, Apopka, FL 32703, USA, Phone: 

(1) 4078842034 ext. 152, email: 

RJHenny@ifas.ufl.edu 


HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE NEWS 

Taxus spp.: A Genus of Ever-Useful and 

Everlasting Evergreens 

John M. DeLong and Robert K. Prange 

The yew (Taxus spp.) appears in the historic, 

sacred, mythic and folkloric literature of the 

people of western Europe in particular. 

References to yew occur in ancient Greek, 

Nordic, Celtic, Germanic and Himalayan cultures. 

The name yew is derived from the Celtic 

word ‘’ (pronounced ‘if’), which denotes verdure 

- an obvious allusion to the evergreen 

nature of the yew (Chadwick and Keen, 1976). 

Yew wood was prized for its utility and was 

symbolically associated with pre-Christian and 

then Christian religious belief. Pagans often 

venerated the yew, ascribing to it magical 

powers of protection against fairies and witches. 

The yew was viewed as the most powerful 

sacred tree of Ireland; Druids even made 

their wands of divination from its wood. The 

Roman poet Ovid stated that the yew tree marked 

the entrance to Hades and the underworld, 

while the ancient Greek botanists Dioscorides, 

Theophrastus and Nicander, as well as Pliny the 

Elder, recorded the botanical and toxic attributes 

of yew; some claimed that simply sleeping 

under a yew tree caused sickness and sometimes 

death (Gerard, 1633; Gunther, 1968). As 

Europe became increasingly Christian, the symbolism 

of the yew took on different meaning: 

its longevity and evergreen nature came to be 

associated with themes of immortality, resurrection 

and new life (Hartzell, 1991). 

Many ancient yews can still be viewed in English 

churchyards, where they were planted at the 

founding of the parish, or even pre-date its 

establishment. In Fortingall, Perthshire, 

Scotland, a magnificent specimen, split in two 

since the middle 1700s, is believed to be 3,000 

years old, which would make it the oldest living 

tree in Europe (Fig. 1). Legend has it that 

Pontius Pilate was born at Dun Gael, an escarpment 

fortress at Fortingall. If true, the Fortingall 

yew would have been 1000 years old at the 

time of Pilate’s birth. King John signed the 

Figure 1. 3000+-year old Fortingall yew, Perthshire, Scotland. Permission for use granted by 

Michael McCluskey, Perthshire, Scotland, UK. 

Figure 2. 1400+-year old Ankerwyke 

yew, Runnymede, England. Permission 

for use granted by Edward Parker 

Photography, Dorset, UK. 

Magna Carta at Runnymede in June of 1215 

near or in the shade of the Ankerwyke yew, 

which is still flourishing and is thought to be at 

least 1400 years old (Fig. 2). From the 12th to 

the 16th century, the yew wood longbow 

gained an eminent place in English military history 

due to its unsurpassed field range, penetrating 

power and accuracy in the hands of skilled 

bowmen. In North America, indigenous people 

have used the bark, foliage and fruit of the yew 

for tool and weapon-making and for ceremonial 

and medicinal purposes for generations. 

The hard, decay-resistant, yet springy wood has 

been valued for making canoe paddles, fish 

hooks, archery bows, spears, digging sticks and 

ceremonial items, and more recently, for gunstocks, 

boat decking, furniture, snowshoe 

frames and musical instruments (Small and 

Catling, 1999). 

BOTANY 

Taxus spp. are widespread and native to moist, 

temperate forests of the world, particularly the 

Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the mid-Atlantic and 

Great Lakes regions of North America, western, 

northern and southern Europe, Algeria, southeastern 

Russia, eastern China, Nepal, Burma, 

Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran and as far south 

ISHS • 16

as Sumatra and Celebes (Voliotis, 1986; 

Hartzell, 1991; Patel, 1998). Although six to 20 

Taxus species have been recognized (Small and 

Catling, 1999), eight or nine, indigenous to the 

northern hemisphere, usually appear in most 

taxonomic descriptions: T. brevifolia (Pacific 

yew), T. baccata (English yew), T. canadensis 

(Canadian yew, ground hemlock), T. cuspidata 

(Japanese yew), T. chinensis (Chinese yew), T. 

floridana (Florida yew), T. wallichiana 

(Himalayan yew) and T. globosa (Mesoamerican 

yew) (Bailey and Bailey, 1976; Spjut, 2003). 

Although the Taxus genus is distinguished by its 

cone (aril) and leaf morphology (Spjut, 2003), 

differentiating Taxus species in cultivation is difficult 

due to lack of adherence in applying universal 

taxonomic standards, the morphological 

similarities among species and the vast number 

of varieties within species (Patel, 1998; Spjut, 

2003). Nonetheless, Taxus spp. are described as 

evergreen trees and shrubs with reddish to 

brown bark having spreading and ascending 

branches with green branchlets. Leaves are 

glossy or dull-dark above and lighter green 

below, flat and needle-like, abruptly pointed or 

tapering and acute, and radially arranged or lie 

in a flat plane. Winter buds are small and scaly. 

Plants are mainly dioecious with globose male 

flowers and female flowers that appear as small 

stalked conical buds in the leaf axils. Seeds are 

brown and nut-like and are covered with a red 

fleshy aril, ripening in the first year (Fig. 3) (Dirr, 

1990). Chadwick and Keen (1976) report that 

both dioecious and monoecious plants are 

found in the species and cultivars of Taxus; 

interestingly, yews have been known to change 

sex as they mature (e.g. a plant changes from 

producing female to male flowers) (Hatfield, 

1929). 

ORNAMENTAL TAXUS 

During the 1860s, Japanese yews were imported 

into the United States from Japan by Dr. 

George Hall following a plant collection trip. 

The plants were then made available to the nursery 

trade through Parson’s Nursery, Flushing, 

Long Island, New York. Around 1866, H.H. 

Hunnewell (Wellesley, Mass) received specimens 

of T. cuspidata and T. cuspidata var. nana 

from the Parson’s Nursery and planted them on 

his estate as he had a keen interest in evergreen 

species not previously available in the U.S. 

(Cochran, 1999, 2001). 

In 1886, Theopholius D. Hatfield (1855-1929) 

began working for the Hunnewell family and 

was a major influence in introducing and developing 

ornamental Taxus in the United States. 

He studied the imported species of Japanese 

yew growing at the Hunnewell estate and 

reported that the spreading varieties ‘nana’ and 

‘brevifolia’ (later given the name ‘Densa’) were 

the first to become popular in the nursery 

industry (Cochran, 1999). Also growing at 

Hunnewell was the English yew, which possessed 

a fine appearance for a few years, but was 

Figure 3. Taxus baccata leaves, flowers 

and fruiting structures. 1A: Immature 

female flowers. 1B: Mature female flower 

following fertilization. The red cuplike 

covering (aril) surrounding the seed 

is forming. 2A: Immature fruit. 2B: 

Mature aril fruit with fleshy outer aril 

and a single seed at the centre. 2C: 

Mature fruit (aril and seed) cut longitudinally. 

3A & 3B: Male flowers. 4: Leaf 

spray with male flowers in the axils. 5: 

Leaf spray with mature aril fruit. 

Permission for use granted by Kurt Stüber of 

the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding 

Research, Cologne, Germany. http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/thome/ 

band1/tafel_022. html. 

susceptible to winter injury resulting in foliage 

browning and a disfigured appearance, traits 

which led Hatfield to conclude that the 

Japanese yew was a superior ornamental plant 

for his region (Cochran, 1999). About 1904, he 

began a series of experiments growing Taxus 

from seed, which resulted in what was the 

largest yew plantation of its kind at that time. 

From this work, Hatfield concluded that many 

forms would come true from seed. He identified 

a probable cross of T. baccata var. fastigiata 

(Irish yew) and T. cuspidata - likely some of 

the first specimens of the Taxus xmedia hybrid 

(Anglojap yew). Eventually, the varied forms 

that he selected from his seedling experiments 

were introduced in the American nursery trade 

(Hatfield, 1921, 1929; Cochran, 1999). 

At the same time that Hatfield was growing 

seedlings at the Hunnewell estate, Henry Hicks 

was experimenting with Taxus seedlings at his 

Long Island nursery (Nassau County, 25 miles 

from New York City). In 1924, the Hicks yew (T. 

xmedia ‘Hicksii’) (Fig. 4) became available to the 

landscape industry following a 1902 seed collection 

from the Dana Arboretum (Long Island, 

NY). It soon replaced the red cedar as the premier 

hedge species and has since become the 

standard yew of the nursery trade in North 

America (Cochran, 1999). Hicks described the 

Hicksii yew as an interrogative point form 

(question mark-shaped), fruiting, dark green 

and handsome; it was known as a female selection 

(Cochran, 2001). Dirr (1990) describes 

Hicksii as a spreading, broad-pyramidal tree or 

shrub that may possess a cental leader. The 

taxonomist, Alfred Rehder, first proposed the 

name T. xmedia for the hybrids of T. baccata 

and T. cuspidata and recognized that a wide 

variety of forms was possible (Chadwick and 

Keen, 1976). Taxus xmedia is the hybrid 

designation for most of the cultivars that have 

been introduced since Hicks and Hatfield; 

however, the definitive genetic basis for Taxus 

xmedia needs to be determined through gene 

analysis (Cochran, 2001). 

Approximately 190 ornamental cultivars of yew 

have been identified to date (Cope, 1998). 

Yews have become the most popular of narrow-leaved 

evergreen ornamental plants in the 

2nd half of the 20th century in North America 

and will likely retain their popularity well into 

the 21st century (Cochran, 1999). The most 

important ornamental cultivars are found 

within the species T. cuspidata and the 

Anglojap hybrid, T. xmedia. The handsome, 

lustrous, dark, evergreen foliage and the varied 

physical forms of the commercially available cultivars, 

which range from low-profile, compact 

and dense types to the taller columnar and 

pyramidal forms, have played an indispensable 

role in establishing the yew’s landscape popularity 

(Chadwick and Keen, 1976; Dirr, 1990; 

Cochran, 1999). 

Figure 4. Taxus xmedia ‘Hicksii’: upright 

with ascending branches. 


CULTIVATION 

Taxus spp. grow in a wide range of cultural 

conditions but thrive best on loamy soils of a 

slightly acidic or neutral pH having adequate 

moisture. According to Dirr (1990), good soil 

drainage is critical for yews and anything less 

than excellent drainage results in marked 

reductions in growth or eventual death of the 

plants. In poorly drained soils, root rot can be a 

problem (Taylor et al., 1996). Yews will flourish 

in open sun or partial shade, but should be 

kept out of sweeping, desiccating winds, and 

generally do not tolerate extreme cold or heat 

well. Depending on the species, yews grow in 

most hardiness zones, ranging from USDA zone 

2 (T. canadensis) to zone 8 (T. floridiana) (Dirr, 

1990; Gilman and Watson, 1993; Taylor et al., 

1996). Since many of the cultivars have a compact 

and symmetrical form, little corrective pruning 

is required. Dirr (1990) recommends pruning 

rather than shearing to retain the natural 

shape and habit of the particular yew cultivar, 

although Taxus spp. can be sheared or pruned 

severely into topiary forms. The size and shape 

of the ornamental Taxus spp. varies greatly, ranging 

from the upright tree form of T. baccata 

‘Fastigiata’ (Irish yew) (Fig. 5) to the low spreading 

cultivars of T. xmedia (‘Densiformis’, 

‘Chadwickii’) (Fig. 6), attributes that have led to 

the wide use of Taxus in the landscape (Dirr, 

1990). 

Figure 6. Taxus xmedia ‘Densiformis’: dense, low and shrub-like. Permission for use granted by 

Waynesboro Nurseries, Waynesboro, VA. 

Figure 5. Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’ - Irish 

yew: rigidly upright branches. Permission 

for use granted by Buckingham Nurseries, 

Buckingham, UK. 

Woody ornamental or Christmas tree fertilizer 

guidelines can be used for Taxus spp. 

Application of fertilizers having N, P (as P 2 O 5 ), K 

(as K 2 O) ratios of 4:1:1, 3:1:1, or 3:1:2 are 

recommended and can be top-dressed around 

the base of the shrub’s drip line in the early 

spring for established plants. An N only fertilizer 

can be applied if there are adequate levels of P 

and K, or slow release fertilizers can also be 

used. Organic materials such as compost and 

manure can also be utilized and will improve 

soil structure; however, nutrient levels are often 

variable and should be determined through 

laboratory analysis. During site preparation just 

prior to planting, incorporate P and K if tests 

show deficiency, and leave N application for the 

next year or use compost or well-rotted manure 

to avoid root burning. Split applications of N 

fertilizer during the growing season will reduce 

the likelihood of root burn and will lessen the 

potential for ground water contamination. Lime 

applied at the time of planting will help correct 

low soil pH and should be thoroughly mixed 

with the soil in the root zone area. (Kujawski 

and Ryan, 2000). 

Although yews are resistant to many pests and 

diseases, the Taxus mealybug (Dysmicoccus wistariae), 

the Taxus scale (Pulvinaria floccifera), the 

yew-gall midge (Taxomyia taxi), the black vine 

weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) and nematodes 

(Pratylenchus spp.) have been known to cause 

plant damage (Gilman and Watson, 1993; 

Taylor et al., 1996). 

THE DISCOVERY OF TAXOL ® 

Taxol ® is likely the most well known chemotherapeutic 

agent in medical history, which is ironic 

as Taxus spp. have garnered little other modern 

interest except as landscape plants. The discovery 

of Taxol ® [generic name: paclitaxel] as a 

unique anti-cancer compound occurred in the 

early 1960s following a screening program initiated 

by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), 

which emphasized discovery of new plantbased, 

anti-tumor agents (Stephenson, 2002). 

Arthur Barclay, a botanist at the United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA), and three 

student assistants collected 650 plant samples 

in California, Washington and Oregon, which 

included the bark, twigs, leaves and fruit of the 

Pacific yew tree (T. brevifolia) (Wall and Wani, 

1995; Patel, 1998). Although the yew samples 

showed only modest anti-tumor activity initially, 

later testing using different bioassay standards 

resulted in paclitaxel being selected for further 

development. Formidable chemical and sociological 

obstacles were encountered as this promising 

raw resource was moved along the drug 

development path, including: paclitaxel’s water 

insolubility; minute paclitaxel tissue concentrations; 

and the requirement to harvest yew bark 

at the cost of destroying the tree. The latter 

issue resulted in confrontation between those 

that desired to harvest the species for drug 

development and conservation groups who 

wanted the seemingly relentless destructive 

ISHS • 18

harvest of the Pacific yew halted (Hartzell, 

1991; Kingston, 2000). Fortunately, the Pacific 

yew is not presently endangered, in part due to 

a shift from harvest of bark (required tree 

destruction) to renewable needle harvest of 

wild native stands or yew plantations (Mark 

Savage, Washington State Department of 

Natural Resources, personal communication). 

PHARMACOLOGY 

Paclitaxel has shown anti-cancer activity against 

a broad spectrum of human tumors, including: 

ovarian, breast, head, neck, small-cell and nonsmall-cell 

lung (Parekh and Simpkins, 1997; 

Gautam and Koshkina, 2003), gastric (Roth and 

Ajani, 2003) and prostate cancers (Beer et al., 

2003). It is presently approved for the treatment 

of breast, ovarian and non-small-cell lung 

cancers and AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma 

(BMS, 2004). [Taxotere ® (see below) has recently 

received FDA approval for treatment of 

advanced metastatic prostate cancer.] 

The unique anti-tumor properties of Taxol ® 

(Fig. 7) and the semi-synthetically synthesized 

Taxotere ® (Taxol ® -like activity) (Fig. 8) are based 

upon their ability to promote the assembly and 

the subsequent stabilization of mitotic spindle 

microtubules during the late G2/early M phases 

of mitosis. As the taxanes bind to the microtubule 

protein subunits, depolymerization or 

disassociation of the microtubules is prevented, 

cell division is thus blocked and the cell dies. 

Interestingly, other plant-based anti-mitotic 

agents such as vinblastine and vincristine (from 

Catharanthus roseus), colchicine (from 

Colchicum spp.) and podophyllotoxin (from 

Podophyllum hexandrum), promote microtubule 

depolymerization or destabilization, which 

prevents the mitotic spindle from fully forming, 

a mode of activity in stark contrast to that of 

the taxanes (Desbene and Giorgi-Renault, 

2002; Gordaliza et al., 2004; Jordan and 

Wilson, 2004). 

The microtubule-stabilizing activity of the taxanes 

is presently being exploited for non-chemotherapeutic 

uses. For example, a paclitaxelcoated 

stent used in balloon angioplasty surgery, 

reduces the degree of post-operative tissue 

regrowth (restenosis) in the region of the 

artery where the stent is placed. The paclitaxel 

Figure 7. Paclitaxel (Taxol ® ). 

eluting from the stent causes mitotic arrest in 

the cells of the arterial wall, which effectively 

halts any tissue proliferation (Angiotech, 2004; 

Cooper Woods and Marks, 2004). The taxanes 

are also being tested for treatment of urethral 

cancer and kidney disease (Woo et al., 1997; 

Vaughn et al., 2002; Gitlitz et al., 2003), severe 

psoriasis (Ehrlick et al., 2004) and rheumatoid 

arthritis (Angiotech, 2004). 

TAXANE SUPPLY 

Presently, taxanes for pharmaceutical development 

are supplied through biomass (needle, 

bark, root) harvest from yew plantations or 

native wild stands throughout the world, or 

from cell culture. Although taxanes extracted 

from yew tissue dominate the supply chain, 

Taxus cell culture yields may result in a higher 

portion of taxanes being produced from bioreactor/fermentation 

technology in the future. 

Nonetheless, active harvest of wild and plantation 

yew tissue currently occurs worldwide. 

Though not an exhaustive list, those presently 

involved in procuring biomass to produce taxane 

extract include: Atlantis BioActives Corp., 

BioExx Extraction Technologies Inc., Bioxel 

Pharma Inc., Biolyse Pharma Corp., Chaichem 

Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Chatham Biotec Ltd. 

in eastern Canada, Phytogen Life Sciences Inc. 

in western Canada and Natural Pharmaceuticals 

Inc. (NPI) in Massachusetts (Stewart 

Cameron, Natural Resources Canada, personal 

communication). The Mayne Group (Australiabased) 

acquires biomass from Ohio, Michigan 

and Massachusetts, NPI uses yew grown in 

Michigan, while Dabur harvests in India and 

Indena in Italy and North America. In China, the 

privately-run Beijing Taxus Ltd. (Beijing) and its 

sister facility Yantai Taxus (Yantai), are dedicated 

to greenhouse and nursery production of 

various cultivars of Taxus xmedia. In the future, 

China will likely contribute significant Taxus biomass 

for cancer pharmaceuticals although 

extensive information concerning the many 

companies involved is presently unreliable 

(Stewart Cameron, Natural Resources Canada, 

personal communication). 

In general, the process of manufacturing pharmaceutical 

grade taxane drugs involves several 

basic steps: 1) harvest of biomass or cell cultures; 

2) extraction of taxanes in crude form. 

Partial purification of extract resulting in 1- 

50+% taxanes may occur at this point; 3) purification 

of crude extract; 4) final purification to 

99.5% active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) 

grade; and 5) formulation of high quality pharmaceutical 

drug, including fill and finish processes. 

Historically, different entities have been 

involved at these stages. For example, Chatham 

Biotec Ltd. (New Brunswick, Canada) harvests 

and dries Taxus canadensis biomass and then 

sends it to Paxis Extraction Ltd. (Boulder, 

Colorado) for refinement (Stewart Cameron, 

Natural Resources Canada, personal communication). 

However, a greater degree of vertically 

Figure 8. Docetaxel (Taxotere ® ). 

integrated management is currently possible as 

single businesses better co-ordinate and control 

more of the harvest and extraction phases. 

Natural Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Fall River, 

Massachusetts) controls several procurement 

and refinement steps, i.e. they harvest and dry 

yew biomass in Michigan, extract crude taxanes 

in a Mexican plant and then ship the crude product 

to Massachusetts for further refinement 

and release. Also, Atlantis BioActives Corp. 

(Prince Edward Island, Canada) contracts out 

for harvesting and drying yew tissue, then 

extracts crude taxanes (50%) that are then sold 

for further purification and eventual formulation 

into drugs. As taxane extracts from natural 

sources are secured, pharmaceutical companies 

having the legal right eventually manufacture 

commercial products for chemotherapeutic purposes 

[e.g. Bristol Myers Squibb (USA, Taxol ® ), 

IVAX (USA, Onxol) and Aventis (France, 

Taxotere ® ). These 3 large pharmaceutical entities 

are also involved at various stages in biomass 

or extract procurement, although detailed 

information is not available]. 

It is also common practice for pharmaceutical 

companies to manufacture paclitaxel semi-synthetically 

from the natural taxane precursor 

molecule 10-deacetyl baccatin III (10-DAB), 

which is structurally similar to paclitaxel but 

does not possess the side chain emanating from 

carbon 13; the active side chain is then added 

via chemical synthesis. As 10-DAB is present in 

Taxus needles in equal or greater concentrations 

compared with paclitaxel, the semi-synthetic 

route is an economically feasible method 

for producing more anti-cancer drug from the 

same biomass yield and is responsible for much 

of the paclitaxel that is available in the finished 

drug form. 

FUTURE PROSPECTS 

Taxus spp. will remain popular as ornamentals 

for foundation, single specimen and hedging 

plants for many years to come due to their 

lustrous, dark, evergreen foliage, interesting 

morphological variation, and minimal maintenance 

and pest control demands of the commercially 

available cultivars. Demand for the 

unique compounds in Taxus tissue as treatments 

for human carcinomas is not likely to 

abate as new applications are tested and exis- 


ting ones refined as stand-alone or combination 

therapies. Hence, the pressure to harvest 

wild Taxus will likely intensify worldwide, particularly 

in developing countries, e.g. China and 

India, where the economic incentive to harvest 

and extract Taxus compounds for cancer drug 

development has spawned a black market. 

Hopefully, the harvesting pressure on wild yew 

stands can be controlled through the establishment 

of large horticultural plantations, 

thus saving germplasm and rare, unique specimens. 

Also, present and future efforts to evaluate 

the taxane content of promising cultivars 

and the manipulation of fundamental plant 

biochemistry will likely lead to higher extraction 

yields of API grade taxane. While bioreactorbased 

fermentation technology is still nascent, 

future prospects are promising that this mode 

of production will become a more significant 

contributor to the supply of taxanes and other 

promising Taxus compounds. 

The yew has enjoyed a fascinating journey with 

humanity: from being highly venerated or feared 

as a religious symbol while concomitantly 

used for weapons and tools, to being employed 

as a superior ornamental, and now highly 

regarded for its utility yet again as a source of 

superior toxin to fight one of humanity’s scourges. 

To watch what else this plant offers in the 

years ahead will be most interesting. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The authors thank M. Conny Bishop for her 

assistance with graphical software and Dr. 

Andrew Jamieson and Ms. Barbara Daniels- 

Lake for manuscript review. 


John M. DeLong 

Robert K. Prange 

Drs. John M. DeLong and Robert K. Prange are 

Research Scientists (Postharvest Physiology and 

Technology) at the Atlantic Food and 

Horticulture Research Centre, Agriculture and 

Agri-Food Canada, and are interested in postharvest 

regulation of secondary metabolites in 

horticultural crops. Dr. Prange is a member of 

the American Society for Horticultural Science 

(ASHS), the Canadian Society for Horticultural 

Science (CSHS) and the International Society 

for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Council, 

Executive Committee and Publications Advisory 

Board. Email: DeLongJ@agr.gc.ca and 

PrangeR@agr.gc.ca 

REFERENCES 

Angiotech. 2004. Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

www.angiotech.com 

Bailey, L.H. and Bailey, E.Z. 1976. Hortus third. A 

concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the 

United States and Canada. Volume 2, L-Z. Barnes 

and Noble Books, New York. 

Beer, T.M., El-Geneidi, M. and Eilers, K.M. 2003. 

Docetaxel (taxotere) in the treatment of prostate 

cancer. Expert Rev. Anticancer Ther. 3:261-268. 

BMS. 2004. Bristol-Myers-Squibb. Taxol ® (paclitaxel 

injection). Full prescribing information. 

www.taxol.com/txpi.html 

Chadwick, L.C. and Keen, R.A. 1976. A study of the 

genus Taxus. Ohio Agric. Res. Dev. Cent. Res. Bul. 

1086. 

Cochran, K.D. 1999. Taxus and taxol - a compilation 

of research findings. A history of yews in the 

United States. http://ohioline.osu.edu/sc150/ 

sc150_5.html 

Cochran, K.D. 2001. Ornamental plants annual 

reports and research reviews 2000. Genetic origins 

of Taxus selections in the United States. 

http://ohioline.osu.edu/sc177/sc177_18.html 

Cooper Woods, T. and Marks, A.R. 2004. Drug-eluting 

stents. Annu. Rev. Med. 55:169-178. 

Cope, E.A. 1998. Taxaceae: The genera and cultivated 

species. Bot. Rev. 64:291-319. 

Desbene, S. and Giorgi-Renault, S. 2002. Drugs 

that inhibit tubulin polymerization: the particular 

case of podophyllotoxin and analogues. Curr. 

Med. Chem. Anti-Canc. Agents. 21:71-90. 

Dirr, M.A. 1990. Manual of woody landscape 

plants. Their identification, ornamental characteristics, 

culture, propagation and uses. Stipes 

Publishing Company, Champaign, Ill. 

Ehrlick, A., Booher, S., Becerra, Y., Borris, D.L., Figg, 

W.D., Turner, M.L and Blauvelt, A. 2004. Micellar 

paclitaxel improves psorasis in a prospective 

phase II pilot study. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 

50:533-540. 

Gautam, A. and Koshkina, N. 2003. Paclitaxel 

(taxol) and taxoid derivatives for lung cancer 

treatment: potential for aerosol delivery. Curr. 

Cancer Drug Targets 3:287-296. 

Gerard, J. 1633. The herbal or general history of 

plants. The complete 1633 edition as revised and 

enlarged by Thomas Johnson. Dover Publications, 

Inc., New York. 

Gilman, E.F. and Watson, D.G. 1993. Taxus baccata: 

English yew. Institute of Food and Agricultural 

Sciences. Univ. Fla. Ext. ENH-782. 

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ST624 

Gitlitz, B.J., Baker, C., Chapman, Y., Allen, H.J., 

Bosserman, L.D., Patel, R., Sanchez, J.D., Shapiro, 

R.M. and Figlin, R.A. 2003. A phase II study of 

gemcitabine and docetaxel therapy in patients 

with advanced urothelial carcinoma. Cancer 

98:1863-1869. 

Gordaliza, M., Garcia, P.A., Miguel Del Corral, J.M., 

Castro, M.A. and Gomez-Zurita, M.A. 2004. 

Podophyllotoxin: distribution, sources, applications 

and new cytotoxic derivatives. Toxicon 

25:441-459. 

Gunther, R.T. 1968. The Greek herbal of 

Dioscorides. 2nd ed. Hafner Publishing Company, 

Inc., New York. 

Hartzell, H. 1991. The yew tree. A thousand whispers. 

Hulogosi Communications, Inc., Eugene, 

Ore. 

Hatfield, T.D. 1921. Raising yews from seed at 

Wellesley. Garden Magazine. March 33:23-26. 

Hatfield, T.D. 1929. Yews. Am. Plant Propagators 

Assoc. July 16. 

Jordan, M.A. and Wilson, L. 2004. Microtubules as 

a target for anticancer drugs. Nature Rev. Cancer 

4:253-265. 

Kingston, D.G.I. 2000. Recent advances in the chemistry 

of Taxol. J. Nat. Prod. 63:726-734. 

Kujawski, R.F. and Ryan, H.D. 2000. Plant culture 

and maintenance. Fertilizing trees and shrubs. 

University of Massachusetts, Amherst Extension 

Fact Sheets. www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_ 

sheets/plant_culture/fert_trees_shrubs.htm 

Parekh, H. and Simpkins, H. 1997. The transport 

and binding of taxol. Gen. Pharmacol. 29:167- 

172. 

Patel, R.N. 1998. Tour de paclitaxel. Biocatalysis for 

semisynthesis. Ann. Rev. Microbiol. 98:361-395. 

Roth, A.D. and Ajani, J. 2003. Docetaxel-based chemotherapy 

in the treatment of gastric cancer. 

Ann. Oncol. Suppl. 14:41-44. 

Small, E. and Catling, P.M. 1999. Canadian medicinal 

crops. NRC No. 42252. NRC Research Press, 

Ottawa. 

Spjut, R.W. 2003. Introduction to Taxus: methodology, 

taxonomic relationships, leaf and seed characters, 

phytogeographic relationships, cultivation, 

and chemistry. www.worldbotanical.com/ 

Introduction.htm 

Stephenson, F. 2002. Research in review: A tale of 

taxol. Florida State University. Office of Research. 

www.research.fsu.edu/researchr/fall2002/taxol. 

html 

Taylor, N.J., Nameth, S. and Chatfield, J. 1996. 

Disorders of yew (Taxus) in Ohio. The Ohio State 

University Extension FactSheet Hyg-3060-96. 

www.ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3060.html 

Vaughn, D.J., Manola, J., Dreicer, R., See, W., Levitt, 

R. and Wilding, G. 2002. Phase II study of paclitaxel 

plus carboplatin in patients with advanced 

carcinoma of the urothelium and renal dysfunction 

(E2896): a trial of the Eastern Cooperative 

Oncology Group. Cancer 95:1022-1027. 

Voliotis, D. 1986. Historical and environmental 

significance of the yew (Taxus baccata L.). Israel J. 

Bot. 35:47-52. 

Wall, M.E. and Wani, M.C. 1995. Camptothecin 

and taxol: discovery to clinic - thirteenth Bruce F. 

Cain memorial lecture. Cancer Res. 55:753-760. 

Woo, D.D., Tabancay Jr., A.P. and Wang, C.J. 1997. 

Microtubule active taxanes inhibit polycystic kidney 

disease progression in cpk mice. Kidney Int. 

51:1613-1618. 

ISHS • 20

THE WORLD OF HORTICULTURE 

Tree Fruit Growing in Kazakhstan 

Raul K. Karychev, Yvgenny Salnikov, Marat T. Nurtazin and Diane Doud Miller 

The historical roots of tree fruit growing in 

Kazakhstan are connected with the wild apple 

and apricot forests on the slopes of the Tien 

Shan (Zailiskii Alatau, Dzhungarskii Alatau and 

Tarbagati) mountain ranges in south and 

southeast Kazakhstan, centered around 

Almaty. These wild fruit forests contain Malus 

sieversii, the progenitor of the cultivated apple 

(Malus xdomestica), an occasional Malus niedzwetzkiana 

(red-fleshed species), and Armeniaca 

vulgaris, the species from which most apricot 

cultivars are directly derived. 

It is hypothesized that seeds of these wild species 

were moved along the Silk Road by travelers 

from antiquity (Forsline et al., 2003) and 

from this germplasm apple cultivars were selec- 

Apples of Kazakhstan: (A) ‘Almaty Aport’ 

cultivar; (B) ‘Golden Delicious’ x Malus 

niedzwetzkiana seedling; (C) selections 

from apple breeding program; (D) fruit 

market in Almaty. 

Map of Central Asia. 

ted, which were adapted to environments 

encountered throughout the world. The native 

range of apricot is wider and germplasm from 

many areas has been included in cultivar development. 

The rich diversity of fruit germplasm in Central 

Asia (motherland of apple, pear, apricot, plum, 

grape, walnut, and myrobalan plum) was 

described by Vavilov (1930) in an International 

Horticulture Congress held in London. He 

described Alma-ata (now Almaty), Kazakhstan, 

as the “center of origin” of cultivated apple, 

finding in the wild here apples of commercial 

quality. A.D. Dzhangaliev established main 

areas of wild apple and apricot in this region at 

1200-1500 ha and dedicated his career to conservation 

of these valuable genetic resources 

(Dzhangaliev, 2003; Dzhangaliev et al., 2003). 

During the Soviet era, the region around 

Almaty was an important center of apple production, 

especially for ‘Alexander Aport’, a 

Russian cultivar. Malus sieversii seedlings were 

commonly used as rootstocks for the Russian 

cultivars. ‘Almaty Aport’, a large-fruited cultivar 

with high demand in Russia, was trucked to 

Moscow. Large state-run orchards were located 

around Almaty. Cultivars grown were domesti- 


Dr. Aimak Dzhangaliev - wild apple 

authority in Kazakhstan. 

cated apples, from Soviet breeding programs in 

Russia or Kazakhstan, from Europe, or other 

countries. During the 1970s and 1980s there 

were more than 100,000 ha of tree fruits produced 

in Kazakhstan, predominately apples. 

Yields were approximately 4-5 tonnes (t)/ha. 

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 had a 

negative effect on tree fruit growing in 

Kazakhstan. Suddenly there was an oversupply 

of fruit and a lack of organization and care of 

orchards. The move from a centralized economy 

to a market-driven economy resulted in the 

abandonment of many orchards. Poor quality 

fruit is still gleaned from these unkempt 

orchards and marketed at bazaars. Lack of 

knowledge of orchard production practices 

including pruning techniques, unavailability of 

suitable chemicals for pest control, and the 

breakdown of irrigation schemes have resulted 

in reduced yield (1-2 tonnes/ha) on remaining 

orchard lands (estimated at 63,000 ha). 

Kazakhstan is striving to develop an orchard 

industry based upon private production and 

ownership of orchards, but it will take some 

time to find the proper balance. Both the 

amount of fruit consumed, and knowledge 

assistance to the growers, must be increased. 

Currently, annual tree fruit consumption (12-15 

kg/person) is below the amount considered 

healthful (76 kg/person). We also know that 

improved fruit quality will increase consumption 

and that growers must be educated on production 

practices and new cultivars and rootstocks. 

The Kazakhstan Ministry of Agriculture and 

Ministry of Education and Science are providing 

assistance in fruit research and education, and a 

non-government organization “Central Asia 

Harvest Project” is providing “extension” type 

education to a limited number of growers in the 

most southeastern area of the country. A new 

United Nations Project in Central Asia, through 

the International Plant Genetic Resources 

Institute, seeks to advance biodiversity conservation 

and fruit grower education. In addition, 

scientists of the Agricultural Research Service of 

the United States Department of Agriculture 

are involved with local scientists on germplasm 

preservation of local cultivars. Contacts with 

scientists from Southern Illinois University, 

Colorado State University, and Ohio State 

University in the United States are also serving 

to increase fruit production knowledge in 

Kazakhstan. 

Research efforts are underway to intensify tree 

fruit production in Kazakhstan focusing on high 

density orchards of dwarf trees. We calculate 

optimum orchard size to be 5-7 ha with an 

upper range of 20 ha. Optimally such farms 

would be widely located in the south and 

southwest of Kazakhstan, where climate is best 

for fruit growing and where fresh fruit can 

quickly be available to the population centers. 

We expect this region can support at least 500 

fruit production farms. 

At the present time, small farm technologies 

need to be developed for tree fruit production 

adapted to local climate and current economic 

condition. Important keys are cold resistance of 

flower buds, compact tree growth form, 

orchard precocity, improved cultivars, and inexpensive 

orchard establishment. Improved cultivars 

are needed for orchards at the base of the 

mountains and also for terraced orchards on 

the mountain slopes. These sites are in different 

ecological zones and will either require cultivars 

with different adaptabilities or wide adaptability. 

New cultivars need to have disease resistance 

to reduce chemical inputs required. To 

encourage high density orchards we need to 

have inexpensive trees and are working on propagation 

technologies to reduce tree cost. As 

amount of rainfall is limiting in fruit production, 

and old Soviet irrigation systems are in disrepair, 

Tissue culture laboratory and technician at 

Talgar Pomological Garden. 

drip irrigation technology is being investigated. 

Apple rootstocks, their ease of propagation, 

and their performance at base or mountains 

sites are under evaluation. Arm-18, B-7-35, 

B16-20, and 62-396 are rootstocks of current 

interest having dwarfing traits and ease of propagation. 

As important as development of our commercial 

tree fruit industry is, we also highly value 

the conservation of our wild genetic tree fruit 

resources. Recent government legislation has 

eliminated commercial orchards at high elevation 

(above 1200 m) and the wild germplasm 

will be protected in these areas. Malus sieversii 

is currently in the Kazakhstan Red Book of 

endangered species due to cross-pollination 

and genetic decline with commercial apples, 

and due to its status as a relic species. A new 

UN project will specifically target reforestation 

Fruit industry in Kazakhstan: (A) dried apples used for tea; (B) bulk boxes used for harvesting; 

(C) nursery production of chip-budded trees; (D) precocious cultivars bearing fruit in the 

nursery; (E) cherry cultivars under test; (F) plum cultivars under test. 

ISHS • 22


Raul K. Karychev 

Yvgenny Salnikov 

Wild apples and new orchards: (A) Malus sieversii in gorges in protected land reserves at elevations 

above 1200 m near Taraz; (B) Malus sieversii selection retaining fruit after leaf-fall; (C) view 

from protected Malus sieversii area near Taraz to commercial orchard in Jabagly; (D) commercial 

orchard in arid land near Jabagly. 

of M. sieversii and Armeniaca vulgaris at higher 

mountain elevation in south and south-eastern 

Kazakhstan using specially selected seedling 

and grafted trees as reforestation material. 

These sites will be in protected natural areas. 

Although it will take time, and Kazakhstan is a 

new country, we believe by collaboration 

between forestry and horticulture, with support 

by national and international agencies, 

Kazakhstan horticulture can both preserve its 

past - important wild genetic fruit tree resources, 

and develop its future - a balanced commercial 

tree fruit industry to provide healthful 

fruit for its citizens. 

REFERENCES 

Dzhangaliev, A.D. 2003. The wild apple tree of 

Kazakhstan. Hort. Rev. 29:63-303. 

Dzhangaliev, A.D., Salova, T.N. and Turekhanova, 

P.M. 2003. The wild fruit and nut plants of 

Kazakhstan. Hort. Rev. 29:305-371. 

Forsline, P.L., Aldwinckle, H.S., Dickson, E.R., Luby, 

J.J. and Hokanson, S.C. 2003. Collection, maintenance, 

characterization and utilization of wild 

apples of Central Asia. Hort. Rev. 29:1-61. 

Vavilov, N.I. 1930. Wild progenitors of the fruit 

trees of Turkistan and the Caucasus and the problem 

of the origin of fruit trees. Proc. Int. Hort. 

Congr. 1930. p.271-286. 

Marat Nurtazin 

Diane Doud Miller 

Raul K. Karychev is Horticulturist working with tree 

fruit teaching and research at the Kazakh 

Research Institute of Fruit Growing and 

Viticulture, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Email: 

raul_karychev@mail.ru 

Yvgenny Salnikov is Apple Breeder and 

Pomologist, Pomological Orchard, Kazakh 


Viticulture, Talgar, Kazakhstan. 

Marat Nurtazin is Stone Fruit Breeder and 

Pomologist, Pomological Orchard, Kazakh 


Viticulture, Talgar, Kazakhstan. 

Diane Doud Miller is Associate Professor of 

Horticulture and Crop Science, Tree Fruit 

Extension and Research, The Ohio State 

University, Wooster, OH. She spent four months 

in Kazakhstan in 2004 as part of Fulbright 

Scholar program. Email: miller.87@osu.edu 

Southeast Anatolia Project of Turkey: 

Implications for Horticulture 

Semiha Güler 

The Southeast Anatolia Project (in Turkish 

Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi or GAP), the 

largest regional development project in Turkey 

and one of the major projects in the world, is a 

multi-sector and integrated regional development 

effort covering 9 administrative provinces 

in the basin of the Euphrates and Tigris and in 

Upper Mesopotamia. This region, about 10% 

of the total area of Turkey, consists of 9 provin- 

ces (Adiyaman, Batman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, 

Kilis, Mardin, Siirt, Sanliurfa and Sirnak) that 

border Syria and Iraq. 

The area brought under irrigation will be equal 

in size to the total area so far brought under 

irrigation by Turkey and can be expected to 

bring about significant changes in agricultural 

output and crop design. The GAP administration 

estimates that substantial increases in crop 

production will ensue: wheat 90%, barley 

43%, cotton 600%, tomatoes 700%, lentils 

250%, and other vegetables 167%. 

The water resources development component 

of the program envisages the construction of 

22 dams and 19 hydraulic power plants and the 

irrigation of 1.7 million hectares of land. The 

total cost of the project is estimated at 32 billion 

US $. The total installed capacity of power 


Turkey and the Southeast Anatolia Project. 

47.8% of the country total cotton production. 

Wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentil (red), dry pepper, 

sesame, and cotton are the most important 

field crops of the GAP region. A wide range of 

fruit crops from olive to pomegranate are produced 

in the GAP region but they account for 

only a small portion of the country total production 

owing to unfavourable climatic conditions. 

Total vegetable area of the GAP region (82,204 

ha) is about 10% of the country total vegetable 

area (831,255 ha). Between the new jobs in 

industry, agriculture, and construction of the 

dams, roads, and other facilities, the GAP 

expects to be able to employ 3.8 million 

people. 

The Council of Ministers set 2010 as the target 

year for the completion of the project and ordered 

the preparation of the “GAP 2010 Integrated 

Plan and Implementation Program” by the 

GAP-Regional Development Administration 

with other governmental units supplying necessary 

inputs to the Administration. 

plants is 7476 MW and projected annual energy 

production reaches 27 billion kWh. 

GAP has been supported by many countries 

and organisations including United States, 

Canada, Israel, France, other countries from 

Europe, and some international funds and credit 

institutions including the World Bank. The 

GAP Administration is engaged in cooperation 

with many international organisations, universities 

and civil society organisations to share 

information and experience including a number 

of US universities (Arizona State University, San 

Diego University, Tennessee Valley Authority, 

Kent State University, Portland State University, 

Oklahoma State University), the Packard 

Humanities Institute, HASNA Inc., the Syriabased 

International Center of Agricultural 

Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), the Sri Lankabased 

International Water Management 

Institute (IWMI), Egypt Southern Valley 

Development Administration (TOSHKA), the 

Bari (Italy) based Mediterranean Agricultural 

Research Organisation (CHIEAM-IAMB), and 

Syrian General Organisation for Land 

Development (GOLD). At present, a protocol is 

being drafted for cooperation with the 

International Cooperation Center of the 

Foreign Ministry of Israel (MASHAV) focusing 

on rural development issues. 

The GAP region extends over an area of 75.000 

km 2 and a wide range of crops requiring different 

climatic conditions are raised in this area 

including olive, pistachio, hazelnut, and persimmon. 

The region has 3.5 million hectares of 

land (10% of the country total) fit for crop culture. 

Forested areas make up 1.3 million hectares 

while 2.3 million hectares of land consists of 

pastures and ranges. The region accounts for 

CONTACT 

Semiha Güler 

Semiha Güler, Black Sea Agricultural Research 

Institute, 55001 Samsun, Turkey, email: semihag@yahoo.com 

New Books, Websites 

The books listed here are non-ISHS-publications. 

For ISHS publications covering these 

or other subjects, visit the ISHS website 

www.ishs.org or the Acta Horticulturae 

website www.actahort.org 

BOOK REVIEWS 

Hybrid Vegetable Development. P.K. Singh, 

S.K. Dasgupta and S.K. Tripathi (eds.). 

2005. Food Products Press, The Haworth 

Press, Inc., New York. xvi + 441p. ISBN 

1-56022-118-6 (hardback). $79.95. ISBN 

1-56022-119-4 (paperback). $59.95. 

www.haworthpress.com 

There is no doubt that hybrid breeding has 

become the major breeding method for vegetable 

crops produced under advanced horticultural 

systems. Growers are more than willing to 

pay substantially higher seed prices in return for 

uniformity and high productivity and seed producers 

find this is a way to control intellectual 

property and to insure repeated seed purchases. 

Hybrid breeding consists of techniques to 

exploit heterosis. The present work, seemingly 

aimed at students, is composed of 20 chapters, 

mostly authored by Indian scientists, which 

review hybrid vegetable development. 

Coverage includes solanaceous crops (tomato, 

eggplant, hot and bell peppers); cruciferous 

vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, 

kohlrabi, radish, and turnip); okra; cucurbitaceous 

vegetables (bittergourd, bottle gourd, 

cucumber, loofah, melon, and watermelon); 

garden pea; and root vegetables (carrot and 

beet). There is a brief chapter on hybrid breeding 

mechanisms. A small chapter on transgenic 

vegetable crops seems out of place. 

Unfortunately many of the chapters do not 

appear up-to-date and the professional breeder 

will find this work superficial. This reference 

work has been co-published simultaneously in 

the Journal of New Seeds, another Haworth 

Press imprint. 

ISHS • 24

1421: The Year China Discovered America. 

Gavin Menzies. 2002. Perennial, 

HarperCollins Publ., New York. 650p. ISBN 

0-06-054094-X. Available from Amazon for 

$10.85. 

That Chinese Treasure ships sailed to India and 

Africa in the 15th century is uncontroversial. 

The theory that four large Chinese fleets with 

30,000 crew including concubines under the 

general command of Admiral Zheng He, a 

Moslem eunuch, circumnavigated the world 

between March 1421 and October 1423; that 

Chinese sailors and their consorts settled in 

North and South America, Australia, New 

Zealand and on Pacific Islands; that part of the 

fleet traveled to Antarctica and the North pole 

- is mind boggling to western sensibilities. 

Author Gavin Menzies, a British submarine captain, 

has written a large, compelling book that 

claims exactly that, reducing the Spanish and 

Portuguese explorers to followers of maps 

derived from Chinese sources. The evidence 

brought to bear is voluminous and includes 

maps, wrecks, DNA analysis, historical 

accounts, and horticulture. While the combined 

case as presented is powerful, one yearns for 

the smoking gun: irrefutable physical evidence 

that the Chinese landed on the coast of 

Australia or America prior to 1492. The presented 

evidence does not yet pass the test in my 

judgment, although as an iconoclast I want to 

believe. As a non-historian, I am not in a position 

to critically analyze all the data but I can 

comment on some of the crop evidence proposed. 

For example, in support of his theory, the 

author includes pre-Columbian evidence of 

sweetpotato in Polynesian and pre-Magellan 

evidence of maize in the Philippines (based on 

the first hand account of Antonio Pigafetta). 

The presence of sweetpotato (kumara) in New 

Zealand is more likely due to Polynesian migration 

from a much more ancient introduction. In 

addition, my reading of the Dover edition of 

Pigafetta (Magellans’ Voyage: A Narrative 

Account of the First Circumnavigation, 1969) 

does not support the assertion that maize was 

observed in the Philippines by Magellans’s crew. 

Above books are reviewed by Jules Janick, Purdue 

University, USA 

Currants, Gooseberries, and Jostaberries. A 

Guide for Growers, Marketers, and 

Researchers in North America. Danny L. 

Barney and Kim E. Hummer. 2005. Food 

Products Press, The Haworth Press, Inc., 

New York. 266p. ISBN 1-56022-296-5 (hardback). 

$59.95. ISBN 1-56022-297-2 (paperback). 

$34.95. www.haworthpress.com 

Dr. Danny Barney, a Professor of Horticulture, 

University of Idaho, and Dr. Kim Hummer, 

Research Leader, USDA-ARS National Clonal 

Germplasm Repository, Corvallis, Oregon, have 

written a comprehensive, useful book on 

gooseberries, black, red, and white currants, 

and jostaberries. This book should be a valuable 

resource for those interested in Ribes species 

worldwide, even though, as its title indicates, it 

is written from a North American perspective. 

The authors start with a history of cultivation, 

worldwide, including a wide range of references. 

A chapter on genetics, growth and development, 

and fruit composition has very good 

taxonomic information and a sub-section on 

flowering, pollination, and self-fertility that 

includes a list of self-fertile and self-sterile cultivars. 

The section reviewing the nutritional and 

antioxidant properties of Ribes fruit is very interesting. 

The authors’ experience and familiarity 

with these crops is no more evident than in the 

cultivar chapter. Here they have used information 

from germplasm trials in Oregon and Idaho 

and evaluations of the Ribes collection at the 

National Clonal Germplasm Repository collection 

in Corvallis, Oregon, USA to provide practical 

information on cultivars including fruit size, 

shape, color, flavor, fruiting season, bush vigor, 

presence or absence of spines, and resistance to 

disease (particularly powdery mildew, 

Sphaerotheca mors-uvae and/or S. macularis, 

and White Pine Blister Rust, Cronartium ribicola). 

Tables provide detailed ratings on the mildew 

resistance, vigor, and picking ease and give 

values for fruit pH, total soluble solids content, 

and weight and beginning and end bloom and 

ripening season and thus allow easy comparison 

amongst cultivars. Although there is currently 

no Ribes breeding program in the USA, 

the authors include a chapter on breeding currants, 

gooseberries, and jostaberries highlighting 

the goals of leading breeding programs 

worldwide, drawing heavily upon the opinions 

of breeders in the United Kingdom. The tables 

in this chapter list suggested parentage for currants 

and gooseberries to breed for improved 

fruit and juice quality, disease or frost resistance, 

or improved adaptability for machine 

harvest. 

The chapters that include site considerations, 

propagation, designing a farm, preparing a 

planting, planting management (fertilization, 

weed control, pruning and training, pollination, 

winter protection, and a calendar of management 

activities), harvesting fruit, and insect 

and disease management provide practical, 

thorough information for a grower audience. A 

section on marketing contains some good ideas 

for fruit and other Ribes plant products (leaves, 

buds). Finally, the authors have provided a very 

important enterprise budget showing the typical 

costs for producing gooseberries and currants 

for fresh market in the USA. This book is 

a valuable resource for any grower or researcher 

interested in Ribes. 

Reviewed by Bernadine Strik, Oregon State 

University, USA 

Our Strawberries/Les Fraisiers de chez 

nous. S. Khanizadeh and J. DeEll (eds.). 

2005. Agriculture and Agri-Food 

Canada/Agriculture et Agroalimentaire 

Canada. 556p. ISBN 0-660-62338-2. $130. 

http://cyberfruit.info/ or http://publications.gc.ca 

Our Strawberries is an illustrated book that describes 

over 170 strawberry cultivars using information 

collected during 1989-2005 from the 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada experimental 

growing sites in L’Acadie (Quebec) and 

includes information gathered from published 

scientific literature. The book is intended for 

strawberry breeders, scientists interested in 

strawberry culture, extension workers, growers, 

and home gardeners. The information on winter 

hardiness, disease resistance, and ripening 

dates will be valuable for cold climates with 

short growing seasons. Contributors include 

N.J. Bostanian, O. Carisse, J. Cousineau, A. 

Dale, H. Daubeny, J. DeEll, J. Hancock, K.E. 

Hummer, S. Khanizadeh, A. Levasseur, M. 

Luffman, J.L. Maas, G.R. Nonnecke, M.P. Pritts, 

A.J. Sullivan, and C. Vincent. 

NEW TITLES 

Chopra, V.L. and Peter, K.V. (eds.). 2005. 

Handbook of Industrial Crops. Food Products 

Press, The Haworth Press, Inc., New York. xiv + 

536p. ISBN 1-56022-282-4 (hardback). $99.95. 

ISBN 1-56022-283-2 (paperback). $59.95. 

www.haworthpress.com 

WEBSITES 

www.bharatbook.com: Bharat Book Bureau, 

India. Information on the publication of 6 volumes 

‘Advances in Ornamental Horticulture’. 

http://www.horticultureworld.net/content.htm: 

Journal of Applied Horticulture 


Courses and Meetings 

The following are non-ISHS events. Make sure to check out the 

Calendar of ISHS Events for an extensive listing of all ISHS meetings. 

For updated information log on to www.ishs.org/calendar 

6th International Cool Climate Symposium for Viticulture and Oenology, 

6-10 February 2006, Christchurch, New Zealand. Info: Symposium 

Secretariat, Professional Development Group, PO Box 84, Lincoln 

University, Canterbury, New Zealand, Phone: +64 3 325 3849, Mobile: 

+64 27 275 0123, Fax: +64 3 325 3685, email: info@iccs2006.org.nz, 

web: www.iccs2006.org.nz 

Third International Rosaceae Genomics Conference, 19-22 March 2006, 

Napier, New Zealand. Info: Sue Page, Encore Events Management Ltd, 

13a Charles St, Westshore, Napier, New Zealand, Phone/fax: +64-6-835- 

9549, email: encore.events@clear.net.nz 

“Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006”, 1 November 2006 - 31 January 2007, 

Chiang Mai, Thailand, is the International Horticultural Exposition devoted 

to the 60th Anniversary of His Majesty the King of Thailand’s 

Accession to the Throne and His Majesty’s 80th Birthday Anniversary. Info: 

Ms. Boonchira Putthisri, Public Communications Division, Project 

Management Office, Phone: +66 2686 7319, Fax: +66 2659 5920, email: 

info@royalfloraexpo.com, web: www.royalfloraexpo.com 

14th World Fertilizer Congress, 22-27 January 2006, Chiang Mai, 

Thailand. Info: Dr. Pitayakon Limtong or Mrs. Waraporn Boonsorn, Land 

Development Department, Phahonyothin Rd., Chatuchak, Bangkok 

10900, Thailand, Phone: 66 2941 2724 or 66 2579 5571, Fax: 66 2579 

7687 or 66 2579 0772, email: pitaya@ldd.go.th or pld_7@ldd.go.th or 

wfc14th@ldd.go.th, web: www.ldd.go.th/wfc14th 

Opportunities 

Virologist, International Potato Center (CIP) 

Director AVRDC’s Asian Regional Center, Bangkok, Thailand 

For more information visit www.ishs.org/general/index.htm 

SYMPOSIA AND WORKSHOPS 

Section Nuts and Mediterranean 

Fourth Int’l Symposium on 

Climate Fruits 

Pistachio and Almond 

The 4th International Symposium on Pistachio 

and Almond under the auspices of the 

International Society for Horticultural Science 

(ISHS) was very successfully held in Tehran, Iran 

from 22 to 25 May 2005. The number of participants 

from Iran and all continents of the 

world was amazingly outstanding. The symposium 

was organized by Agricultural Research 

and Education Organization (AREO), Iran’s 

Pistachio Research Institute (IPRI), Deputy of 

Horticultural Affairs, Ministry of Jihad-e- 

Agriculture, Seed and Plant Improvement 

Research Institute (SPII), Faculty of 

Agriculture/University of Tehran, Agricultural 

Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran, 

Farmer’s House, Iranian Society for Horticultural 

Science and sponsored by Agricultural Bank 

and Rafsanjan Pistachio Producer’s Co-operative 

(RPPC). 

The opening ceremony started with a welcome 

lecture by Dr. Amanollah Javanshah, convener 

of the symposium and head of the Iran’s 

Pistachio Research Institute (IPRI), in which he 

extended his thanks and gratitude to the distinguished 

participants, particularly those from 

other countries, and also very cordially thanked 

the members of Scientific and Executive 

Committees and Editorial Committee and his 

colleagues of the Iran’s Pistachio Research 

Institute. 

He stated that science shouldn’t be restricted to 

a person, a country or a religion but to humanity 

as a matter of fact. He believed the presence 

of the scientists at any meeting meant “science 

for better life”. He very briefly explained the 

role of pistachio and almond in human life all 

over the world and hoped that such symposia 

under the auspices of ISHS would lead to more 

sincere ties and exchange of knowledge among 

all dear researchers in the world. 

The second presentation was delivered by H.E. 

Dr. Ali Ahoonmanesh, Hon, Deputy Minister 

and head of AREO. At first he extended his 

warmest welcome to the prominent participants 

and the esteemed scientists participating 

in this symposium. He stated that Iran is the 

oldest and biggest producer and exporter of 

pistachio and the fourth producer of almond in 

the world and Iran demands for higher contribution 

regarding policy making of these crops 

at international level. Then he gave a brief 

description of AREO’s organizational chart, 

mandate, responsibility and research activities 

of its affiliated national research institutes and 

centers. He also stated that Iran is one of the 

richest countries in the world with regard to 

plant genetic resources. 

ISHS • 26

Participants of the Symposium. 

The third statement was presented by Dr. R. 

Socias i Company, ISHS representative. At first 

he warmly welcomed all the distinguished 

guests and expressed his deep appreciation and 

thanks to all organizers of this symposium. He 

stated that this could be a good opportunity for 

exchanging the latest research highlights, meeting 

participating researchers and other participants 

and getting more acquainted with advances 

and new technologies. He invited all participants 

to join the ISHS for more strengthening 

this international society. 

The next statement was presented by the Iran 

Pistachio Producers Cooperative representative. 

He propounded for solving the most causes of 

damages in agricultural production, the farmers 

should have access to advanced technologies 

and research highlights for enhancing the quality 

and quantity of their products and in this 

regard making a close collaboration among 

national research institutes. 

The first keynote lecture was presented by Prof. 

Talaei, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at 

Tehran University. At first he gave some general 

information about the strategic and geographic 

position of Iran, population and other relevant 

information. He stated that Iran has many horticultural 

crops due to vast diversity in its climatic 

conditions. Further he mentioned two main 

mountain ranges in Iran, Alborz and Zagros, 

with many fertile lands in these areas. He also 

stated agriculture plays an important role in 

Iran’s national economy: 18% of GNP belongs 

to this area and 20% of manpower is working 

in this sector. Then he demonstrated some statistics 

comparing Iran with other countries in 

total horticultural crops, pistachio and almond 

cultivars, production and quality. 

The second keynote lecture, entitled “Aflatoxin 

and its global strategies”, was presented by Dr. 

Alavi. He mentioned that mycotoxins, fungal 

metabolites exhibiting toxic effects in higher 

organisms, are produced by over 100 fungal 

species. Approximately 25% of the world’s food 

crops are affected each year by mycotoxins. He 

also spoke about aflatoxin, which is produced 

significantly in storage commodities such as 

dried nuts (peanut, Brazilian nut, pistachio, 

almond, hazelnut and walnut), grains (maize, 

millet, sorghum) and dried fruit (especially fig). 

The last keynote lecture was presented by Dr. S. 

Chaichi in the field of analysis on almond breeding 

in Iran. He stated that the main origin of 

this crop is in Iran and central Asia. A vast diversity 

of almond wild species, of which around 15 

date back to ancient times, is available in Iran. 

The cultivation of this crop in Iran dates back to 

Visit to almond’s orchards. 

ancient times. Then he called the USA the main 

almond exporter in the world, which possesses 

43% of global production, and Iran as fourth 

rank with a total production of 100,000 tons. 

A total of 141 oral presentations and 175 posters 

were divided into eight sessions, including: 

1. Cultivars and Breeding 

2. Propagation and Rootstocks 

3. Physiology and Nutrition 

4. Pollination and Fruit Set 

5. Orchard Management 

6. Harvesting and Processing 

7. Phytopathology 

8. Economics and Marketing 


Visit to IPRI. 

The symposium’s exhibition contained 14 

stands on different pistachio and almond industries, 

such as pesticides and fertilizers, vacuum 

packed pistachio and almond, processing tools 

and machines, Iran handicrafts and research. 

At the end of the second day a splendid dinner 

party, hosted by Dr. Kalantari, Director of 

Khaneh Keshavarz, was organized and guests 

were entertained with traditional delicious 

Iranian dishes. 

On the third day in a special ceremony an ISHS 

medal was awarded to Dr. Amanollah 

Javanshah by Dr. R. Socias i Company, ISHS 

representative, and all those researchers already 

retired in the field of pistachio and almond were 

appreciated for their valuable and effective 

efforts with special gifts. Then Dr. Kalantari very 

briefly wished all participants good luck and 

apologized for any probable failure or shortage. 

He also suggested that more growers should 

participate in a symposium face to face to 

researchers. 

At the end of the afternoon session, the closing 

ceremony was held. First Dr. Javanshah explained 

about the tours and once more he thanked 

the prominent participants and all those involved 

in the symposium. Then Dr. Company took 

the floor and presented a brief introduction and 

description about its mandate, activities and 

other relevant information. He also gave some 

information about sections, commissions, and 

working groups of ISHS. Then he invited Dr. 

Louise Ferguson to join him and she stated the 

panelists received two proposals for the 5th 

Symposium: one from Syria and another from 

Turkey. Finally, because of the number of participants, 

Turkey was selected as the host for the 

next symposium. 

The day after the closing session, a three day 

tour was organized, which started in Isfahan 

and progressed down the south of Iran to 

Kerman and Rafsanjan. The tour provided a 

range of different experiences. The first day 

involved visits to Saman region almond 

orchards in the Shahr-e-kord. The tour progressed 

to the city of Isfahan for a number of cultural 

and tourist activities, including the 

Chehelsotoon and other ancient and historical 

places. The participants were in Kerman province 

during the following two days. First they visited 

a typical pistachio orchard and also one of 

the Iran’s Pistachio Research Stations located in 

Rafsanjan suburb. All visitors were impressed by 

pistachio genetic resources. RPPC (Rafsanjan 

Pistachio Producer Cooperative), which is the 

greatest cooperative in the Middle East, was the 

next place visited. A visit to Rafsanjan Food 

Control Lab (RFCL) was also very interesting. 

Finally all curious participants were invited to 

visit Iran’s Pistachio Research Institute. In a 

friendly gathering with IPRI researchers, the 

various aspects of the symposium were evaluated 

by a representative of the delegations. 

The results of the evaluation were satisfactory, 

especially the message of Dr. Kaiser from the 

United States of America in Persian language 

evoked the emotional feelings of all participants 

present in the meeting. 

Finally all Executive and Scientific Committee 

members wished good health, success and 

prosperity for all dear participants. 

Amanollah Javanshah and Hossein Hokmabadi 

CONTACT 

Dr. Amanollah Javanshah, Iran’s Pistachio 

Research Institute, P.O. Box 77175.435, 

Rafsanjan, Iran, Phone: 0098 391 4225201, 

Fax: 0098 391 4225208, email: 

javanshah@pri.ir 

Dr. Hossein Hokmabadi, Iran’s Pistachio Research 

Institute, P.O. Box 77175.435, Rafsanjan, Iran, 

Phone: 0098 391 4225204, Fax: 0098 391 

4225208, email: hokmabadi@pri.ir 

Did you renew your ISHS membership? 

Logon to www.ishs.org/members 

and renew online! 

ISHS • 28

Section Pome and Stone Fruits 

Tenth Int’l Symposium on Plant 

Bioregulators in Fruit Production 


The Tenth International Symposium on Plant 

Bioregulators in Fruit Production was successfully 

held in Saltillo, Mexico on June 26-30, 

2005. The symposium was organized under the 

auspices of the Universidad Autonoma Agraria 

Antonio Narro (UAAAN) and the International 

Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). The 

institutions SAGARPA, Biocampo S.A. de C.V., 

Laboratorios Agronzymas S.A. de C.V., Valent, 

Fundacion PRODUCE Coahuila and COECyT 

Opening Ceremony. From left to right: 

H. Ramírez, T. Webster, L.A. Aguirre, 

D. Greene, F. Valenzuela and A. Benavides. 

made an important financial support. More 

than 130 participants from 29 countries attended 

this event. The high standards of the organization 

and the scientific impact of the 43 oral 

and 57 poster presentations substantiated the 

worldwide interest on bioregulators in fruit production. 

Previous to the opening ceremony, a Steering 

Committee meeting took place with the participation 

of D. Greene (USA), T. Webster (UK), J. 

Retamales (Chile), G. Costa (Italy), D. Woolley 

(NZ), A. Basak (Poland), S. Bound (Australia), H. 

Ramirez (Mexico), F. Bangerth and W. 

Rademacher (Germany). The group discussed 

several aspects related to the actual situation of 

the ISHS Working Group on Bioregulators in 

Fruit Production and analyzed strategies to 

strengthen their presence in the society. 

The event was inaugurated by Dr. Luis A. 

Aguirre, dean of the University. The symposium 

was organized in 8 sessions and was opened 

with a very stimulating paper: “The Fruit 

Cuticle - First Contact”, presented by Dr. Eric 

Curry. Sessions on Biochemical and Molecular 

Aspects of Bioregulators; Propagation; Control 

of Vegetative Growth; Dormancy; Flowering 

and Fruiting; Thinning and Alternate Bearing; 

and Ripening and Fruit Quality were initiated by 

keynote lectures. 

Tony Webster presenting the ISHS medal to 

Homero Ramirez. 

Dr. Takahito Nomura (Japan) spoke about the 

importance of brassinosteroids on gene biosynthesis. 

Dr. Don Elfving (USA) presented useful 

tools for plant propagation using PGRs. Dr. 

Wilhelm Rademacher (Germany) covered all 

aspects of growth retardants with particular 

emphasis on Prohexadione-Ca. The actual concept 

of dormancy and hormones was presented 

by Dr. Jorunn E. Olsen (Norway), whereas 

Prof. Fritz Bangerth (Germany) made an extensive 

review of the process of flower induction in 


Farewell dinner. From left to right: H. 

Ramirez, N. Looney and J. Osborne. 

perennial fruit trees. The topic of thinning, 

including practical, physiological and molecular 

aspects, was presented by Prof. Guglielmo 

Costa (Italy). Fruit ripening and fruit quality 

were covered by Drs. Anthony Webster (UK), 

Eric Curry (USA) and Terence Robinson (USA). 

Contributed papers (oral and posters) were related 

to the above sessions and linked to several 

fruit species such as apple, cherry, peach, pear, 

pecan, grape, pistachio, avocado, loquat, fig, 

pomegranate, mango, kiwifruit, longan, 

persimmon, papaya, melon and mandarin. 

The closing lecture was presented by Dr. 

Norman Looney (ISHS President). His excellent 

presentation was based on the role that ISHS 

plays in world horticulture and how bioregulators 

can improve food production and quality. 

The use of PGRs, he said, continues to be an 

important alternative for horticultural crops 

Post symposium tour to Parras vineyard. 

Field trip to Huachichil fruticulture region. 

according to market demand. Although genetic 

engineering, biotechnology and transgenic 

technology continue to be important lines of 

research, PGRs maintain their importance 

among researchers and growers. He also pointed 

out the necessity to strengthen the link 

between ISHS and universities and research 

centers with the purpose to increase professional 

opportunities for young researchers and to 

serve developing countries. 

A business meeting of the working group was 

held. Prof. Duane Greene (USA) resigned as a 

Chairman and Prof. Guglielmo Costa (Italy) was 

elected as a new Chairman. After some discussion 

and analysis, it was agreed to hold the next 

symposium in Italy in 2009. 

Visits to UAAAN campus and Huachichil fruticulture 

region were organized for the participants. 

In these places, they learned about the 

education system in agriculture and research 

management for temperate fruit production. 

A welcome reception and social events, including 

“Noche Mexicana” were quite enjoyable 

for the participants. The accompanying persons 

programme included visits to Historic Saltillo, 

bird museum, desert museum and Villa de 

Arteaga. 

At the farewell dinner the participants had the 

opportunity to establish new professional and 

friendly links for the following symposium. 

A post symposium 2-day tour to Parras took 

place. Vineyards, pecan orchards, nut processing 

industry, winery and a melon packing 

house were visited, combined with a sightseeing 

city tour. The group spent one night at 

“Casa Madero”, an old style Hacienda. 

Homero Ramirez 

CONTACT 

Homero Ramirez, Convener, Departamento de 

Horticultura, UAAAN, Buenavista, Saltillo, 

Coahuila, Mexico, Phone: +52 844 4174167, 

email: homeror@terra.com.mx 

ISHS • 30

Section Root and Tuber Crops 

Second Int’l Symposium on 

Sweetpotato and Cassava 

Ranking sixth and seventh in production as 

leading food crops in the world, cassava and 

sweetpotato contribute to the energy and 

nutritional requirements of a significant proportion 

of the world population. They are also two 

of the most important sources of starch to the 

food and non-food industries. 

The 1st International Symposium on Sweetpotato 

with the theme “Sweetpotato - Food 

and Health for the Future” was held in Lima, 

Peru in 2001. This event provided a strong link 

among sweetpotato scientists from around the 

world, enabling them to meet with their peers 

to review the status of research on the crop. 

Following this tradition, this 2nd symposium, 

jointly organized by the Malaysian Agricultural 

Research & Development Institute (MARDI) and 

ISHS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14-17 June 

2005, expanded its focus to both sweetpotato 

and cassava. The venue being in Asia was certainly 

appropriate as China is the world’s largest 

producer of sweetpotato, while Thailand leads 

in the export of cassava products. 

While a lot of research has been conducted in 

various areas to support the quantity and quality 

of these crops as demanded by the market, 

there are still gaps in technology development 

that hamper commercialization. Thus, the 

theme was “Innovative Technologies for 

Commercialization”. 

The objectives of the 2ISSC were: 

❚ To highlight research achievements in sweetpotato 

and cassava, as well as to enhance 

future research activities, ranging from field 

production to product development so as to 

promote and create value-added downstream 

industries, 

Technical tour to Kampong Kuala Bikam: 

sweetpotato grown on tin-tailings. 

❚ To formulate strategies in gaining trade and 

market access in the global scenario, 

❚ To promote R&D collaboration between the 

public and private sectors, as well as among 

countries, in finding solutions to research and 

industry-related problems. 

The scope of the symposium was defined by six 

sessions, viz. 

Session 1: Success Stories in Commercialization 

Session 2: New Varieties for New Markets 

Session 3: Combating Biotic Constraints 

Session 4: Innovative Production Systems 

Session 5: Value-adding for Better Health 

Session 6: Novel Uses 

To achieve the first two objectives, 25 papers on 

specific topics relevant to certain sessions were 

invited from prominent scientists and industry 

leaders. Of particular interest and in line with 

the theme were the invited papers in Session 1 - 

“R&D collaboration with industry: The Japanese 

sweetpotato story” by K. Komaki and O. 

Yamakawa of the National Institute of Crop 

Science, Japan; “Sweetpotato products in a 

modern world: The New Zealand experience” by 

S. Lewthwaite of New Zealand Institute for Crop 

& Food Research Ltd.; “The role of the Kawagoe 

Friends of Sweetpotato in popularizing the crop 

in Japan” by B. Duell of the Tokyo International 

University; “The survival of the cassava industry 

in Thailand” by C. Chutharatkul of the Thai 

Tapioca Development Institute; “CLAYUCA: An 

innovative approach to empower Latin 

American countries in determining cassava 

research and development agendas” by B. 

Ospina of CLAYUCA, Colombia; and “Linking 

small-scale cassava and sweetpotato farmers to 

growth markets: Experiences, lessons and challenges” 

by R. Best of Global Forum on 

Agricultural Research, FAO, Italy. It may be 

expected that important lessons on how to 

achieve commercialization success will be learnt 

by all participants from these papers. 

Corresponding to the needs of old and new 

markets, as well as to those of producers and 

processors, were papers covering sweetpotato 

varieties improved by biofortification, and those 

having unique quality characteristics (altered 

starch structure and flavour); status of sweetpotato 

virus and cassava diseases; sweetpotatobased 

cropping systems; successes from 

working with cassava farmers using the farmer 

participatory approach; new drying technologies 

for root crops; nutritional food products 

from sweetpotato roots and leaves; anthocyanin 

production from a sweetpotato cell line; as 

well as the production of biodegradable plastics 

and ethanol from cassava. 

Technical tour 2: demonstration of cassava 

harvester at MARDI. 

The invited papers were supplemented by 30 

selected by the Technical Advisory Committee 

from a total of 91 contributed papers. The 

remaining 61 papers were presented as posters. 

Each participant received the abstracts of all the 

papers. 

Two satellite meetings, dedicated to sweetpotato 

genetic resources and to starch respectively, 

were held in tandem with the symposium, 

while participants had a choice of two technical 

tours on the last day. The first tour visited a 

sweetpotato-producing area sited on tin-tailings, 

while the second tour to MARDI covered 

demonstration of sweetpotato and cassava 

planting and harvesting machines. 

A total of 145 participants, hailing from 24 

countries, were in attendance. Four (from 

Uganda, Tanzania and Cameroon) were fully 

sponsored by the Technical Centre for 

Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), and 

one (from Brazil) by the Organisation for the 

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), 

while MARDI fully sponsored one participant 

(from Vietnam) and partially sponsored three 

others (from India and the Philippines). 

CONTACT 

Tan Swee Lian 

Tan Swee Lian, PhD, KMN, Chair, Main 

Organizing Committee 2ISSC, c/o Rice & 

Industrial Crops Research Centre, MARDI, P.O. 

Box 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 

email: sltan@mardi.my 


Section Tropical and Subtropical Fruits 

Fifth Int’l Pineapple Symposium 

Delegates enjoying themselves. Top: 

on the right is Dr. Chan, one of the 

keynote speakers. 

Premier of the Eastern Cape, Nosimo 

Balindlela, who opened the symposium. 

Our Fifth International Pineapple Symposium, 

held from 11 to 15 April 2005, was a resounding 

success. The venue, Port Alfred, South 

Africa, was situated in the heart of the Eastern 

Cape pineapple growing region. The symposium 

was attended by 160 delegates from all 

over the world. Most pineapple growing 

regions of the world were represented at the 

meeting - South Africa, Australia, Benin, Brazil, 

France, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, the 

Philippines, Portugal, Swaziland, Sri Lanka, 

Thailand, Taiwan, Republic of China, Costa 

Rica, Ivory Coast and the United States. The 

symposium was organized into tours, technical 

sessions and social activities. 

Participants toured farms growing ‘Smooth 

Cayenne’ for canning and the Bathurst 

Pineapple Research Facility. The farm tour was 

marred by a heavy hail storm, which affected a 

number of growers in the Bathurst area. Some 

attendees also took advantage of the pre-conference 

tour of the ‘Queen’ pineapple growing 

region in Zululand. The symposium also had a 

rest day, which enabled delegates to visit areas 

of interest or do more networking. 

The technical sessions highlighted challenges 

that face the pineapple producers around the 

world. Some problems are local in nature, 

whereas others are international in scope. 

Internal browning was one example of a problem 

faced by more growers as low acid cultivars 

replace the traditional ‘Smooth Cayenne’ 

cultivar. The keynote speakers delivered messages 

that were informative and stimulating. The 

pineapple community received a daring call to 

adopt minimal tillage practices from one 

speaker. Other speakers explored pest control, 

genetics, breeding, and molecular biology. The 

quantity of research in pineapple was impressive 

given the scarcity of funding available. The 

questions and discussions following each presentation 

were lively, sometimes challenging, 

and oftentimes unanswerable. Several workshops 

were held, which explored pest control 

and organic pineapple production. The poster 

session echoed the oral presentations in the 

breadth of information presented. We know 

From left to right: 

Duane Bartholomew, 

Ngenesi Langwenya, 

Graham Petty and 

Madeline Petty. Duane 

is a tower of strength 

with all the Pineapple 

symposia and has been 

involved in the organisation 

since inception. 

Three pineapple growers attending the 

symposium. From left to right: Cyril Tyson, 

Greg Pike and Gary Fletcher. 

lots about pineapple, but there is certainly more 

to be learned! 

Our South African hosts treated the participants 

to two major social gatherings. These dinners 

served more than food - they allowed interaction 

and networking among attendees. They 

also showed off the culture and traditions and 

cuisine of the South African people. At the opening 

dinner, we were honored to have the 

Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela attend 

and speak. Her message highlighted the success 

of the Peddie Pineapple Project, a cooperative 

program among Summerpride and 

Collondale pineapple canneries and small-scale 

previously disadvantaged farmers. 

CONTACT 

Allen Duncan 

Allen Duncan, P.O. Box 507, East London, 5200, 

South Africa, email: allen@sumpride.co.za 

ISHS • 32

Commission Horticultural Engineering 

Fifth Int’l Symposium on Artificial 

Lighting in Horticulture 


The Fifth International Symposium on 

Artificial Lighting in Horticulture was held at 

the Olympic city of Lillehammer (Norway) from 

21-24 June 2005. The ISHS Board and 

Executive Committee meetings were partly held 

parallel to the symposium and they joined part 

of the scientific and social programs at the symposium. 

After the meetings, the Board and 

Executive Committee visited the Department of 

Plant and Environmental Sciences at the 

Norwegian University of Life Science (UMB) and 

the Norwegian Crop Research Institute (NCRI). 

The programme of the symposium was organized 

by Prof. Roar Moe together with the 

Norwegian representatives of the ISHS Council, 

Dr. Lars Sekse and Dr. Trine Hvoslef-Eide. They 

provided a brief introduction to the research 

and teaching activities in Horticultural Sciences 

at the University Campus. 

of greenhouse plants becomes rather limited 

without the use of supplemental lighting. The 

global radiation values calculated as PAR (mol 

m-2 day-1) inside a greenhouse with 60% light 

transmission at 60°N (Ås, Norway) during the 

year based on mean PAR values for ten years 

(1995-2004) are presented in the table below. 

Norwegian horticulture has a production value 

paid to the growers close to NOK 3 billion/year 

(1 € = NOK 7). The annual contribution from 

the different sectors is listed below: 

❚ Flower production in greenhouse: NOK 1.2 

billon, of which pot plants and cut flowers 

account NOK 0.5 billon each and bedding 

plants NOK 0.2 billion. 

❚ Greenhouse vegetables: NOK 400 million. 

❚ Vegetables in open fields: NOK 700 million. 

❚ Fruit and berries: NOK 300 million. 

❚ Nursery stock: NOK 300 million. 

One quarter of the greenhouse area is located 

in the west of Norway around Stavanger, where 

about 85% of the tomato production is located. 

The pot plant and cut flower production 

are mainly located around the densely populated 

areas. This includes both pot plant and cut 

flower production far north of the polar circle 

around the University City of Tromsø. 

The research with artificial light started around 

1930 with incandescent lamps, followed by the 

work with fluorescent tubes and high pressure 

mercury lamps in the 1950’s for propagation 

and pot plant cultivation. In the late 1970’s, 

high pressure sodium lamps were introduced 

that made possible supplemental lighting in 

NORWEGIAN HORTICULTURE 

Norway is situated far north extending from 

59°N to 71°N latitudes. The winter production 

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 

1.4 4.4 10.1 14.7 22.3 24.2 24.7 20.2 10.7 4.9 1.8 1.0 


Prof. Roar Moe, co-convener and responsible 

for the scientific program (left) and 

Prof. Hans R. Gislerød, convener (right) in 

national costumes. Photo by Randi Setrom 

Brunborg, UMB. 

greenhouses. However, in growth chambers 

fluorescent tubes are still necessary for some 

species in order to obtain a normal growth 

habit. 

Commercial use of supplemental light for cut 

flowers and vegetables in Norway started in the 

late 1980’s. In the last decade, the improvement 

in light-emitting diodes (LED) and cold 

cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) has opened 

new opportunities related to improve growth 

and plant quality by light quality manipulations. 

By increasing the light intensity (photosynthetic 

photon flux), light quality seems to play a less 

important role for plant growth. The light 

intensity used for plant growth today in 

Norway ranges from 50 to 300 mol m -2 s -1 for 

the different crops, stage of development and 

growers. The lowest level of supplementary 

light is applied to some foliage plants and plant 

species within Gesneriaceae. The main part of 

the pot plants and cut flowers are given a supplementary 

lighting of 100-150 mol m -2 s -1 . 

For roses and cucumber, the light intensity is up 

to 300 mol m -2 s -1 . The lighting period is usually 

20 hours a day except in the growth period 

when short-day-plants are exposed to short 

days. For roses, we are working on 24 h 

lighting. The results show that the growth rate 

is linear with increasing daily light integral, and 

at the same time, the incidence of powdery 

mildew can be significant reduced. 

Maihaugen, a famous open-air museum. A 

total of 140 participants from 23 countries 

attended the symposium. 

The scientific programme comprised the following 

topics: 

1. Introduction to Horticultural Lighting. New 

Developments. 

2. Biological Aspects of Lighting on: a) 

Photosynthesis, Growth/Yield and Product 

Quality; b) Integrated Optimization of Light 

and Other Growth Factors; c) Light 

Regulated Plant Growth and Development. 

3. Biological and Technical Aspects of Lighting: 

a) Regulation of Plant Morphogenesis, 

Flowering and Quality; b) Photoperiodic 

Lighting. 

4. Technical and Economical Aspects of 

Lighting. 

Following is the list of plenary speakers from 

different parts of the world: A.H. Halevy (Israel), 

E. Heuvelink (The Netherlands), R. King 

(Australia), T. Kozai (Japan), E. Runkle (United 

States), C. Mènard (Canada) and J. Aaslyng 

(Denmark). In total there were 34 oral presentations 

and 66 posters and exhibitions on various 

aspects of lighting at the symposium. Some of 

the highlights of the symposium are summarized 

below. 

Mobile Lighting 

In the last light symposium held in Canada in 

November 2000, ‘mobile lighting’ was the ‘in 

thing’ and it was supposed to be the future. At 

the light symposium in Lillehammer there were 

presentations on research with mobile lighting 

on pot plants and cut flowers. They all showed 

that mobile lighting had the same effect or less 

on growth compared to static lighting. This was 

true for production, photosynthesis and in a 

simulation model. 

Interlighting 

When growing cucumber or tomato with a 

high wire system, the light intensity decreases 

Coffee break and poster discussion. Photo by Randi Setrom Brunborg, UMB. 

rather quickly downwards in the canopy due to 

shelf-shading. This is true even if a high irradiance 

of 200-300 mol m -2 s -1 is applied at 

the top of the plants. This question was addressed 

by giving a part of the light between the 

plants. The results presented indicated that in 

some experiments there was a better efficiency 

in using interlighting in combination with top 

lighting, while in some cases there were no differences 

in yield of cucumbers. However, interlighting 

improved fruit quality. 

Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) 

Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) have been in the 

market for several years, but have not reached 

any commercial value in greenhouse production 

because of their high cost and low efficiency. 

However, improved technology has increased 

their efficiency and reduced the cost. The general 

opinion was that in 5-10 years this lamp type 

will also be important in commercial production. 

Today this lamp is used in specialized production 

and research; there were several papers 

dealing with the topic. 

Light Integration/Light Use Efficiency 

Natural light is still the most important for plant 

growth and will probably be so for most crops 

in the future. There was a discussion on specialised 

plant production in growth rooms with 

only artificial lighting. The main questions 

addressed were related to efficient use of artificial 

light in addition to natural light for increasing 

production and quality. 

The cost of energy is steadily increasing. This 

raises the question on the use of light together 

with other climatic factors in the most optimal 

way. The general rule says 1% increase in light 

gives 1% increase in growth/yield and still 

seems to be about right when the light level is 

far below the saturation point of photosynthesis 

and growth. An interesting observation was 

to let the temperature increase as the sunlight 

increased during the day and decrease at other 

times of the day to maintain the average daily 

LIGHT SYMPOSIUM 

The “Light symposium” was held at the 

brightest time of the year that gave the participants 

a chance to celebrate the mid-summer 

night in the traditional Lillehammer way at 

ISHS • 34

temperature. However, it is important to keep a 

high CO 2 level while increasing temperature 

under good light conditions. 

Light Quality 

The results presented indicated that diffuse 

light would give a 10% increase in growth, 

compared to more direct light at the same level. 

Thus, greenhouse covering material should give 

more diffuse light and at the same time have 

very high light transmission. 

Light quality does influence the plant morphology 

as blue light reduces elongation, and this is 

the light spectrum that some specific LED lamps 

emit. They could be of interest for studying the 

impact of blue light on plant morphology. 

UV-light affects plants differently, by increasing 

the pigmentation in some lettuce crops and flower 

plants. For other crops it has no or a negative 

effect on growth. 

Both light level and light quality influence 

flower induction and development. There was a 

presentation on irradiance response curve for 

promotion of flower initiation. Also, research 

work was presented that showed light could 

substitute for the vernalization requirement 

related to flowering. 

Photoperiodic lighting for flower induction is 

still an important area both for research and 

commercial. Some work was presented related 

to the role of photoperiodic lighting in flowering. 

Light quality of day-extension light has an 

impact on elongation and flowering. Low light 

intensity from FR-enriched incandescent lamps 

increases the content of gibberellins in association 

with promotion of stem and petiole elongation, 

and flowering. Therefore, FR-enriched 

light seems important for flowering in some 

Excursion to cucumber operation with supplemental lighting. 

LDP. High light intensity may result in flowering 

under non-inductive short days in some LDP, 

and carbohydrate level seems to play a role for 

floral induction. 

New Crops in Greenhouse Production 

New cultivars of ‘old’ crops of pot plants, cut 

flowers and not to forget bedding plants are 

released at an increasing speed. New growing 

programs for herbaceous perennials have been 

developed by a research group in Michigan in 

order to market the plants as bedding plants. In 

addition we have seen herbs being grown to a 

greater extent. Several papers also dealt with 

the use of lighting for growing medicinal plants 

and the effect of light on the content of bioactive 

compounds of interest. 

Hans R. Gislerød and Roar Moe 

CONTACT 

Prof. Dr. Hans R. Gislerød and Prof. Dr. Roar Moe, 

Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway, 

email: hasns.gislerod@umb.no and 

roar.moe@umb.no 

Silke Hemming, the new Chair of the Working 

Group on Light in Horticulture (formally called 

Working Group on Artificial Lighting) received her 

Ph.D. (Dr. rer. hort.) from the Faculty of 

Horticultural Sciences of the University of 

Hanover. She is currently engaged as a scientist at 

Wageningen University and Research Centre, and 

member of the Agrotechnology and Food 

Sciences Group. 

FROM THE SECRETARIAT 

New ISHS Members 

ISHS is pleased to welcome the following 

new members: 

NEW ORGANISATION 

MEMBERS: 

Australia:Berrimah Farm Library, DPI, Darwin 

Australia:Dept. Of Primary Industries & 

Fisheries, Brisbane, QLD 

Jordan: National Center for Agricultural 

Research &Technological Transfer, Baq’a 

New Caledonia: Direction Développement 

Rural, Noumea 

NEW INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS 

Australia: Jodie Anne Campbell, Mr. Mark 

Collins, Mr. Luke Devitt, Mrs. Wendy Erhart, Dr. 

Audrey Gerber, Todd Hall, Ms. Hannah James, 

Dr. David Johnson, Mr. Dale Keily, Mr. Hemant 

Kumar, Ms. Vicki Lane, John Lunghusen, Mr. 

Lachie Mckenzie, Mr. Jamie McMaster, Steve 

McNaughton, Ms. Malou Midgley, Mr. Tim 

Ring, Mr. Shane Ryan, Mr. Solomon Tonga, Dr. 

Guijun Yan, Dr. Isa Yunusa; Austria: Wolfgang 

Prommegger; Barbados: Dr. Louis Chinnery; 

Belgium: Ed Stynen; Brazil: Ms. Rivanildo 

Dallacort, Jairo Teixeira Morais; Canada: Dr. 

Joseph Arul, Dr. William Brown, Mr. Rob Keates, 

Mr. Henryk Madler Kron, Dr. Christoph Neeser, 

Mr. Titus Tao, Mr. Joe Wong; Chile: Mr. Ignacio 

del Rio, Ms. Pia Delpiano, Prof. Marlene 

Gebauer, Mr. Gonzalo Morales, Matias 

Rodriguez, Sonja Ungar, Prof. Juan Pablo 

Zoffoli; China: Lijun Wang; Costa Rica: Dr. 

Donovan Brown; Croatia: Goran Kumric; 

Denmark: Dr. Erik Bjorn Jensen, Mr. Holger 

Kaempe; Ecuador: Mr. Crisologo Matos; 

Finland: Mr. Sampo Tukiainen; France: Mr. 

Laurent d’Orey, Dr. Ela Frak, Sami Hosagasi, Ms. 

Asmaa Khariji, Mr. Jean-Paul Onesto; 

Germany: Ivo Jegielka, Steffen Lodder, 


Bernhard Manz, Anett Mueller, Anja Mueller; 

Greece: Mr. Nikolaos Tsotakos; Hungary: 

Sándor Istella, Noémi Kappel; India: Dr. Prem 

Kumar Dantu, Mr. Rohan Dominick, Mr. 

Anantha Reddy Kaukuttla, Mr. Vilas Patki, Mr. 

Dharmender Singh; Indonesia: Mr. Mashuda 

Huda, Mr. Tri Winarso; Ireland: Mr. Richard 

Hayden, Mr. Mark Taylor; Israel: Dr. Yuval 

Cohen, Dr. Avi Sadka; Italy: Linda Donato, 

Monica Ms. Locatelli, Isabelle Tomasi; Japan: 

Dr. Shnji Harima, Dr. Tsuneo Ogata; Jordan: Mr. 

Ali Al-Khasawneh; Kenya: Dr. Kamau Ngamau, 

Dr. John Bosco M. Njoroge, Dr. Willis Owino; 

Korea (Republic of): Dr. Sang Kuk Kim, Dr. Ki- 

Byung Lim; Malaysia: Dr. James Chan, Dr. 

Siang Hee Tan; Malta: Ms. Monique Hili; 

Mexico: Dr. Elia Nora Aquino-Bolaños, Dr. 

Kalina Bermúdez Torres, Dr. Marcos Meneses, 

Dr. Sara Luz Nahuat; Netherlands: Dr. Douwe 

de Boer, Mr. Peter Hendrix, Dr. Ilona Kars, Mr. 

Kees Sahin, Rob van der Laan, Mr. Olaf van 

Dooren; New Zealand: Ms. Hilary Chisholm, 

Ms. Meredith Hullis, Mandy Matthews, Ms. 

Della Welch; Nigeria: Ms. Mary Adejoro; 

Oman: Dr. Fahad Al-Said; Portugal: Dr. 

Fernando Cardoso, Loic de Oliveira; 

Singapore: Mr. Lanus Quah; South Africa: 

Mr. Toby Mcdowall, Mr. Timothy Pentz, Mr. 

K.N. Pillay; Spain: Ricardo Blasco Ferrer, Mr. 

Ambrosio Hernandez Gonzalez, Ms. Ines 

Mataix, Xesús Moruja Martínez, Mr. Juan Pedro 

Perez Abellan; Sweden: Mr. Dejan Jovanovic; 

Switzerland: Mr. Christian Uebelhard; 

Taiwan: Ms. Linda Liao; Thailand: Ms. 

Komchai Thaiying; Turkey: Mehmet Sait 

Gokcek, Mr. Alper Us, Prof. Dr. Tevfik Yotas; 

Ukraine: Mr. Ioannis Tsiachristas; United Arab 

Emirates: Mr. Salem Al Shekaili; United 

Kingdom: Mr. Perrakis Antonio, Mr. Rupert 

Bannister, Mr. Mervyn Brown, Mr. Gerry 

Gorevan, Mr. Alistair Griffiths, Chris Jerram, 

Anne Livingston, Dr. Hazel Mactavish, Dr. Andy 

Marchant, Mr. Graham Moore, David Musker, 

Mr. Hamish Reid, Mr. David Stokes, Dr. Abbsali 

Yadollahi; United States of America: Dr. Dell 

K. Allen, Mr. Paul Bodenstine, Dr. Kamal 

Chowdhury, Mr. Kit Comby, Dr. Daniel 

DeBrouse, Mr. Ibrahima Dione, Harold Falber, 

Kevin Forney, Lauren Garner, Carrie Garra, Paul 

Gepts, Mr. Leonard Gianessi, Dr. Bob Guthrie, 

Mr. William Hall, Ron Johnson, Dr. Eileen 

Kabelka, Mr. Tim Loeffler, Prof. Jiang Lu, 

Richard Luftig, Mr. Howard Maltby, Mr. Andrew 

Mariani, Mr. Jonathan Moody, Dr. Robert 

Oakes, Dr. Ebenezer Ogundiwin, Steven Parker, 

Jeremy Pickens, Dr. Barbara Reed, Mr. Janet 

Robbins, Dr. Godfree Roberts, Mary Schiechl, 

Mr. Mark Schiesser, Paul Schulze, Mr. John 

Siddle, Mr. Justin Smith, Dr. Theodore Snazelle, 

Dr. Roy Stahlhut, Prof. Rommy Surjono, Mr. 

Larry Turley, Mr. Michael van Bavel, Dr. Petrus 

van Hest, Dr. Dawn Vander Linden, Mr. Pieter 

Vanderlaan, Robert Veidenheimer, Der I Wang, 

Sally Wedel, Jun Wen, Mr. Patrick Wood, Lisa 

Worthen; Vietnam: Hoang Phuong Thao 

Calendar of ISHS Events 

For updates and more logon to www.ishs.org/calendar. Do 

always mention your ISHS membership number or attach copy of 

your ISHS membership card when registering. A reduced ISHS 

members registration fee applies. 

YEAR 2006 

■ February 5-10, 2006, Sun City, Johannesburg (South Africa): VIII 

International Mango Symposium. Info: Event Dynamics Africa, 

Jenny Dickerson, PO Box 98009, Sloane Park, 2152, South Africa. 

Phone: (27) 11 440 8027, Fax: (27)11 786 5683, email: 

jenny@edafrica.co.za web: www.mangosa2006.co.za 

■ February 6-11, 2006, Pune - Maharashtra (India): International 

Symposium on Grape Production and Processing. Info: Dr. Indu 

S. Sawant, Grape Grower's Federation of India, Draksha Bhavan E/4, 

Market Yard, Gultekdi, Pune 411 037, Maharashtra, India. Phone: 

(91)2024267910, Fax: (91)2024270491, email: 

isgpp2india@yahoo.co.in 

■ February 19-24, 2006, Agadir (Morocco): International Symposium 

on Advances in Soil and Soilless Cultivation under Protected 

Environment. Info: Conveners Dr. A Hanafi and Dr. W.H. Schnitzler, 

Institut Agronomique et Véterinaire Hassan II, Complexe Horticole, PO 

BOX 12042, Cité Balnéaire, Agadir 80.000, Morocco. Phone: 

(212)48248152 or 61177968, Fax: (212)48248152, email: 

hanafi@iavcha.ac.ma web: www.iavcha.ac.ma/ishs-morocco2006 

■ February 21-24, 2006, Rotorua (New Zealand): VI International 

Kiwifruit Symposium. Info: Dr. Bob Martin, Market Access and 

Technical Manager, Zespri International Ltd., 400 Maunganuit Rd., 

Mount Maunganui (PO Box 4043, Manganui South), New Zealand. 

Phone: (64)75751591 or 21595128, Fax: (64)75751340, email: 

bob.martin@zespri.com web: www.kiwi2006.com 

■ February 22-25, 2006, San Remo (Italy): The Labiatae: Advances in 

Production, Biotechnology and Utilization. Info: Dr. Barbara 

Ruffoni, CRA Experimental Institute of Floriculture, Corso Inglesi 508, 

18038 San Remo, Italy. Phone: (39)0184667251, Fax: 

(39)0184695072, email: b.ruffoni@istflori.it web: www.istflori.it 

■ February 28 - March 2, 2006, Wolfville, Nova Scotia (Canada): I 

International Organic Apple and Pear Symposium. Info: Dr. Ralph 

Martin, Box 550, SNAC, Truro, NS, B2N 5E3, Canada. Phone: 

(1)9028936679, Fax: (1)9028967095, email: rmartin@nsac.ns.ca or 

Dr. Charlie Embree, AAFC, 32 Main Street, Kentville, NS, B4N 1J5, 

Canada. Phone: (1)9026795708, Fax: (1)9026792311, email: 

embreec@agr.gc.ca web: www.organicapple.ca 

■ March 28-31, 2006, Lorca - Murcia (Spain): VI International 

Symposium on Artichoke, Cardoon and their Wild Relatives. 

Info: Ir. Regino Aragón Pallarés, Dpto. Horticultura, IMIDA, C/ Mayor, 

S/N, 30150 La Alberca (Murcia), Spain. Phone: (34)968366773, Fax: 

(34)968366792, email: regino.aragon@carm.es or Dr. Juan A. 

Fernández, Departamento Producción Vegetal, Universidad Politécnica 

de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 52, 30203 Cartagena, Spain. 

Phone: (34)968325446, Fax: (34)968325435, email: juan.fernandez@upct.es 

Symposium Secretariat: Viajes CajaMurcia, Gran Via 

Escultor Salzillo 5. Entlo. Drcha., 30004 Murcia, Spain. Phone: 

(34)968225476, Fax: (34)968223101, email: congresos@viajescajamurcia.com 

web: www.viajescajamurcia.com/artichoke 

■ March 30 - April 5, 2006, San Diego, California (USA): VII 

International Protea Research Symposium. Info: Dennis Perry, 

Perry’s Panorama, PO Box 540, Somis, CA 93066-0540, USA. Phone: 

(1)8056423267, Fax: (1)8056425967, email: perrypan@adelphia.net 

or Dr. Kenneth W. Leonhardt, Dept of Horticulture, University of 

Hawaii, 3190 Maile Way, Rm 102, Honolulu, HI 96822-2232, USA. 

email: leonhard@hawaii.edu web: www.ipa2006conference.org 

■ April 1-5, 2006, Guangzhou (China): II International Symposium 

on Loquat. Info: Dr. Shunquan Lin, College of Horticulture, South 

China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, Wushan, China. 

Phone: (86)2085288262, Fax: (86)2085282107, email: 

cmliu@scau.edu.cn 

■ April 24-27, 2006, Almería (Spain): Symposium on Greenhouse 

Cooling: Methods, Technologies and Plant Response. Info: Dr. 

Jerónimo Pérez Parra, Estación Experimental de Cajamar, Autovía del 

Mediterráneo Km. 416,7, 04710 El Ejido, Almería, Spain. Phone: 

(34)950580569, Fax: (34)950580450, email: jpparra@cajamar.es 

web: www.coolingsympalmeria06.com 

ISHS • 36

■ May 7-11, 2006, Amman (Jordan): I International Symposium on 

Fresh Food Quality Standards: Better Food by Quality and 

Assurance. Info: Dr. A. Fardous, Director General, National Center 

for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer, PO Box 639, Baq’a, 

19381 Amman, Jordan. Phone: (962)64726680, Fax: (962)64726099 

or (962)665356519, email: garyouti@ncartt.gov.jo or Prof. Dr. W.H. 

Schnitzler, Technical Univ. of Munchen, Inst. of Vegetable Crops 

Science, Weihenstephan, 85354 Freising, Germany. Phone: 

(49)8161713427, Fax:(49)8161714491, email: whs@wzw.tum.de 

web: www.ncartt.gov.jo 

■ May 22-26, 2006, Antalya (Turkey): XX International Symposium 

on Virus and Virus-like Diseases of Temperate Fruit Crops and 

XI International Symposium of Small Fruit Virus Diseases. Info: 

Prof. Dr. Kadriye Çaglayan, Mustafa Kemal University, Agriculture 

Faculty, Plant Protection Department, 31034 Antakya-Hatay, Turkey. 

Phone: (90)3262455836 Ext.1347, Fax: (90)3262455832, email: 

caglayan@mku.edu.tr and Prof. Dr. Filiz Ertunc, Ankara University, 

Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, 06110 Ankara, 

Turkey. Phone: (90)3123170550 ext.1120, Fax: (90)3123187029, 

email: ertunc@agri.ankara.edu.tr web: www.fv2006.gen.tr 

■ June 6-8, 2006, Tunis (Tunisia): X International Symposium on the 

Processing Tomato. Info: Abdellatif B’Chir, GICA, 77 avenue Taïeb 

M’Hiri, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia. Phone: (216)71782633 Fax: 

(216)71783206, email: secretariat@worldtomatocongress.com or 

Sophie Colvine, AMITOM, Phone: (44)1387820322, Fax: 

(44)1387820322, email: colvine@tomate.org web: www.worldtomatocongress.com 

■ June 7-10, 2006, Presov (Slovak Republic): I International 

Symposium on Chamomile Research, Development and 

Production. Info: Dr. Ivan Salamon, Department of Ecology, FHPV 

Presov University, 17th November Street #1, 071 16 Presov, Slovakia. 

Phone: (421)517725361 or (421)907186500, Fax: (421)517725547 

or (421)517710803, email: salamon@fhpv.unipo.sk web: 

www.chamomile.szm.sk 

NEW 

■ July 2-6, 2006, Udine (Italy): IX International Conference on Grape 

Genetics and Breeding. Info: Prof. Enrico Peterlunger, Università di 

Udine, Dip. di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientale, Via delle Scienze 208, 

33100 Udine, Italy. Phone: (39)0432558629, Fax: (39)0432558603, 

email: peterlunger@uniud.it web: www.grapebreeding2006.com 

■ August 7-10, 2006, Bangkok (Thailand): International Conference 

on Managing Quality in Chains. Info: Dr. Sirichai Kanlayanarat, 

Division of Postharvest Technology, King Mongkut’s University of 

Technology, Thonburi, 83 Moo 8 Tientalay 25 Rd., Bhakham, 

Bangkhuntien, Bangkok 10150, Thailand. Phone: (66)24709796, Fax: 

(66)24523750, email: sirichai.kan@kmutt.ac.th web: 

www.kmutt.ac.th/mquic2006 

■ August 10, 2006, Seoul (Korea): Meeting of the 

ISHS Executive Committee 

■ August 11-12, 2006, Seoul (Korea): Joint meeting 

of the ISHS Executive Committee and Council 

■ August 13-18, 2006, Seoul (Korea): XXVII 

International Horticultural Congress. web: 

www.ihc2006.org 

■ August 15, 2006, Seoul (Korea): ISHS General 

Assembly, 12:00 - 15:00h 

■ August 18, 2006, Seoul (Korea): Joint meeting of 

the ISHS Executive Committee and Council, 

10:00 - 12:00h 

and much more ... For an updated calendar logon to 

www.ishs.org/calendar 

ACTA HORTICULTURAE 

Available Issues of Acta Horticulturae 

Available numbers of Acta Horticulturae (in print format). 

These as well as all other titles are also available 

in ActaHort CD-rom format. For detailed information 

on price and availability, including tables of content, or 

to download an Acta Horticulturae order form, please 

check out the ‘publications’ page at www.ishs.org or 

go to www.ishs.org/acta 

Acta Acta Title Acta 

Number 

Price (EUR) 

693 III International Chestnut Congress 144 

692 II International Symposium on Biotechnology of Tropical and 

Subtropical Species 54 

691 International Conference on Sustainable Greenhouse 

Systems 170 

690 I International Rose Hip Conference 75 

689 VII International Symposium on Grapevine Physiology and 

Biotechnology 110 

688 IV International Symposium on Edible Alliaceae 82 

687 International Conference Postharvest Unlimited Downunder 

2004 89 

686 VI International Congress on Hazelnut 132 

685 III International Symposium on Persimmon 58 

684 Meeting of the Physiology Section of the European 

Association for Potato Research 56 

683 V International Symposium on New Floricultural Crops 95 

682 V International Postharvest Symposium 395 

681 IV International Congress on Artichoke 122 

680 III WOCMAP Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - 

Volume 6: Traditional Medicine and Nutraceuticals 56 


Volume 5: Quality, Efficacy, Safety, Processing and Trade in 

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 56 


Volume 4: Targeted Screening of Medicinal and Aromatic 

Plants, Economics and Law 56 


Volume 3: Perspectives in Natural Product Chemistry 49 



Volume 2: Conservation, Cultivation and Sustainable Use 

of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 56 


Volume 1: Bioprospecting and Ethnopharmacology 58 

674 III International Symposium on Applications of Modelling 

as an Innovative Technology in the Agri-Food Chain; 

MODEL-IT 121 

673 IX International Symposium on Flower Bulbs 150 

672 IV International Symposium on Horticultural Education, 

Extension and Training 83 

671 IX International Pear Symposium 124 

670 I International Symposium on Root and Tuber Crops: 

Food Down Under 57 

669 VIII International Symposium on Postharvest Physiology of 

Ornamental Plants 90 

668 I International Humulus Symposium 65 

666 IV International Pineapple Symposium 79 

665 II International Symposium on Lychee, Longan, Rambutan 

and other Sapindaceae Plants 89 

664 IV International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural 

Crops 132 

663 XI Eucarpia Symposium on Fruit Breeding and Genetics 186 

662 VII International Symposium on Temperate Zone Fruits in 

the Tropics and Subtropics 99 

661 I International Conference on Turfgrass Management and 

Science for Sports Fields 115 

660 V International Congress on Artichoke 119 

659 VII International Symposium on Protected Cultivation in 

Mild Winter Climates: Production, Pest Management and 

Global Competition 159 

658 I International Symposium on Rootstocks for Deciduous 

Fruit Tree Species 137 

657 XIX International Symposium on Virus and Virus-like 

Diseases of Temperate Fruit Crops - Fruit Tree Diseases 117 

656 X International Symposium on Small Fruit Virus Diseases 57 

655 XV International Symposium on Horticultural Economics 

and Management 106 

654 International Workshop on Models for Plant Growth and 

Control of Product Quality in Horticultural Production 77 

653 IX International Symposium on Plant Bioregulators in Fruit 

Production 61 

652 I International Symposium on Grapevine Growing, 

Commerce and Research 108 

651 XXI International Eucarpia Symposium on Classical versus 

Molecular Breeding of Ornamentals - Part II 54 

649 Euro Berry Symposium - Cost 836 Final Workshop 77 

648 South Pacific Soilless Culture Conference - SPSCC 60 

647 International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants 55 

646 International Symposium on Irrigation and Water Relations 

in Grapevine and Fruit Trees 54 

645 VII International Mango Symposium 136 

For an updated list of all titles (in print or ActaHort CD-rom format) 

logon to www.actahort.org 

Index to Volume 45 of Chronica Horticulturae 

Subject Index 

Book Reviews 

Barney, Danny L. and Hummer, Kim E., Currants, Gooseberries, and Jostaberries. 

A Guide for Growers, Marketers, and Researchers in North America, 45(4):25 

Barranco, D., Fernández-Escobar, R. and Rallo, L. (eds.), El Cultivo del Olivo (Olive 

Tree Cultivation), 45(3):29 

Burg, S.P., Postharvest Physiology and Hypobaric Storage of Fresh Produce, 

45(2):29 

Castilla, Nicolás, Invernaderos de Plástico: Tecnología y Manejo (Plastic 

Greenhouses: Technology and Management), 45(1):20 

Fideghelli, C. and Sansavini, S. (eds.), Il Pesco: Moderni Indirizzi di Allevamento, 

Coltivazione, Difesa, Irrigazione, Nutrizione, Conservazione, Trasformazione e 

Mercato (The Peach: Modern Address on Training, Culture, Irrigation, Nutrition, 

Postharvest, Industrial Processing and Market), 45(3):29-30 

Khanizadeh, S. and DeEll, J. (eds.), Our Strawberries/Les Fraisiers de chez nous, 

45(4):25 

Liang, G.H. and Skinner, D.Z. (eds.), Genetically Modified Crops: Their 

Development, Uses, and Risks, 45(2):29 

Menzel, C. and Waite, G.K. (eds.), Litchi and Longan: Botany, Cultivation and 

Uses, 45(3):29 

Menzies, Gavin, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, 45(4):25 

Rallo, L., Barranco, D., Caballero, J.M., Del Río, C., Martín, A., Tous, J. and 

Trujillo, I. (eds.), Variedades de Olivo en España (Olive Varieties in Spain), 

45(3):29 

Singh, P.K., Dasgupta, S.K. and Tripathi, S.K. (eds.), Hybrid Vegetable 

Development, 45(4):24 

Tubeileh, Ashraf, Bruggeman, Adriana and Turkelboom, Francis, Growing Olives 

and Other Tree Species in Marginal Dry Environments, 45(1):20 

Horticultural Science Focus 

Blueberry: An Expanding World Berry Crop, 45(1):7-12 

Macadamia: Domestication and Commercialisation, 45(2):11-15 

The World Foliage Plant Industry, 45(4):9-15 

Vitamin-A Partnership for Africa: A Food Based Approach to Combat Vitamin A 

Deficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa through Increased Utilization of Orange-fleshed 

Sweetpotato, 45(3):12-14 

Horticultural Science News 

Bananas, Salad, and Root Vegetables May Reduce Cancer Risks for Women, 

45(1):14 

Borlaug Leadership Enhancement Fellowships, 45(3):20 

Chili Pepper Effective to Deter Marauding Elephants from Raiding Crops in 

Ghana, 45(1):14 

Chocolate as a Health Food?, 45(1):12-13 

Early Evidence for the Culinary Use of Squash Flowers in Italy, 45(2):20-21 

European Apple Breeding Programs Turn to Biotechnology, 45(2):16-19 

Funds for Tomato Genome Project, 45(1):13 

Grape Harvest Records: Longterm Indicators of Temperatures, 45(1):13 

Taxus spp.: A Genus of Ever-Useful and Everlasting Evergreens, 45(4):16-20 

The Plastic Greenhouse Industry of Spain, 45(3):15-20 

Issues 

Bioactive Compounds and Designer Plant Foods: The Need for Clear Guidelines 

to Evaluate Potential Benefits to Human Health, 45(3):6-11 

Intellectual Property Rights for Plants. The Case for a New Law, 45(2):5-11 

The Challenge of Distance Learning in Horticulture, 45(4):5-8 

The Next Green Revolution, 45(1):6 

Letters to the Editor 

Caravaggio’s Fruit, 45(1):4 

Crisis in Horticultural Education, 45(1):4 

Review of Book on Olive Growing in Marginal Dry Environments, 45(2):5 

ISHS • 38

News from the Board 

A Call for Nominations: ISHS Honorary Membership and Fellowship, 45(4):5 

Building Capacity for Horticultural Science in Africa: Report of the ISHS Board 

and CRC Meetings Held in Arusha, Tanzania, 45(3):4-6 

Building Partnerships, 45(2):3 

Defining Horticulture, Horticultural Products and Horticultural Science, 45(1):5 

Horticulture at the Crossroads, 45(1):3-4 

Horticulture, Health and Society, 45(3):3-4 

ISHS Launches Scripta Horticulturae, 45(2):4 

ISHS Progress and Future Planning: Highlights of the 2005 Board and Executive 

Committee Meetings, Lillehammer, Norway, 45(4):3-4 

Task Force for the Promotion of the European Horticultural Sector, 45(2):4 

Symposia and Workshops 

Brassicas: An Asian Perspective, 45(1):33 

Eighth Int’l Symposium on Integrating Canopy, Rootstock and Environmental 

Physiology in Orchard Systems, 45(2):35-36 

Fifth Int’l Cherry Symposium, 45(3):37-38 

Fifth Int’l Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal, 45(3):35 

Fifth Int’l Pineapple Symposium, 45(4):32 

Fifth Int’l Symposium on Artificial Lighting in Horticulture, 45(4):33-35 

Fifth Int’l Symposium on Mineral Nutrition of Fruit Plants, 45(3):36-37 

Fifth Int’l Symposium on Olive Growing, 45(3):33-34 

Fifth Int’l Walnut Symposium, 45(2):31-33 

First Int’l Humulus Symposium, 45(1):22-23 

First Int’l Symposium on Natural Preservatives in Food Systems, 45(3):31-33 

First Int’l Symposium on Tomato Diseases, 45(2):38-39 

Fourth Int’l Symposium on Pistachio and Almond, 45(4):26-28 

Int’l Symposium on Greenhouses, Environmental Controls and In-house 

Mechanization for Crop Production in the Tropics and Subtropics, 45(1):35-36 

Int’l Symposium on Horticultural Education, Extension and Training - Recent 

Advances in Horticultural Education, 45(1):34 

Int’l Symposium on Soilless Culture and Hydroponics, 45(2):43-44 

Int’l Tropical Fruits Workshop (Citrus and Mango), 45(3):42-43 

Joint Meeting of the Fourteenth Crucifer Genetics Workshop and the Fourth ISHS 

Symposium on Brassicas “Brassica 2004”, 45(1):31-33 

Meeting of the Physiology Section of the EAPR - Improvement of Potato Tuber 

Quality: Size Uniformity, Nutritional Value and Processing Attributes, 45(1):27- 

28 

Model-IT 2005, from Pig Growth to Bread Making..., 45(3):41 

Ninth Int’l Symposium on Flower Bulbs, 45(2):33-34 

Ninth Int’l Symposium on the Processing Tomato, 45(1):30-31 

Postharvest Unlimited Downunder Conference 2004, 45(1):37-38 

Second Int’l Symposium on Acclimatization and Establishment of 

Micropropagated Plants, 45(2):39-41 

Second Int’l Symposium on Sweetpotato and Cassava, 45(4):31 

Seventh Int’l Symposium on Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard 

Management, 45(1):26-27 

Sixth Int’l Peach Symposium, 45(2):37-38 

Sustainable Greenhouse Systems: Co-operation of Engineering and Crop Science 

(Greensys2004), 45(2):41-42 

Tenth Int’l Symposium on Plant Bioregulators in Fruit Production, 45(4):29-30 

Third Balkan Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes, 45(1):28-29 

Third Int’l Chestnut Congress, 45(1):24-25 

Third Int’l Symposium on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, 45(3):39-40 

The World of Horticulture 

Horticulture in Afghanistan, 45(1):15-19 

Horticulture in Eritrea, 45(3):21-23 

Horticulture in Iran, 45(2):26-28 

Maritsa Vegetable Crops Research Institute: 75 Years of Service, 45(3):24-28 

Southeast Anatolia Project of Turkey: Implications for Horticulture, 45(4):23-24 

The World of Small Urban Gardens, 45(2):22-25 

Tree Fruit Growing in Kazakhstan, 45(4):21-23 

Author Index 

Aksoy, Uygun, 45(2):3; 45(2):4 

Al-Yahyai, Rashid, 45(3):42-43 

Anderson, Pamela, 45(3):12-14 

Ashcroft, Bill, 45(1):30-31 

Avanzato, Damiano, 45(2):31-33 

Batt, Peter J., 45(1):34 

Belfanti, Enrico, 45(2):16-19 

Bogers, Robert J., 45(2):4; 45(3):3-4 

Boland Nazar, Ahmad, 45(2):26-28 

Bot, Gerard, 45(2):41-42 

Castilla, Nicolas, 45(3):15-20 

Chen, Jianjun, 45(4):9-15 

Costa, Fabrizio, 45(2):16-19 

Crissman, Charles, 45(3):12-14 

Deadman, Mike, 45(3):42-43 

DeLong, John M., 45(4):16-20 

Desjardins, Yves, 45(2):39-41 

Diamandis, Stephanos, 45(1):24-25 

Dixon, Geoffrey R., 45(1):33; 45(2):4; 45(4):5-8 

Donati, Franco, 45(2):16-19 

Doud Miller, Diane, 45(4):21-23 

Duncan, Allen, 45(4):32 

Eris, Atilla, 45(3):37-38 

Fallahi, Esmaeil, 45(2):26-28 

Fazio, Gennaro, 45(1):4 

Finetto, Giuliano, 45(1):15-19 

Finley, John W., 45(3):6-11 

Frenkel, Chaim, 45(3):31-33 

Ganry, J., 45(2):4 

Gislerød, Hans R., 45(4):33-35 

Groening, Gert, 45(2):22-25 

Güler, Semiha, 45(4):23-24 

Henny, Richard J., 45(4):9-15 

Hernandez, Joaquin, 45(3):15-20 

Hertog, Maarten, 45(3):41 

Hokmabadi, Hossein, 45(4):26-28 

Hrotkó, Károly, 45(2):35-36 

Hummer, Kim E., 45(1):22-23 

Infante, Rodrigo, 45(2):37-38 

Janick, Jules, 45(1):3-4; 45(1):12-13; 45(2):20-21 

Javanshah, Amanollah, 45(4):26-28 

Kamaruddin, Rezuwan, 45(1):35-36 

Kapinga, Regina, 45(3):12-14 

Karychev, Raul K., 45(4):21-23 

Khan, Iqrar A., 45(3):42-43 

Kim, Byung-Dong, 45(1):4 

Kostova, Dimitrina, 45(3):24-28 

Lakso, A.N., 45(1):26-27 

Lemaga, Berga, 45(3):12-14 

Lim, Yong Pyo, 45(1):31-33 

Lipecki, J., 45(2):4 

Looney, Norman E., 45(3):4-6; 45(4):3-4 

Malvolti, Maria Emilia, 45(2):31-33 

Masheva, Stoika, 45(3):24-28 

Mauget, J.-C., 45(2):4 

McConnell, Dennis B., 45(4):9-15 

Michov, Miroslav, 45(3):24-28 

Miller, William B., 45(2):33-34 

Moe, Roar, 45(4):33-35 

Momol, Tim, 45(2):38-39 

Mondragon Jacobo, Candelario, 45(3):35 

Monteiro, A.A., 45(2):4 

Müller, W., 45(2):4 

Naeini, Mohammad Reza, 45(2):26-28 

Noga, G., 45(2):4 

Nurtazin, Marat T., 45(4):21-23 

Opio, Fina, 45(3):12-14 

Özkaya, Mücahit Taha, 45(3):33-34 

Paris, Harry S., 45(2):20-21 

Pevicharova, Galina, 45(3):24-28 

Pommer, Celso V., 45(3):39-40 

Prange, Robert K., 45(4):16-20 

Ramirez, Homero, 45(4):29-30 

Retamales, Jorge B., 45(3):36-37 

Robinson, Terence, 45(2):35-36 

Ruhnke, P., 45(2):4 

Ryder, Edward J., 45(2):5-11 

Saleh, Brhan Khiar, 45(3):21-23 

Salehi, Reza, 45(2):26-28 

Salnikov, Yvgenny, 45(4):21-23 

Sanchez, Pedro, 45(1):6 

Sansavini, Silviero, 45(2):16-19 

Sivritepe, H. Özkan, 45(1):28-29 

Stephenson, Russ, 45(2):11-15 

Strik, Bernadine, 45(1):7-12 

Tan Swee Lian, 45(4):31 

Tanner, David, 45(1):37-38 

Tubeileh, Ashraf, 45(2):5 

Urrestarazu Gavilán, Miguel, 45(2):43-44 

Van Assche, J., 45(2):4 

Viola, Roberto, 45(1):27-28 

Warrington, Ian J., 45(4):3-4 

Werrij, P.A.Th.J., 45(2):4 

Yamanishi, Osvaldo K., 45(3):39-40 

Zhang, Dapeng, 45(3):12-14

The World Foliage Plant Industry - Acta Horticulturae

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