Scarlet Bloodroot Australia’s new cut flower export?

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The

Report

No. 53: Scarlet Bloodroot Australia’s new cut flower export?

THE FULL REPORT
Information on this project “Scarlet Bloodroot (Haemodorum coccineum) - a new Australian cutflower crop” is being released as a free Short Report only. But the project contact is: Iain Dawson, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Clunies Ross Street, ACTON, ACT 2601, (GPO Box 1777, CANBERRA ACT 2601), Phone: 02 6250 9450, Fax: 02 6250 599email: idawson@anbg.gov.au Internet: http://www.anbg.gov.au

Scarlet Bloodroot (Haemodorum coccineum) which grows in northern Australia, is a vividly coloured, lily-like flower. It was studied in a project as part of RIRDC’s Wildflowers and Native Plants Program, which aims to foster development of new and emerging industries based on Australia’s native flora.

Similar in appearance to kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos and Macropidia), Scarlet Bloodroot’s flowering months match periods of peak demand overseas – the northern hemisphere winter.
The research was carried out by Iain Dawson, Assistant Director of Living Collections at the Australian National Botanic

Gardens in Canberra where he is in charge of the Horticultural Research Unit.
In recent years, Australian native flower exports have stalled at about $30 million annually, partly through economic difficulties in major markets such as Japan but also because of competition with other southern hemisphere countries with lower production costs.

To compete successfully and expand exports, Australia needs to develop and promote new products – something it is well placed to do given its unexploited diverse native plant resource.

The Study

The suitability for commercial development of various species of the plant was assessed through a series of tests to find species that would:

1. be accepted favourably by potential customers;
2. be available during the northern hem-isphere winter (December to March);
3. have at least a one-week vase life;
4. be capable of being propagated vege-tatively to conserve desirable character-istics and facilitate rapid multiplication;
5. have similar productivity (number of stems per square metre per year) to kangaroo paw to be viable; and
6. have potential for further development to allow and protect property rights.

The assessment involved collecting habitat and ecological data and controlled environment experiments to determine crop growth and flowering responses. Researchers also studied agronomic aspects of production in commercial plantations and consulted with flower exporters and wholesalers.

Live plants for experiments were collected and there were observations of the natural environment in northern Australia.
Experiments were carried out at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra where greenhouses had heating, evaporative cooling, and a shade/thermal screen that could be either thermostat or time clock controlled.

Field trials were conducted in two places in Queensland, near Gatton in the south east and in the far north Mareeba irrigation area.

Major collection sites for plant and environmental data

Place	State	Lat.	Long.	Data type			Site
				Description	Particle	Chemical
Battlecamp A	Qld	15^o16^'	144^o55^'	^_	^_		Laura-Cooktown road
Battlecamp B	Qld	15^o18^'	145^o00^'	^_			Laura-Cooktown road
Cape Bedford	Qld	15^o14^'	145^o15^'	^_		^_	Sand dunes north of the Cape
Cardwell	Qld			^_	^_	^_	On. 25k south on Bruce Highway
Herbarton	Qld	17^o23^'	145^o22^'		^_	^_	adjacent to rifle range
Laura	Qld	15^o37^'	144^o28^'	^_	^_		Split Rock. South of Laura
Palmerville	Qld	15^o58^'	144^o04^'	^_	^_		Palmerville-Fairlight track
Rollingstone	Qld	19^o03^'	146^o23^'	^_	^_	^_	Bruce Highway
Paluma	Qld	19^o00^'	146^o03^'	^_	^_	^_	Near quarry on Hidden Valley road
Watsonville	Qld	17^o23^'	145^o18^'	^_	^_	^_	1km south of town
Cox Peninsula	NT	12^o44^'	130^o50^'		^_	^_	near East Charlotte River, 35km from Stuart Hwy
Livingstone	NT	12^o44^'	131^o07^'			^_	near junction of Stuart Highway and Livingstone Road
Palmerston	NT	12^o29^'	130^o59^'		^_	^_	edge of Darwin suburbs

The Results

Haemodorum species have a long history of economic use but until now have not been considered for the cut flower trade. About 18 species have ornamental potential, and several of these could be used for cut flowers.

When the project began, it was hoped there would be sufficient flowers available for trial shipments to enable proper evaluation at least in the Japanese market. But the trial shipment was limited due to the difficulties in bringing the species into cultivation. A Melbourne-based export company, Austwinds Pty Ltd, sent a small number of stems, and some photographs, to a Japanese importer for comment.

The response was generally favourable, with the one adverse comment being the desirability of removing any black colouring from the petals – a feature of these plants grown in the Northern Territory. But a North Queensland variety with minimal black flecking should be able to be modified to achieve this.

Providing the stems are picked at the correct stage, vase life should be about 12 days, and the stems are able to withstand temporary cool storage. This species can be propagated vegetatively quite easily. Seed germination is easy, and seedling survival is satisfactory in plantations within its natural range.

Production of flowering stems in the CSIRO’s phytotron in Canberra achieved longer stems than those plants in field trials. Assuming that the cultivation practices can be improved considerably, it is reasonable to expect satisfactory stem production of at least 30 stems in each metre of a row.

This species could therefore be commercially viable as a cut flower crop. Industry sources have estimated potential exports of around $1 million between January and March, based on extending the kangaroo paw market niche.
Summary

Exclusive Australian control of the plant material is not possible under the International Convention on Biological Diversity as Haemodorum coccineum also grows in Papua New Guinea.

But as Australian growers have greater potential for plant improvement through access to a wider range of genetic material within the species – as well as access to a number of closely related species which are endemic to Australia – it should be possible to gradually improve the crop and eventually produce varieties that are eligible for some form of property rights.

Dormancy in the crop is probably controlled by soil temperature and a relatively high soil temperature is needed for growth. Therefore it is likely that the crop can only grown in tropical climates.

Flowering can occur at any time in suitable conditions, but is mainly from December to March. It may be possible to delay flowering by using heavy mulches to cool the soil, but this will need to be tested.

There are several other potential economic uses for the plant, such as pharmaceutical products and dyes. These deserve further investigation.

During this project, several other species with cut flower potential were encountered. These include the NSW species Haemodorum corymbosum, several tropical species of Banksia, Dodonea peduncularis and Eucalyptus phoenicia, and other Proteaceae, including Alloxylon flammeum from the Queensland Atherton Tableland, Alloxylon wickhamii, and Conospermum taxifolium.

Other RIRDC wildflower reports:

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