Non-Commercial Use Only

2014_2_Hrev_master 24/06/14 14.40 Pagina 99 Italian Journal of Agronomy 2014; volume 9:595 Wild geophytes of ornamental interest in the native flora of southern Italy Simonetta Fascetti, Giovanna Potenza, Donato Castronuovo, Vincenzo Candido School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy many plants which are currently considered only ornamental was also Abstract intended to have medicinal plants with a high symbolic significance and an undoubted aesthetic value (Caneva, 2010). The growing focus on the protection and the conservation of biodi- An example is the Lilium candidum L., one of the oldest garden versity has attracted attention to problem of the potential invasiveness plants, an archaeophyte coming from Asia Minor, which was wide- of alien species that escaped cultivation spread in various types of spread in the Mediterranean area and grown mostly for the medicinal habitats and might replace native species. This would lead to a loss of value of its bulbs and only to a lesser extent for the beauty of its flow- biodiversity and have negative economic and environmental repercus- ers. In the Middle Ages, between the 9th and the 12th century, the sions. The Mediterranean flora is particularly rich in genera and Basilian and Benedictine monks followed gardening and farming tra- species that are characteristic of different habitats, soil and climatic ditions which were at the basis of a flourishing activity in the conditions, and can offer exciting opportunities for innovation in the Mediterranean countries during the Arab-Norman period. floricultural industry. In this paper we test the qualitative and quanti- In Italy floriculture was already considered an economic activity in tative data of wild geophytic species with a focus on the peninsular the mid-19th century particularly in regions such as Tuscany and regions of Southern Italy. Information regarding the attributes of each Liguria (Puccini, 1971), while in Southern Italy until the end of 1800s species was obtained from a number of published sources, including the interest in experimentalonly cultivations was mainly kept alive in flora and plant checklists. This selection of geophytes belonging to the parks, gardens and scientific botanical collections (De Rosa, 1891). spontaneous flora of Southern Italy presents a potential floricultural Over the last decades, the consumption of floricultural products in interest in Italy, since these plants could be used as street furniture the western world has increased along with the improvement of living and for gardens and turfing. standards. use In particular, in the 1970s the remarkable increase in the value of domestic production was a clear sign of a transition toward specialized floriculture, in particular in the Southern Italy, where the expansion of Introduction this activity led to an improvement in the quality of the products. Currently, the strong influence of developing countries, the econom- The cultivation of ornamental plants has ancient origins. Ancient ic globalisation and the increase in production costs (energy and Greeks and Romans grew flowering plants, such as roses (Rosa gallica labour) have reduced the Italian nursery gardening production. L.), lilies (Lilium candidum L.), iris (Iris spp.), violets, daffodils International trade tends to privilege three major production areas (Narcissus spp.) and hyacinths (Hyacinthus spp.) (Benzi and with significant floricultural exports to the major consumer markets: Berliocchi, 1999; Puccini, 1971; Lev, 2002) together with numerous from the Netherlands and Africa to Europe, from South America to the trees and shrubs related to their traditions, myths and tales (e.g., myr- United States and China to the other Asian countries. tle, laurel, strawberry tree, cypress, etc.,). In Europe, the Netherlands is the largest importer from third coun- However, in ancient times the main purpose for the cultivation of tries and the largest exporter both outside and inside the EU. In addition, the Lomé Convention, signed in 1975, represented a big source of business for the major European companies, mainly Dutch, German and British, which established production sites at low costs in Correspondence: Giovanna Potenza,Non-commercial School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food developing countries, while marketing products at low prices in the and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, viale dell’Ateneo European countries. Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] Among the countries that seized this opportunity and became major exporters of flower products to the European Community, there are Key words: biodiversity, geophytes, ornamental plants, wild species. Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Tanzania. In recent years the demand for nursery production of ornamental Received for publication: 18 February 2014. plants exotic and no-native has been implemented from that of native Revision received: 19 April 2014. wild plants to be used for urban furnishings, gardens, turfing, etc. Accepted for publication: 28 April 2014. However, in recent years, the increasing focus on the protection and the conservation of biodiversity has attracted attention to the potential ©Copyright S. Fascetti et al., 2014 Licensee PAGEPress, Italy problem associated with the introduction of invasive alien species that Italian Journal of Agronomy 2014; 9:595 can spread in different types of habitats and replace native species doi:10.4081/ija.2014.595 with negative economic and environmental effects (Rejmanek et al., 2004). A priority in the strategies for biodiversity conservation is the This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons identification of wild floral species to be used as ornamental plants, Attribution Noncommercial License (by-nc 3.0) which permits any noncom- which can also be beneficial in terms of environmental mitigation and mercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the orig- restoration thanks to the use of non-invasive propagation and produc- inal author(s) and source are credited. tion techniques and low cost germplasm and propagation material [Italian Journal of Agronomy 2014; 9:595] [page 99] 2014_2_Hrev_master 24/06/14 14.40 Pagina 100 Article (Celesti-Grapow et al., 2010). For the conservation of target species of Flora of Italy (Pignatti, 1982; Acta Plantarum, 2011) and European Flora ornamentals, the initial focus should be on the so-called protected (Tutin et al., 1964-1993). areas, in which unfortunately very often no inventories of species are For topics related to the conservation status, this study is based on available (Heywood, 2003). At present, attention is being paid mostly to Regional and National Red-Lists, regional laws (Basilicata Region, research on native species for gardening in highly natural contexts, 2005) and research (Fascetti and Navazio, 2007) on protected flora and such as protected areas, and in geographic areas with a significant his- the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC (European Commission, 1992). For torical and cultural value and a distinctive local identity. the study of plants recorded in the Basilicata region, which can still be The great biodiversity of the Mediterranean flora is very rich in gen- seen on ancient terracotta pots and jewellery, we relied on Antica Flora era and species which characterise many habitats and various soil and Lucana (Nava et al., 2008). climatic conditions and can offer interesting opportunities for innovation in the floricultural industry. Over the last decade, a growing interest has emerged for wild- species and wild-flowers (De Herralde et al., 1998; Sànchez-Blanco et Results al., 1998; Cabot and Travesa, 2000; Franco et al., 2001; Martìnez- Sànchez et al., 2003). At present the Italian flora includes 743 geophytes out of a total of The identification of wild species with ornamental value in semi- 9000 vascular plants (Conti et al., 2005). Many are geophytic species arid ecosystems, such as the Mediterranean ecosystem, can offer a real with ornamental potential. alternative to traditional production horticultural plants. Most of Italian geophytes have bulbs (53.4%) and rhizomes The need for cutting maintenance costs in green areas is one of the (45.3%) as reserve organs, which make them particularly suitable for reasons for a greater interest in use of wild flora. vegetative propagation (Figure 1). These plants are adapted to local environmental conditions, show The biogeographic history of the Mediterranean flora and the geo- many morphological and physiological strategies to overcome abiotic graphical origin of Italian geophytes show that these are predomi- stress, have a good resistance to disease and a high water consumption nant species in the Mediterranean area (31%), followed by the Euro- efficiency (Morales et al., 2000; Franco et al., 2002; Clary et al., 2004; De Asian regions (13%), circum-borealisonly (11%) and endemic (11%) Lucia et al., 2013). (Figure 2). A recent contribution to the Sicilian wild flora helped to identify The geophytes from the Mediterranean region are very interesting some native shrubs that are characteristic of marginal environmental for the floricultural nursery and gardening activities as well as adapt- contexts. For species such as cysts (Cistus creticus L. s.l., C. salvifolius ed to dryness and high summer temperatures. In addition, the ex situ L.) and spurge (Euphorbia dendroides L., E. rigida M. Bieb.), there are cultivation allowsuse us to keep a significant

Load more