Chorizanthe membranacea - New Crop Summary & Recommendations By Greg Matthews 2012 Series: New Floricultural Crops: Formulation of Production Schedules for Wild, Non- domesticated Species Part of the requirements for Horticultural Science 5051: Plant Production II University of Minnesota New Crops Paper Hort 5051 Greg Matthews Taxonomy Chorizanthe membranacea Benth. Is commonly referred to as Pink Spineflower. It is in the Polygonaceae (Buckwheat) family. Another name for C. membranacea is Erigonella membranacea. Geographic Distribution It is native to North America. It is found in the states of Oregon and California in the United States. It is commonly found in the coast ranges of southwest Oregon and California and on the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada southward to the Transverse Ranges and the Tehachapi Mountains of Ventura and Kern counties in California. It is generally found in 40-44 degrees north Latitude at 0-4500 ft. altitude. It is not invasive and tends to grow in isolation. Native Habitat It is a desert plant that grown in gravelly or rocky flats and slopes, mixed grasslands and chaparral communities. It grows in isolation in most cases. Taxonomic Description C. membranacea is an annual plant that has a slender stem with simple leaves on the lower one-third and once to thrice dichotomous above. The Branches closely ascending; leaves linear and acute 2-3 cm. Total plant height is 2-3 ft. The leaves are crowded at the base of the plant and more scattered above. The flowers are 2-3 per cluster with usually only one developing fruit. The sepals are spatulate, wooly and bright red. It has a typical fibrous root system that you would expect from an annual w/out a taproot. There are no underground storage organs such as a bulb or tuber. The season of bloom is from April-July. There is currently no use for this plant by indigenous people or any other people to the best of my knowledge. It does have potential for the market because of its ability to grow in gravely and rocky poor soils. Name and Description of Varieties/Cultivars on the Market It grows wildly and it not commercially available. There are no known cultivated varieties of Chorizanthe membranacea. Propagation Methods I was able to get some seeds to germinate but the germination rate was very low. I received the seeds from Dr. Neil Anderson and he said that they were collected from the wild. I do not think that the seeds were dormant, I think that the low germination rate was due to seeds not being viable. I did not collect the seeds so the number of seeds per flower is not New Crops Paper Hort 5051 Greg Matthews determined at this time. My plants were also very slow to start and this leads me to believe that vegetative propagation might be the best choice for this plant. I cannot try this however because my plants are still immature and cuttings are not practical at this time and do not have the equipment or resources for other types of vegetative propagation such as tissue culture. If cuttings are to be taken from native wild plants, local laws and regulations must be followed. Product Specifications The ideal phenotype of a marketable cultivar would be a dwarf variety with vibrant color. The natural color is pink and this is an acceptable and popular color. It could be bred to have a more vibrant color that lasts throughout the fall instead of just spring and early summer. It already has drought tolerance which is always a good quality as long as the consumers are not trying to plant it in a wetland condition. Drought tolerance seems to be more desirable for the average consumer than resistance to flooding with our busy society that keeps people too busy to water their plants for days or even weeks at a time. Market Niche – Identification & Justification The target sales date would be early spring with the potential of being sold for Easter. This plant could however be forced year-round in a controlled greenhouse. Forcing it year- round would make the price go up due to it taking up valuable greenhouse space for months at a time. This plant would be competing with other desert type drought resistant plants and even cacti. With a name like pink spineflower there are great marketing options with phrases like “make the spineflower the backbone of your garden”. I cannot tell if this crop will make it or not. I have not done enough research and I have not done any genetic development. I believe that any plant has the potential to be a cash crop if there are enough resources and researchers to work on it. This crop is not already identifiable to growers & consumers; not many people know what it is. The initial crop limitations are that it cannot tolerate wet feet; which limits its use. To make this crop commercially available I predict that it would take at least 20 years of development and be very expensive. It is not ready for the market in its wild state. It would take plant breeders many many generations to turn this crop into a good crop. Anticipated Cultural Requirements It is hardy from zones 6a-8b and is very drought tolerant with a high resistance to heat. I grew my plants around 70F and with its ability to withstand heat I believe that 80F days and 70F nights would have been more appropriate. It is a long day facultative plant that grows best in well-drained sandy soils and can tolerate very rocky conditions. It does not do well in shade. It does not have constricting nutrition requirements. It does not generally require fertilization. Plant growth regulators might need to be used if grown in containers because fertilization would probably be needed in a greenhouse situation and the fertilization would cause it to New Crops Paper Hort 5051 Greg Matthews grow too tall without plant growth regulators. The final container size in a production cycle would be no larger than a 5” pot. Seeds should be started in a ‘288’ plug tray and only transplanted one time into the final desired container (4” or 5” pot) because it is sensitive to transplanting. Monthly fungicide drenches would be beneficial in the greenhouse and scouting for insects would be beneficial as the potential pests are unknown. It is also unknown what diseases could infect C. membranacea. Production Schedule (From Seed) I grew my plants for one month in the greenhouse and they are only 1” tall so I predict that it would take several months at a minimum for the plants to be at a marketable size. I sowed my seeds in a ‘288’ plug tray and I feel that is an appropriate size for seedlings. The seedlings should be transplanted at about 4 weeks from sowing. It will take another 12 weeks before the plants are ready for market. PGRs should be applied in week 4 immediately after transplanting. Regular fertilizer is not recommended. I recommend fertilizing at 200ppm nitrogen in weeks 3, 6, 9, 12. Too much fertilizer makes the plants too tall and undesirable. It is an annual so it will produce flowers sometime in the first year. I cannot accurately predict when flower bud initiation would be, how long flowers take to develop or shipping restrictions for this plant. An educated opinion on these matters is that flower buds are initiated sometime around week 8 and flower buds will take from weeks 8-12 to develop. Shipping could be expensive because the plants are tall and will take up a lot of space in a truck. The racks must be spaced out enough so that the tops are not damaged. They cannot be bent over; they must be allowed to stand up straight. Needs assessment for Genetic Improvement There is very limited literature on this plant and my research was limited to one semester which was not long enough to conduct long-term extensive testing but I have come to some conclusions based on my research. Further testing could strengthen my research. The research that should be done next would be to grow out several plants for an entire season in the greenhouse and in fields. Selection should be done to choose dwarf plants and a determination of whether dwarfing is a dominant or recessive trait would further determine the type of breeding to be done. Other things that plants should be selected for include but are not limited to: disease resistance, overall vigor, # of flowers, # of leaves, color of flowers, and bloom time. Literature Cited http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250060078 A Manual of the Higher Plants of Oregon Morton E. Peck, 1961, second edition New Crops Paper Hort 5051 Greg Matthews http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/# The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California James C. Hickman, 1993 http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Chorizanthe+membranacea .