2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Inclusion of stems of showy fruits or vegetables bearing colorful small fruits can make a welcome and attractive addition to summer and fall floral bouquets. Although pepper (Capsicum annuum) plants have been developed as high-value ornamental bedding plants, with prominent small fruits, stem length of these plants is too short for use in floral arrangements. This limitation is being overcome by two means: (A) Selection of C. annuum lines at USDA, ARS, Beltsville, with tall stature, black/dark violet-colored foliage and small fruits; and (B) Tall selections of Capsicum baccatum, sourced from the USDA National Plant Germplasm System. The C. annuum material is derived from initial crosses between the black foliage USDA pepper germplasm release 90C44 and diverse heirloom cultivars including ‘Christmas Cheer’, ‘Royal Black’ and others. In contrast with black foliage ARS releases such as ‘Black Pearl’ and Midnight Creeper™, early generation selections for cut stem lines focused on tall indeterminate growth habit. Selection was practiced for plants that produce greater than three basal shoots and have vigorous indeterminate upright growth habit. Selections exhibited good retention of black foliage on cut stems in 7-day trials. Fruits are oriented upright, of various shapes from round to blocky to pointed, glossy black when immature, and mature to orange or red when mature. The C. baccatum lines were first grown at Cornell University in 2011, and evaluated for stem strength, lodging resistance and ease of leaf removal in the next four years. Primary interest of the C. baccatum selections resides in colorful red, yellow or orange upright oriented fruit of diverse size and shape. Ease of manual leaf removal varied from year to year, but placing the cut stems in a dark, humid box and subjecting them to 30° C for 3 days accomplished complete defoliation. Selections from five lines, namely PI 159252, PI 441525, PI 441542, PI 441552 and PI 441575 had the most desirable traits and are being offered for distribution to seed companies for commercialization and distribution as named varieties. Both the C. annuum and C. baccatum lines are being evaluated by cut flower growers in field plantings in Maryland and Virginia in the 2018 planting season.