2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Kaitlin Hopkins¹, Michael A. Arnold¹, Charles R. Hall¹, H. Brent Pemberton², and Marco A. Palma³

¹Graduate Research & Teaching Assistant, Professor and Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs, and Professor and Chair of International Floriculture, respectively, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2133

²Texas A&M Regents Fellow and Professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton, 1710 N. FM 3053, P.O. Box 200, Overton, TX 75684

³Associate Professor and Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2124

Ratibida columnifera (Nutt.) Wooten & Standl. is an herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae Brecht. & J. Presl family found in a large natural range in the United States, including highly diverse phenotypes in the Southcentral USA. This wildflower has the potential to be a viable nursery crop, but exhibits variation in both floral and vegetative characteristics, which limit its current commercialization potential. Online plant databases, such as the NRCS plant database and the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center plant database, provide some documentation and images of the many variations seen in nature of Ratibida columnifera in regards to flower and foliage morphology. Collection of unique wild germplasm and characterization of the cultural requirements of this plant could eventually facilitate breeding efforts and lead to a commercialized cultivars not yet seen on the market. This study focuses on the comparative morphology of wild germplasm collections from the native range of Ratibida columnifera in Texas. Collections of both vegetative cuttings and seed were accumulated during the 2018 growing season to develop a reserve of germplasm of plants with varying traits, including petal color, petal size, petal number, and petal shape. Upon growing out the vegetative cuttings, variation in foliage morphology was also discovered. Collection of these germplasms with varying marketable traits could potentially lay the groundwork for development of novel germplasms that may be fit for commercialization for the green industry once tested for market acceptance.