By, Pillai Aswathy Viswanath

1. MODULE 7
FLORICULTURE
By
Pillai Aswathy Viswanath

2. Introduction
 Floriculture may be defined as the branch of
Horticulture which deals with the culture and
management of flowers and ornamental
plants.
 It has been derived from two words ‘flor’
means flower and ‘cultura’ means cultivation.
 Floriculture includes cultivation of flowering
and ornamental plants for direct sale or for
use as raw materials in cosmetic and perfume
industry and in the pharmaceutical sector.

3.  It also includes production of planting
materials through seeds, cuttings, budding
and grafting.
 In simpler terms floriculture can be
defined as the art and knowledge of
growing flowers to perfection.
 The persons associated with this field are
called floriculturists.

4. PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF FLORICUTURE
IN KERALA
 Problems of biotecnology labs involved in the in-
vitro propagation.
 Problems faced by the cut flower growers; and
Problems faced by the cut flower traders.

5. Problems Of Biotecnology Labs Involved In The In-vitro
Propagation.
 High Cost of Chemicals, Hormones and Other
Nutrients
 High cost of electricity
 Lack of technical advice and expertise
 High rate of contamination
 Lack of high yielding disease resistant plants
 Handling problems due to small size of
plantlets

6. Problems Faced By The Cut Flower Growers
 High cost of plants
 Non availability of high yielding plants
 Non availabilty of disease resistant
planting material
 High cost of plant protectors
 Attack of pests,fungal and bacterial
diseases

7.  Lack of training regarding the selection of
high yielding plants
 Premature shedding of flower buds
 Stunded growth of spike
 High cost of maintance

8. Problems Faced By The Cut Flower Traders.
 Short Supply of Flowers to Fulfill Bulk Orders
 Improper Grading and Packing Procedures adopted by
the Growers
 Inadequate Facilitie for Quick and Timely
Transportation of Flowers:
 Lack of storage facilities
 Erratic changes in demand
 High rate of damages in transit
 Lack of technology to keep freshness of flowers
 Frequent changes in taste and preferences of
consumers
 Low internal demands
 Lack of government support

9. Scope
 Floral garden,
 Indoor decoration,
 Social functions and religious functions
the demand for floricultural plants is
increasing day by day and to meet out the
same there is a good scope for growing
and raising of ornamental or floricultural
plants.

10.  Perfume industries can be established in the
country which can help improving national
economy.
 Flowers can be a source of earning huge
foreign currency by exporting them.
 Flowers can be considered as a commercial
commodity. Commercial flower production may
be helpful in increased earning of the grower.
 Establishment of flower production farms and
perfume industries can help solving
unemployment problem to a large extent.
 It provides scope to bring more unused land
under flower cultivation.

11. Common Cut Flowers

12.  Cut flowers are flowers or flower buds usually
removed from the plant for indoor decorative
use. Typical uses are in vase displays.
 It can be simply be defined as any flower that is
cut from the plant and are ready to be used in a
fresh flower arrangement.
 Many gardeners harvest their own cut flowers
from domestic gardens.
 The cultivation and practices of raising cut
flowers form a part horticulture . They are
often included in that branch of horticulture
called floriculture.

13. ROSE

14.  Rose is a woody perennial flowering plant
of the genus Rosa, in the family Rosaceae.
 It is one of the most important cut flower.
 Flowers vary in size and shape and are
usually large and showy, colours ranging
from white through yellows and reds.
 Most species, cultivars and hybrids are all
widely grown for their beauty and often
are fragrant.

15. Gerbera

16.  Gerbera is a genus of plants in the
Asteraceae family.
 Gerbera species bear a large capitulum
with striking, two-lipped ray florets in
yellow, orange, white, pink or red colours.
 The capitulum which has the appearance
of a single flower is actually composed of
hundreds of individual flowers.

17.  Gerbera is very popular and widely used as
a decorative garden plant or as cut
flowers.
 The domesticated cultivars are mostly a
result of a cross between Gerbera
jamesonii and another South African
species Gerbera viridifolia .
 The cross is known as Gerbera hybrida.

18. GLADIOLUS

19.  Gladiolus is a genus of perennial flowering plants
in the family (Iridaceae).
 Their stems are generally unbranched, sword-
shaped, longitudinal leaves enclosed in a sheath.
 The flower spikes are large and one-sided, with
bisexual flowers, each subtended by 2 leathery,
green bracts .
 The sepals and the petals are almost identical in
appearance, and are termed tepals .

20. ASTER

21.  Aster is a genus of flowering plants in the family
Asteraceae .
 It is popular as garden plants because of their
attractive and colourful flowers.
 The central disk of flowers on the Asters is
surrounded by the ring of ray flowers.
 In many cases the disk flowers are a different color
than the petals so that the entire flower head looks
like a single flower with a central disk surrounded by
differently colored petals.
 The ray flowers on the Asters are never yellow. The
tubular flowers of the Asters are bisexual, having
both a pistil and stamens; the ray flowers are usually
sterile.

22. CHRYSANTHEMUM

23.  Chrysanthemums are flowering plants of the genus
Chrysanthemum in the family Asteraceae .
 Pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) is
economically important as a natural source of
insecticide .
 Each Chrysanthemum flower head is actually a cluster
of many flowers, composed of a central group of
short disk flowers surrounded by rings of longer ray
flowers.
 The Chrysanthemum blooms come in a huge variety
of shapes and sizes and in a wide range of colors.
 In addition to the traditional yellow, other popular
colors are white, purple, and red.

24. DAISY

25.  Daisies belong to the daisy family of
Compositae, now known as Asteraceae in
flowering plants.
 Daisy is a perennial whose evergreen leaves
form a basal tuft or a rosette.
 Daisy flower plant has a prostrate fashion or
a growing habit of spreading.
 Daisies can be propagated by division in
spring or through sowing seeds in spring.
 The Daisy's leaves are edible and can be used
in salads.

26. CARNATION

27.  Dianthus caryophyllus or carnation is a
herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall.
 The leaves are greyish green to blue-green,
slender, up to 15 cm long.
 The flowers are produced singly or up to five
together in a cyme.
 When grown in gardens, Carnations grow to
between 6 and 8.5 cm in diameter.
 Petals on Carnations are generally serrated.
 Carnations are bisexual flowers and bloom simply
or cluster.
 The Carnation leaves are narrow and stalk less
and their color varies from green to grey-blue or
purple.

28. GOLDEN ROD

29.  Solidago, commonly called goldenrods, is a
genus of flowering plants belongs to the
family, Asteraceae
 Solidago species are perennials growing from
rhizomes .
 The flower heads are usually of the radiate
type (typical daisy flower heads with distinct
ray and disc florets ) but sometimes discoid
(with only disc florets of mixed, sterile, male
and bisexual types)

30. Anthurium
 Anthurium is a genus of herbs often growing
as epiphytes on other plants.
 The leaves are often clustered and are variable in
shape.
 The inflorescence bears small flowers which are
perfect, containing male and female structures
 The flowers are contained in dense spirals on
the spadix.
 The spadix is often elongated into a spike shape.
 Beneath the spadix is the spathe, a type of bract.

31.  The spadix and spathe are a main focus
of Anthuirium breeders, who
develop cultivars in bright colors and
unique shapes.
 Anthurium plants are poisonous due
to calcium oxalate crystals, irritating to
the skin and eyes.[5]

32. ORCHIDS
 The Orchidaceae are a diverse
and widespread family of flowering plants,
with blooms that are often colourful and often
fragrant, commonly known as the orchid
family.

33. LILIUM

34.  Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants
growing from bulbs, all with large prominent
flowers.
 The flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in
a range of colours including whites, yellows,
oranges, pinks, reds and purples.
 Lilies are propagated mainly by means of bulbs.
They are also grown from seeds
 Although the lilies grown from seeds are more
disease resistant, the only disadvantage with
growing lilies from seeds is that the lily plants
take a longer time to bloom.
 Bulbs are very much preferred in growing lilies.

35. LIMONIUM

36.  Limonium is a flower species of family
Plumbagibaceae
 Members are also known as sea-lavender.
 Sea-lavenders normally grow as
herbaceous perennial plants growing tall
from a rhizome .
 Many species flourish in saline soils, and
are therefore common near coasts and in
salt marshes .

37. Common Leaves Used In Flower
Arrangement

38. CYPRESS

39.  Cypress is the name applied to many plants
in the cypress family Cupressaceae
 which is a gymnosperm (conifer) of
northern temperate regions.
 Most cypress species are trees , while a
few are shrubs .
 Cypress leaves are commonly used in
flower arrangement to add beauty.

40. PODOCARPUS

41.  Podocarpus from the Greek, podos,
meaning "foot", and karpos, meaning
"fruit“ is a genus of conifers the most
numerous and widely distributed belongs
to family Podocarpaceae .
 Podocarpus are evergreen shrubs or trees.
 The leaves are 0.5 to 15 cm long, with a
distinct midrib.
 It is used in flower arrangement

42. ASPARAGUS

43.  Asparagus, or garden asparagus,
scientific name Asparagus officinalis, is a
flowering perennial plant species.
 It was once classified in the lily family,
now it is in the family Asparagaceae.
 Asparagus officinalis is native to most of
Europe, northern Africa and western
Asia,and is widely cultivated as a vegetable
crop.

44. PALMS

45.  Commonly known as palm trees
 Which is belongs to the family arecaceae
 Currently 181 genera with around 2600 species
 Restricted to tropical, subtropical, and
warm temperate climates.
 Palms are among the best known and most
extensively cultivated plant.
 Most palms are distinguished by their large,
compound, evergreen leaves, known as fronds,
arranged at the top of an unbranched stem.

46. CYCADS

47.  Cycads are seed plants.
 They typically have a stout and woody trunk with
a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves.
 They usually have pinnate leaves.
 They typically grow very slowly and live very long,
with some specimens known to be as much as 1,000
years old. Because of their superficial
resemblance, they are sometimes mistaken
for palms or ferns, but are only distantly related
to either.
 The living cycads are found across much of
the subtropical and tropical parts of the world.

48. FERNS
 Ferns are not of major economic importance,
but some are gathered for medicine, grown
for food,or as ornamentals.
 Some fern species are significant weeds.

49. EUCALYPTUS
 Eucalyptus is a
diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs
belongs to the family, Myrtaceae.
 It is the tallest known flowering plant on Earth.
 There are more than 700 species of eucalyptus
and most are native to Australia; a very small
number are found in adjacent areas of New
Guinea and Indonesia.
 One species, Eucalyptus deglupta, ranges as
far north as the Philippines.

50.  Some eucalyptus species have attracted
attention from horticulturists, global
development researchers, and
environmentalists because of desirable traits
such as being fast-growing sources of wood,
producing oil that can be used for cleaning and
as a natural insecticide, or an ability to be used
to drain swamps and thereby reduce the risk
of malaria. Eucalyptus oil finds many uses like
in aromatherapy, as a cure for joint pains.