Florist News

History of gerbera Jamesonii

First discovery: Originally, gerberas came from Asia, South Africa (the Transvaal and Cape provinces) and Tasmania. These are areas with damp summers and dry winters. The first person to describe the Gerbera in scientific terms was Gronovius, a botanist working in Leiden. Although this occurred in 1717, the flower was named in 1737 after Traugott Gerber, a German doctor. The gerberas commonly cultivated today can be grouped under their official name of Gerbera Jamesonii Hybrids. These are hybrids created from the two species known as Gerbera jamesonii and Gerbera viridifolia. Gerbera jamesonii, the most important genetic contributor to our modern varieties, gets its name from a plant collector by the name of Jameson. After discovering this species in the Transvaal province (South Africa), he added the plant to the collection of the botanical gardens in Norwich, England. Today, gerberas are available in almost all colours except for black, green and blue.

The Gerbera family
The Gerbera belongs to the Compositae, or Composite family of flowering plants. The Gerbera flower consists of many small, individual florets clustered onto a common receptacle. Actually, this makes the Gerberas inflorescence a pseudanthium (an inflorescence that only appears to be a single flower). Its inflorescence is made up of an outer row of ray flowers that are female, while the majority of the more centrally located disc flowers are androgynous (simultaneously male and female). Since the flowers are protogynous (the female stigmas developing before the male stamens), self-pollination is almost impossible. Once a stigma has been fertilised, it is no longer receptive to other pollen. Gerberas have a sympodial rhizome, also known as a rootstock. The gerberas rootstock is very compact, meaning that its internodes (the points at which sprouts emerge) are located very close to one another.

Propagation
Originally, growers depended on seed for propagation. Later, they switched to cuttings, but the technique considered best these days is tissue culture. With tissue culture, we can not only grow good varieties, but also vigorous plants that produce long-lasting, high-quality flowers.

__________________
The flower forum pimp.

www.avdint.com

www.flowers4florists.com