Since 1976, the University of Florida (UF) has supported a caladium breeding program at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center to meet the need of the Florida caladium industry and the environmental horticulture industry for new caladium cultivars. Continuous introduction of caladium cultivars with novel leaf colors or coloration patterns are important to Florida caladium growers as well as greenhouse growers and nurseries that intend to produce prefinished and finished caladium plants in containers. Combinations or recombinations of different colors on leaf veins, interveinal areas, spots, and/or blotches have resulted in diverse and intriguing coloration patterns on caladium leaves.
Florida caladium growers planted >50% more acres for this group of cultivars in 2003 than in 1998 ( Bell et al., 1998 Deng et al., 2008b). Most commercial cultivars are fancy-leaved however, the demand for lance-leaved cultivars has been on rise during the past 2 or 3 decades. Leaves of fancy-leaved cultivars are also larger. Generally speaking, fancy-leaved caladium plants are taller and produce more and larger tubers than the lance-leaved caladiums. Commercial caladium cultivars are broadly classified into eight groups based on leaf type (fancy and lance-leaved) and leaf color (white, red, pink, and multicolored) ( Bell et al., 1998). Roughly, two-thirds of Florida-produced caladium tubers are used to produce pot plants, and one-third are used for direct planting in the landscape. Florida growers produce essentially all the caladium tubers used in the United States and in the world for pot plant production and tuber sales ( Bell et al., 1998 Deng et al., 2008b). Most commercial caladium plants are produced by forcing tubers in containers. They are valued for their variably shaped, bright foliage. Keywords: bedding plant breeding caladium garden plant new cultivar ornamental aroidĬaladiums ( Caladium ×hortulanum Birdsey, Araceae Juss.) are ornamental aroids often used as container or landscape plants ( Evans et al., 1992).
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