DRIED AND PRESERVED ORNAMENTAL PLANT MATERIAL: NOT NEW, BUT OFTEN OVERLOOKED AND UNDERRATED

Abstract

In the context of a new floricultural crops symposium such as this, dried and preserved (D&P) ornamental plant materials cannot strictly be considered `new'. Nevertheless, they surely deserve attention. Being largely focused on the qualities of attractive living plants and plant parts, floriculturalists generally pay scant attention to D&P products. Accordingly, these products are often `overlooked and underrated'. They are overlooked in that their considerable economic importance is generally unrecognized, and they are underrated in that their aesthetic contribution is largely discounted. In contrast to other areas of postharvest floriculture, relatively little publicly funded research and development (R&D) has been undertaken on drying and preserving of ornamental materials with a view to optimizing treatments and product quality. Privately funded R&D work has been sustained, but findings are usually kept as closely guarded secrets in order to protect investments. It is possibly a consequence, at least in part, of the limited amount of public information on drying and preserving of ornamentals that the D&P industry is ill-defined in terms of products, processes and organization. For example, product descriptions and uniformity and quality standards, which underpin trade in most horticultural commodities, have not been generally established for D&P products. This paper presents an overview of the D&P ornamentals industry, including the common methods used in drying and preserving. In keeping with the location of this symposium, novel Australian plant products and the Australian industry are considered. The overall objective of the presentation is to increase awareness of the D&P ornamentals industry, with a view to stimulating greater public R&D support and enhanced industry professionalism in the trade of D&P products.