127 Schinus molle: Perspectives for Use as Cut Foliage E. Bosch, G.B. Tognon, F.L. Cuquel and W. do Amaral Universidade Federal do Paraná Departamento de Fitotecnia e Fitossanitarismo Curitiba-PR Brazil Keywords: floral arrangement, floral art, cut foliage, ornamental, plant habit, native plant, vase life Abstract Consumers place value on products with low environmental impact, whose production requires less use of agricultural chemicals and water consumption. Many native species meet these requirements. Schinus molle L. (Anacardiaceae) is a native species with beautiful flexible green stems and small leaflets with serrated edges, which may be used as cut foliage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if the species has the minimum features required by florists and evaluate the vase life of the stems. The ornamental potential of the species was assessed by florists, which evaluated 20 stems according to criteria previously defined in the literature. The results obtained showed that Schinus molle has high potential as cut foliage, mainly for table arrangements, party arrangements and floral wreaths. In addition, S. molle stems were kept in water containers and evaluated every two days for loss of turgidity and color changing (means of the three dimensional CIE L* a*b* color system). The stems presented an average vase life of eight days, showing suitability for the proposed use. INTRODUCTION The flower market is characterized by a market that permanently searches for novelties (Villanova et al., 2009). The use of native plants can be a source of new products for this eager market. Moreover, the product should meet the desire of consumers concerned about the environment cost (Heiden et al., 2006). These plants distinguished themselves by their low need of maintenance, due to short demand for water, fertilizers and other chemicals (Buckstrup and Bassuk, 2010). An expressive segment of the flower market is the floral art, whose basic principle is to select and arrange plant materials to create a pleasant and balanced composition (Honeywell and Clark, 2005). Among other materials, leaves have an important role, because they emphasize the flower stems, can be arranged to fill voids, and produce a smooth effect and contrast, which improves the quality of the arrangement (Bañón et al., 1999; Lobo-Guerrero, 2009; Salinas and Cartes, 2010). Also leaves are major elements to provide balance, contrast and harmony to the arrangement (Naeve and Midcape, 2007; Scace, 2001). Pepper tree (Schinus molle L.) is an ornamental tree in the family Anacardiaceae, native to South America, known primarily for its wood, second for its medicinal use and for landscaping proposes (Allardice et al., 1999). Its branches are flexible and green, with alternate leaves and composed of 4 to 12 pairs of serrated margins leaflets (Lorenzi, 2000) (Fig. 1). Before launching new species or plant varieties in the market, the stem vase life has to be analyzed, and also the stems must present a minimum durability of a week (Reid and Cevallos, 2009). In addition, leaves should present interesting features of color, shape, texture, scent and minimum length of 20 cm (Heuvelink et al., 2004). Heiden et al. (2006) and Boumaza et al. (2010) emphasize the importance to evaluate Schinus molle stems by the florists in order to reach success on the flower market. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate if Schinus molle has the minimum quality traits required by florists, length of its vase life. Proc. X th IS on Postharvest Quality of Ornamental Plants Eds.: A.C.R. Castro et al. Acta Hort. 1060, ISHS 2015