New Varieties of Anthurium andraeanum from Brazil Antonio Fernando Caetano Tombolato, Luis Alberto Saes, Luiz Antonio Ferraz Matthes, Mauro Sakai, Gláucia Dias Tagliacozzo, Carlos Eduardo Ferreira de Castro, Renato Ferraz de Arruda Veiga and Wilson Barbosa Instituto Agronômico, Caixa Postal 28, 13001-970 Campinas SP Brazil Abstract In the Ribeira River Valley in the State of São Paulo, the main region for anthurium production in Brazil, until now seed-propagated plants grown from crosses made by the growers themselves predominated production. The characteristics of these plants and their flowers are heterogeneous. In recent years, the Instituto Agronômico in Campinas (IAC) released 12 varieties mostly for cut flower production. Only 11 named varieties are listed under the list of existing selections. They are multiplied in vitro by private laboratories and then transferred to the growers. The breeding program on anthurium at the Instituto Agronômico aims to select vigorous and productive plants, with good quality flowers, mainly for cut flower production for the Brazilian market and possibly for future export. Hybrids are selected from among thousands of seedlings obtained from cross-pollination of selected plants from the collection of the Instituto Agronômico, at the Ribeira River Valley Experimental Station. Hybrids were cultivated in beds of organic soil under 70% shade net in an spray irrigated house, where they have been observed monthly for many years under low levels of pesticide use. After more than 20 years of selection, selection criteria have been established for IAC varieties, which have resulted in selections that perform well under a broad amplitude of temperature conditions (from 3 to 38ºC). Selections with these characteristics are very welcome in times of controlled, organic production and high energy costs for controlled-climate greenhouses. In this report, we also present brief descriptions of 12 new Anthurium selections, which are named for Brazilian Indian tribes. INTRODUCTION Anthurium belongs to the Araceae family. The genus includes around 1000 species (Croat, 2005), most of them tropical herbs originating from warm areas of Central and South America. Less than the tenth of these species are cultivated, although numerous hybrids and varieties exist due to the ease of interspecific hybridization. In Brazil, it is noted the occurrence of around 130 native species (Gonçalves, 2003). From a commercial perspective, the main species of this genus is Anthurium andraeanum Linden, which is cultivated as cut flowers (Pizano, printing). We estimate that there are about 1.7 million Anthurium andraeanum plants in the main production area in the Ribeira River Valley of São Paulo State, Brazil (Associação dos Produtores de Flores, Mudas e Plantas do Vale do Ribeira. Personal communication, 2004.). In that region, anthurium has been typically seed propagated resulting in extremely heterogeneous populations. But vegetative propagation methods are assuming great importance in this crop’s development, as the methods lead to improved productivity and more uniform products. In Brazil, the traditional vegetative propagation methods of stem section and shoot separation are slow, but they result in increased uniformity of marketed products. In this manner, diverse colors, sizes and forms have been preserved. There is great interest in producing uniform plants with good floral quality and productivity, but the mass production of these plants is only possible by in vitro techniques. São Paulo State is the center of the most dynamic region for growing and marketing flowers in Brazil. Data on anthurium trading at the Ceagesp (São Paulo 423 Proc. V th IS on New Flor. Crops Eds.: A.F.C. Tombolato and G.M. Dias-Tagliacozzo Acta Hort. 683, ISHS 2005