Use of native geophytes of ornamental interest: the case study of Sternbergia lutea (L.) Ker. Gawl. Ex Spreng

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Wild geophytes potential floricultural interest to  urban ecosystems,  gardens  turfing Mediterranean flora in particularly is rich in genera and species, with many opportunities for innovation in the floriculture.

Materials and methods
For each size class, four different cutting (incision) methods were used on the basal plate: • deep cross incisions (TP), • superficial cross incisions (TS), • basal plate emptying (SV), • bulb with no incisions (control, C). Photo by F. Vairo https://ontheworldmap.com/it/italy/region/basilicata/ Before planting, the bulbs were exposed to a tanning treatment:  The bulbs were immersed for 30 minutes in hot water (40°C) to which a 5% concentration of copper oxychloride was added.  Afterwards, the bulbs were placed with the tips pointing downwards, in a properly sterilized dry sand, in a ventilated oven at 100°C for 24 hours.  To facilitate the healing of the cuts, the bulbs were kept at 20°C and 40-50% relative humidity (R.H.) for two weeks.
Each experimental treatment was repeated three times (a, b and c).
A total of 48 pots were prepared, each of which contained 3 bulbs (144 bulbs in the whole trial).
The containers were placed in the open air, lying on a soil surface adequately mulched with black polyethylene (3 mm thick).
After the planting, the pots were irrigated manually and covered with a non-woven fabric sheet, until the plants began to emerge.
During the entire vegetative cycle, no fertilization or phytosanitary were used.
Moreover, weeds were removed with manual weeding operation.
From the emergence of the plants to their complete senescence, the main phenological and morphological parameters were measured on every plant in each pot.

Results and discussion
The morpho-phenological parameters of S. lutea are presented in Table 1. They varied significantly in the two years, also in relation to their bulb circumference size (calibre) and their cutting methods. ( all data reported in the paper)

Table 1 -Bulbs calibre and basal plate cutting method influence on some morpho-phenological traits of S. lutea in two years
In particular, as the size of the bulbs increased, the average time for plant emergence was progressively reduced moving from the smallest bulbs (size 1) to the largest ones (size 4), there was an advance in emergence of more than 24 days.
The basal plate cutting method also resulted in significant variations for almost of all the morpho-phenological traits. Deep cutting one drastically reduced leaf development whose number/plant decreased by 4.5 units, compared to the control, and by 3.8 and 2.9 units, compared to the other two cutting modalities .  The biological cycle period was significantly reduced with deep cutting (by 24 days compared to the control), finally, the senescence period remained statistically unvaried.
Considering the effect of the basal plate incisions, deep cutting induced a slight advance in the onset of flowering, and prolonged the emergence-flowering interval (preflowering phase).
In the experimental trial, the influence of calibre on the variation of the phenomorphological trails was confirmed. In particular, larger bulbs had positive effects on flower stem formation. The plant flower was also significantly influenced by the cutting method. In particular, bulbs to deep incisions had the lowest values (-73 % compared to the control).
The results obtained during the experimental trials allowed to acquire interesting data on the propagation of S. lutea.
In order to exploit the results obtained in the best way possible, it would be advisable to further extend the investigations in the future, considering other cutting methods and other autochthonous geophytes .

CONCLUSIONS
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