Sweet osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans Lour.) is one of the top 10 famous flowering plants, with more than 2500 years of cultivation in China. It is a broadleaf evergreen shrub or small tree with fragrant flowers. There are more than 160 cultivars of O. fragrans, which have been divided into four cultivar groups: Yingui (Albus group), Jingui (Luteus group), Dangui (Aurantiacus group), and Sijigui (Asiaticus group) (Chen et al. 2021). Sweet osmanthus cultivars are widely used as outdoor garden plants. Fresh flowers of sweet osmanthus have been harvested commercially as additives for flavorings and cosmetics in five well-known commercial production centers in China since the Ming Dynasty (Zou et al. 2014), including the Xianning in Hubei Province, Guilin in Guangxi Province, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. Therefore, the breeding of sweet osmanthus with a large number of flowers, large petal corolla, and strong aroma—without fruit—is particularly important for the cosmetic industry.
Recently, several new cultivars of sweet osmanthus have been released in China, such as O. fragrans ‘Qiannan Guifei’ (Jiang et al. 2015), O. fragrans ‘Caihong’ (Yu et al. 2018), O. fragrans ‘Yongfu Caixia’ (Zang 2018), O. fragrans ‘Luo Cai No. 2’ (Li et al. 2020), O. fragrans ‘Siji Fanghua’ (Tu et al. 2020), and O. fragrans ‘Dongrong’ (Wu et al. 2021). However, new cultivars with abundant flowers for the cosmetic industry is rarely reported.
We report a new cultivar of O. fragrans, ‘Change’, which means beautiful moon goddess in Chinese. It is an excellent fragrant cultivar with a large number of flowers for both ornamental and commercial harvesting.
Origin
In 1980, seeds of the female parent tree of O. fragrans ‘Yinzhan Bizhu’ (Fig. 1A) in the Albus group were collected in the nursery of 131 scenic spot, Maqiao Town, Xianning City, Hubei Province, China. In Sep 1991, among the batch of sown seedlings, a new cultivar of O. fragrans with a large amount of flowers, large petal corolla, and twisted and rolled leaves was found. Since the beginning of Summer 1992, more than 5000 plants of this cultivar have been propagated by cuttings. Using the current year’s soft branches as the cuttings by open-air cover cultivation, the rooting rate is 90% without rooting hormones. After years of observation, it was found that this cultivar is different from the known Osmanthus cultivars with morphological stable, and the offspring of asexual reproduction are consistent with the mother tree (Fig. 1B). In Oct 2021, it passed identification by the International Cultivar Registration Center for Osmanthus and was named ‘Change’ (accession no. 2022003).
The parent tree of Osmanthus fragrans Yinzhan Bizhu and new cultivar of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (A) The female parent tree of O. fragrans ‘Yinzhan Bizhu’. (B) The 42-year-old mother tree of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (C) The 3-year-old cuttings of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (D) The 12-year-old tree of O. fragrans ‘Change’.
Citation: HortScience 57, 10; 10.21273/HORTSCI16707-22
The parent tree of Osmanthus fragrans Yinzhan Bizhu and new cultivar of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (A) The female parent tree of O. fragrans ‘Yinzhan Bizhu’. (B) The 42-year-old mother tree of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (C) The 3-year-old cuttings of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (D) The 12-year-old tree of O. fragrans ‘Change’.
Citation: HortScience 57, 10; 10.21273/HORTSCI16707-22
The parent tree of Osmanthus fragrans Yinzhan Bizhu and new cultivar of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (A) The female parent tree of O. fragrans ‘Yinzhan Bizhu’. (B) The 42-year-old mother tree of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (C) The 3-year-old cuttings of O. fragrans ‘Change’. (D) The 12-year-old tree of O. fragrans ‘Change’.
Citation: HortScience 57, 10; 10.21273/HORTSCI16707-22
Description
Variety specificity.
‘Change’ is a small evergreen tree with a height of 6 m, a diameter at breast height of 16 cm, and a crown width of 8 m. The tree crown is compact, with four to eight low branches. The oblong entire leaves with the dark green color are 6 to 11 cm long, 3 to 3.5 cm wide, twisted, and rolled. The petiole is yellow-green with a length of 10 to 14 mm. The young leaves are dark purple (Fig. 1C).
The cuttings start to flower in the third year. There are two to four pairs of stacked flower buds. The flower branches are 10 to 25 cm long and there are five to eight flower nodes. Each flower bud has five to seven small flowers, and the flowers are dense. The corolla is oblique and 7 to 11 mm in diameter. Flowers are creamy white at the initial flowering stage and become white at the full flowering stage [Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) 2B-2D]. Their pedicels are yellow-green and 8 to 10 mm long. The flowers usual bloom from mid to late September to early October, with a blossom period of 10 d.
Compared with O. fragrans ‘Yinzhan Bizhu’, O. fragrans ‘Change’ has longer flower branches, a larger flower diameter, a greater number of flowers, and no fruit, which is better for ornamental planting and commercial harvesting (Table 1).
Comparison of traits between Osmanthus fragrans ‘Change’ and O. fragrans ‘Yinzhan Bizhu’.
Variety consistency.
Propagated by cuttings, the characteristics are consistent.
Variety stability.
After years of cultivation experiments, all the plants propagated by cuttings have specific and stable characteristics (Fig. 1D).
Notes and Spreading Prospects in Cultivation
‘Change’ can be planted in eastern, central, and southwestern China. It has strong adaptability and is relatively shade tolerant. It does not have strict soil requirements, and can be planted on acidic and neutral soils. It grows quickly and is easy to reproduce. Apply compound fertilizer two to three times a year. The insect pests are mainly red spiders, which are controlled by spraying with Fenvalerate. Dry weather in summer requires timely watering. No other special cultivation and management requirements are needed.
Availability
Osmanthus fragrans ‘Change’ is available from a nursery in Maqiao Town, Xianning City, Hubei Province, China (lat. 29°50'N, long. 114°24'W). Please direct all inquiries to Zhenqi Wang (e-mail: 971413943@qq.com).
Literature Cited
Chen, H.G., Zeng, X.L., Yang, J., Cai, X., Shi, Y.M., Zheng, R.R., Wang, Z.Q., Liu, J.Y., Yi, X.X., Xiao, S.W., Fu, Q., Zou, J.J. & Wang, C.Y. 2021 Whole genome resequencing of Osmanthus fragrans provides insights into flower color evolution Hortic. Res. 8 98 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-021-00531-0
Jiang, J., Tan, Z.M., Wang, H.T., Liao, K. & Luo, Y.S. 2015 A new colorful sweet osmanthus cultivar ‘Qiannan Guifei’ Yuan Yi Xue Bao 42 6 1219 1220 https://doi.org/10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2014-0517
Li, Q.Y., Luo, F.L., Feng, Y.Y., Zhang, L. & Hu, S.Q. 2020 A new cultivar of Osmanthus fragrans ‘Luocai 2’ Yuan Yi Xue Bao 47 Suppl. 2 3079 3080 https://doi.org/10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2019-0833
Tu, X.L., Wan, B. & Qin, F. 2020 ‘Siji Fanghua’: A new Osmanthus fragrans cultivar with colored leaves Yuan Yi Xue Bao 47 10 2071 2072 https://doi.org/10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2019-0422
Wu, Q.C., Ma, Y., Li, C.C., Xu, J.J., Yao, Y.J. & Zang, D.K. 2021 Osmanthus fragrans ‘Dongrong’: A new cultivar of osmanthus J. Nanjing For. Univ. 45 3 245 246 https://doi.org/10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202007034
Yu, L., Li, J.H., Bai, W.F., Nie, D.L., Wu, S.Z. & Yi, J.X. 2018 A new Osmanthus fragrans cultivar ‘Caihong’ Yuan Yi Xue Bao 45 5 1017 1018 https://doi.org/10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2017-0765
Zang, D.K 2018 A new Osmanthus cultivar ‘Yongfu Caixia’ Yuan Yi Xue Bao 45 8 1629 1630 https://doi.org/10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2017-0904
Zou, J.J., Zhou, Y., Cai, X. & Wang, C.Y. 2014 Increase in DNA fragmentation and the role of ethylene and reactive oxygen species in petal senescence of Osmanthus fragrans Postharvest Biol. Technol. 93 97 105 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2014.02.015
