MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

Species and varieties

There are about fifteen species under this genus, of which twelve species have been reported from Mexico and Central America. Of these, nine species have white flowers, one is white and red and two are red. With the exception of P. tuberosa L., all the others are found growing wild.
There are four types of tuberoses named on the basis of the number of rows of petals they bear. Of the four types single, semi double, double and variegated - available, the single type has the most fragrance. The flowers are pure white and are popular among the growers for the production of essential oil.

Among the single varieties, 'Calcutta Single' and 'Single Mexican' are grown in Tamil Nadu. Recently, a single type variety, 'Suvasini', has been released by the IIHR, Bangalore. Another single-flowered variety, 'Rajat Rekha', a mutant, has been released by the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow.

The 'Semi-double' type bears white flowers with two to three rows of corolla segments. The 'Double' type has more than three rows of corolla segments and is white in colour. The flowers tinged with red in the 'Double' type are known as 'Pearl'.

The variety 'Pearl Double' has been assessed for flower-yield and quality under different agro-climatic conditions in India. Another double variety, 'Swarna Rekha' a mutant, has been released by the NBRI, Lucknow. In this variety, the leaf-margin is streaked with golden-yellow. Recently, 'Shrinagar', a double variety, has been released by the IIHR, Bangalore. A high concrete yielding ‘Suvasini’ is also released for cultivation from IIHR, Bangalore. There are some streaked leaf-forms, known as 'variegated', where¬as in others the flowers have little tinge of red in the bud-stage, which turns to white when fully open. Other varieties include 'Albinos' and 'Excelsior'