Anthurium flowers rise to prominence in Guangdong

After years of cultivation and planting, anthuriums have now become a well-known brand of flower in Guangdong province and are selling well throughout the country.

According to the Guangzhou Flower Research Center, now more than one-eighth of the anthuriums in the country come from the center, located in the Conghua district in the northern part of the city.

Yi Maosheng, deputy head of the scientific research management section at the center, said the center now has 45 representative new varieties of anthuriums, ranking first in the country.

Anthuriums, native to the tropical rain forests of the Americas, has bright colors, beautiful auspicious meanings, rich application scenarios and large market demand. It has become the second-most popular flower species in the international market after tropical orchids.

In 2016, Yi's center successfully cultivated a new variety of anthurium called Xiaojiao after years of effort.

When Xiaojiao, with independent intellectual property rights, was launched, it was immediately recognized in the market, breaking the bottleneck that had restricted the development of the anthurium industry and lowering the price of seedlings worldwide.

The center — which has more than 30 greenhouses with total floor space of about 4,000 square meters — researches and develops multiple new varieties of anthurium every year, capturing market share of more than 90 percent.

The annual flower demonstrations and sales have attracted more than 600 households and another 100 companies to cultivate, plant and sell flowers around the center. The annual flower promotion and demonstration has helped drive revenues above 200 million yuan ($28 million).

Every year, more than 50 million flower seedlings and 2 million pots of demonstration products are sold by the center to various parts of the country, embellishing thousands of households nationwide.