World-first fungus-resistant waxflowers go on sale

A Brisbane nursery will this week take delivery of the world's first fungus-resistant waxflowers.

The breakthrough is the result of a three-year industry collaboration with University of Queensland researchers which has rescued Australia's $12 million waxflower industry.

The development is also significant because of international demand for waxflower varieties as filler flowers for bouquets because of their beautiful foliage and two-week life span once cut.

The project is a four-way collaboration between the University's Gatton campus, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI), Lockyer Valley waxflower grower Ebonybrook Pty Ltd and Redlands Nursery Pty Ltd.

Redlands Nursery Pty Ltd Chair Edward Bunker said the collaboration combined the marketing and merchandising expertise of commercial operations with the great scientific and administrative minds at UQ Gatton.

Ebonybrook manager Ken Young has also been integral to the project and said his 20-hectare waxflower plantation 18 kilometres from UQ Gatton now had the biggest block of grafted native plants in Australia.

"The 2500 grafted plants show continuing Phytophthora tolerance and are also visibly more vigorous and uniform in growth than the cutting-grown controls planted among them," he said.

According to UQ Gatton horticulturist Ian Gordon, three waxflower varieties would be available for sale through the Nursery by Spring this year. Native to Western Australia, waxflowers thrived under Queensland's humid climate until a fungus known as Phytophthora began infecting their roots, causing the loss of large numbers of crops. "The fungus was poised to ruin the Queensland industry unless a solution was found," Mr Gordon said.

Using rootstock from several Ebonybrook plants which did not fall victim to fungal infection, Mr Gordon and PhD student Greg O'Sullivan developed the resistant varieties.

"We are the first university in the world to develop grafting techniques for Australian wildflowers with this technology now available to other commercially grown species," Mr Gordon said.

For more information, contact Ian Gordon (telephone 07 5460 1235), Edward Bunker (telephone 07 3206 7611), Ken Young (telephone 07 5466 5402) or Peter McCutcheon at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 1088).

Enquiries can also be directed to communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au