2. Taxonomy
S.N: Crossandra infundibulifolia syn. C. undulaeformis
C.N: Fire cracker plant, Kanakambaram
Family: Acanthaceae
2n = 40
Origin: Indo - Malaya region
• Crossandra is derived from Greek word
krossoi – fringe,
Aner – male i.e fringed anthers.
3. Distribution
• Tropical as well as subtropical regions
• South Asia, South America, South Africa and
Madagascar
• In India it is commercially cultivated in
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and A.P
• Occupies 15 percent of the area under
traditional flowers in Southern states
4. Botany
• Crossandra is an evergreen shrub of minor importance
• The leaves are upright, some what toothed and often
verticillate
• Inflorescence is hairy, flowers appear in dense sessile
spikes, red to yellow, with prominent bracts
• Corolla cylindrical, more or less curved, stamens 4 in
pairs
5. Species and cultivars
• The genus consists of around 40-50 spp. of tropical plants with
only a few cultivated spp. namely
C. undulaeflia
C. mucronata
C. guineensis
C. sebaculis
• C. undulaefolia is of commercial importance
6. C. undulaefolia:
•Short branching perennial shrub
•30-90cm height, leaves are
about 5-12 cm
• dark green, lustrous and pointed with wavy margin
• Flowers showy, bright orange, salmon to scarlet in
color. Borne in large densely packed spikes. Flowers
have spiny bract
7. C. guineensis:
•free flowering
• about 30-60 cm height
•bracts don’t bear spines
• pale lilac in colour
•It can be grown both in sunny
situation as well as in partial
shade.
8. C. nilotica:
60 cm height and stem is semi woody
leaves are elliptic, dark green and glossy, borne in dense spikes
Bracts are hairy
Each flower consists of a long slender corolla tube at the end
of which there are 5 lobes. Lower 3 petals form a lip. Suited for
partial shade.
9. Spike is four sided with
yellow green spiny bracts
Spikes are bright yellow
C. flava:
Unbranched shrub 15-20cm tall with green and erect stem
Leaves are glabrous , opposite, ovate to lanceolate in
shape and dark green in color
10. C. pungens:
dense sub shrub upto 60cm tall
Leaves oblong pale green, traced with pearly veins
Spikes are yellow in color, congested, bracts broadly ovate,
spiny
12. Cultivars
• Orange, Delhi, Lutea Yellow and Sebaculis Red-
important cultivars
1. Orange Crossandra is tetraploid (2n=40), sets seeds profusely
breeds true and produces bright orange coloured flowers
2. Delhi Crossandra is triploid (2n=30) and produces more attractive
flowers of bright deep orange colour
3. Lutea Yellow is tetraploid (2n=40) and the flowers are orange
yellow colour and Used as front line of shrubbery and hanging baskets
4. Sebaculis Red is tetraploid (2n=40) and hardy cultivar, which
possesses high degree of tolerance to nematodes
14. Breeding objectives
1. To breed low-maintenance and drought
tolerant ornamental plants for landscape or
container use
2. To breed sterile, non-invasive plants of a wide
range of flower colors
15. • ‘Mona Wallhed’, - A Swedish
cultivar, shiny black-green
foliage and a very compact habit
of growth
• Leaves are lustrous and vivid
green
• Flowers are deep salmon to
pink, irregular with prominent
bract
Introduction
16. Selection
Fortuna
breakthrough in Crossandra breeding
Improved root system
More resistant to temperature
fluctuations
Lavish flowering, glossier foliage,
brighter coloured flowers and the
extended life of the plant
longer flowering period as the entire
spike flowers so that the plant retains its
ornamental value longer
17. Diane:
• Large sized and broadly shaped leaves
• Robust and compact habit of growth
• flowers color is a dark, richer shade of salmon orange
• Petals are more rounded and larger in size than those of the
commonly cultivated variety
18. Induced mutation
Kanakadhara:
•It is a mutant of Delhi crossandra
•Developed using sodium azide
•It produced brilliant orange flowers of normal size, and it had
unique floral characteristics
•It can yield 25 per cent more flowers than Delhi crossandra
•Propagated vegetatively for distribution to the growers
19. Vijaya Kanakambaram:
Mutant of local variety
Developed by treating the seeds with colchicine
Free branching with sturdy stems that cannot be easily
broken
Long inflorescence and flowers profusely
Light reddish orange
20. Raj Kankambaram:
•It is a mutant of Delhi crossandra, and it has leaf
variations
•Its inflorescence is also long (15 cm), and it produces
deep orange flowers
•The attractive flowers of this variety will fetch as high
as Rs 200 per kg in the market
21. Subasu:
•Mutant of Delhi crossandra, and it resembles the parent
•It has long inflorescence and light orange, medium-sized flowers
Lakshmi:
•Mutant of local yellow variety, and it produces large leaves
•It produces big, deep yellow flowers in long inflorescence
•It can yield 37.5 to 50 kg flowers a day from a hectare, and the
flowers will fetch Rs. 70 to Rs. 100 per kg in the market
22. Neelambari:
•It is also a mutant of local yellow variety, and it has dense green
foliage
• It produces normal sized flowers in long inflorescence
Maruvur arasi:
•It is a red color mutant of Delhi crossandra by gamma
irradiation
•Deep bright red flowers
23. Hybridisation
• The breeding work done at TNAU resulted in two hybrids
• One resistant hybrid is developed from crossing between two
local types collected from Palani and Madhuramalai hills
• Flowers are large with very attractive with yellowish orange
petals
• Highly tolerant to nematodes
• Another hybrid was evolved by crossing the orange flowered
cv. with Sebaculis Red produces very attractive dark pink
flowers
24. • Two hybrids were selected from IIHR Banglore
a) IIHR 2004-9
b) IIHR 2004-11
• Recommended for commercial cultivation of loose
flowers and potted plants.
25. Arka Ambara • Recently released
• Orange red bright flowers
• Larger size
• Yield: 5.9t/acre/year
ArkaKanaka
29. Production Technology
• Soil:
Fertile, red loamy soil with pH range of 6.0 to
7.5 is ideal
• Climate:
It requires a temperature of 30 - 35°C for
growth. It is shade tolerant to some extent
but susceptible to low temperature and frost
30. Propagation
• Seeds or Cuttings
• Tetraploids: Propagated through seeds
– Seed rate is 5kg/ha
– Transplanted 60 DAS
• Triploids: Propagated through terminal
cuttings of 10 - 15 cm length
– 41,700 cuttings/ha
31. Preparation of field
• Ploughing
• FYM @ 25 t/ha
• Ridges are formed 60 cm apart
• Dip the roots of seedlings in Carbendazim (1 g/l of
water)
• Plant the seedlings at 30 cm spacing
• For seed production the spacing may be 60 x 60 cm
32. Nutrition
• Basal dose of 33.3:60:60 kg ha-1
N:P2O5:K2O
• Top dressed with 33.3 kg N per ha
– 3 months after transplanting and
– 8-9 months after transplanting
• followed by irrigation
• Weeding, application of fertilizer and earthing
up are combined together for easy
maintenance of the crop
33. Plant protection
Pests
•Nematode
– Phorate or Carbofuran 3G at 1 kg a.i./ha
– a week after planting
– six months after planting
•Aphids
– Spray Dimethoate 30 EC 2 ml/lit.
Disease
•Wilt
– Soil drenching with Carbendazim 1 g/lit
34. Harvest and yield
Crossandra flowers within 2-3 MAP
Flowers throughout the year
Lean production during rainy months
Flowers are to be picked early in the morning by pulling the
corolla out of the calyx
Harvesting of flowers is to be done on alternate days
The yield of flowers is about 5 t ha-1
35. Use
• It is mainly used for hair adornment
• Though not fragrant the flowers are very popular
because of its attractive, bright colour, light weight
and good keeping quality
• These are used for making garland, either alone or in
combination with Jasmine flowers
36.
37. References
• ICAR Research Complex For Goa. 2013. Crop: Crossandra [online].ICAR
Research Complex For Goa, Ela Old Goa. Available:
http://www.icargoa.res.in/dss/crossandra.html (9th march 2015)
• KAU[Kerala Agricultural University]. 2011. Package of practices
recommendations. KAU. 221p.
• Pavani, V. 2010. Breeding in Crossandra [online]. Vijumandula. Available:
http://www.scribd.com /doc /37954638/Breeding-in-Crossandra#scribd
(28th
Feb 2015)
• TNAU Agritech Portal. Horticulture::Flower crops::Crossandra [online].
Available:
http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/ horti_flower%20crops_crossandra.html
(2nd
March 2015)
