MICROPROPAGATION OF HESPERALOE-PARVIFLORA

We successfully micropropagated Hesperaloe parviflora from mature plan ts. Shoot cultures were directly initialed from mature plants using pe dicel bud explants on a modified Murashige and Skoog medium containing Nitsch and Nitsch vitamins and 1 mu M zeatin riboside. Axillary shoot multiplication from established cultures was most responsive to chang ing concentrations of N-6-benzyladenine (BA) with the greatest product ion on 6 mu M BA. Growing shoots on a medium supplemented with 6 mu M BA for 6 wk and then transferring cultures to a 1 mu M BA medium for 6 more wk increased the number of transferable shoots, but not signific antly. However, our data predicts that the maximum number of transfera ble shoots produced from a single microshoot would occur on media with 5.4 mu M zeatin riboside. Shoots rooted easily in vitro or ex vitro a nd rooted shoots were easily acclimatized. The methods described in th is paper are being used to commercially micropropagate H. parviflora.