Tropical and subtropical ornamental plant industry in Guangdong province, China

Guangdong, known traditionally as a floriculture province in China, is a key production area and marketplace of tropical and subtropical ornamental plants with about 13,600 ha in growing area with a USD$9 billion wholesale value in 2014. The industry started in the 1980s and has boomed since the 1990s. The tropical foliage plants grown in Guangdong include Araceae, Calathea, Ficus, Dracaena, fern, Codiaeum, Schefflera, Palm genus and tropical flowering plants used in China, such as Poinsettia, bromeliads, Anthurium and tropical orchids among which Phaleanopsis ranked the first in production amount and value. Most of these ornamental plants need to be grown in shading and greenhouses. The plantlets of tropical and subtropical plants were micro-propagated on a large-scale through tissue culture which gave rise to a highly valued biotechnological industry. The Pearl River delta is the industry center where several marketplaces and logistics centers of more than 20 thousand nurseries and companies.