Characters useful to cultivation in spontaneous populations of Myrtus communis L

Myrtle is an useful plant of Mediterranean maquis. Its uses are as cattle feed, to provide wood, as food seasoning, and for essential,oil extraction. Fruit is also used in producing a typical myrtle liqueur, which now enjoys a good position on the market. However, spontaneous fruit and biomass harvests from the wild population are now insufficient to cover the demand and the domestication of Myrtus communis appears to be the only way to assure further industry development. For this reason, a research aimed at evaluating some ecotypes selected from Sardinian spontaneous populations was conducted from 1995. More than 70 ecotypes were selected, analysed, and agamically propagated. In situ mother plant evaluation was performed by filling in a minimal descriptor list with some information on plant status and ecosystem characteristics. The following characters were observed on a sample of fruit-bearing shoots: shoot length, fruit number per shoot, fruit size, peduncle length, pulp/seed ratio in fruit, leaf size. Variability of all parameters was analysed in the population studied. Moreover, ecotypes were tested for rooting ability of softwood cuttings. Among the most useful characters for a clone selection program should be indicated: spring shoot length, which is related to flower and fruit number; fruit size and peduncle length, which is useful in ensuring easy harvesting; and rooting ability of softwood cuttings, of fundamental importance in developing selected clones for intensive cultivation.