Florigene, the world's leading flower biotechnology company, today launched its Moonshadow flower into the US market. Moonshadow(TM) is a new carnation flower with a unique violet colour.

Florigene is an Australian and Holland-based company that uses biotechnology to develop new commercial varieties of flowers.

Florigene CEO, Peter Molloy, said the new carnation followed many years of research and development and was the first of a range of new flowers incorporating the company's patented blue gene.

"Colours in the blue spectrum - violet through to blue - don't normally exist in many types of flowers. By introducing the blue gene, we have opened up the opportunity for a whole new range of novel-coloured flowers. The new carnations are our first products, but we will move to roses and other flowers. Eventually we hope to develop a range of new flowers in colours from violet through to blue," he said.

Mr Molloy announced the move at the Super Floral Show in Kansas City, where 250 of the US's leading growers and suppliers are meeting to discuss trends in the flower industry. Florigene's Moonshadow carnation, with its unique violet colour, is a star of the international show, and interest has been extremely high. "There is a huge demand for novel products in the global flower market," he said.

Mr Molloy said the first crop of the flowers was being harvested this month in Ecuador for sale in the US. Until now, production and marketing has been limited to small scale quantities and mainly in Australia. "We have committed to a major crop for the US market and expect it to reach volumes of 500,000 flowers per month," he said.

Florigene has also developed an extended vase life technology, called "EVA", which prolongs the life of cut flowers.