Cowpea might have been introduced from China to Korea and cultivated for several hundred years but it has never been a staple food crop in Korea. In this study, genetic diversity of 492 Korean cowpea landrace accessions that have passport information was estimated using six SSR markers. The mean of Weir's gene diversity was 0.665 from all accessions investigated in the study. Cowpea gene diversity of six local provinces in Korea was ranged from 0.370 in accessions of Gangwon to 0.680 in Jeonra provinces. Low gene diversity of the cowpea genepool of Gangwon province was probably derived from relatively few introductions. Especially SSR markers VM36 and VM39 seem to be good markers to distinguish the Gangwon accessions from others by occurring at a specific locus with higher than 78% of allele frequency. Except for the Gangwon province with the low genetic diversity, gene diversity of cowpea accessions from other provinces was ranged from 0.600 to 0.680 indicating no big differences among provinces. Distribution pattern of the allele frequencies was similar among the other provinces. This may reveal that Korean farmers might exchange cowpea seeds easily with even their neighbors with geographical barriers. A core collection, 100 landraces, ca. 20% of base collection, was developed at the 70% of a similarity coefficient level using random sampling approaches after stratification of the entire landrace collection based on the phenetic dendrogram. The variability of SSR in the base and core collections of Korean cowpea landrace was compared by calculating Weir's gene diversity. The mean of Weir's gene diversity of the core was 0.707 while that of the base collection was 0.665. The higher diversity index in the core collection indicates that it maintains the initial variability and well represents the base collection. The core collection included one of determinate accession (IT 216155) and two of no branching type accessions (IT 103959 and IT 161024). The core collection could be used to guide more efficient management and utilization of the entire collection. This core collection should be revised periodically as additional accessions are collected and further characterization is conducted.

A new poinsettia cultivar 'Scarlet' was bred by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2006. A cross was made between 'Christmas Eve', a variety with dark green leaves and dark red bracts, and 'Red Velvet', a red colored variety in 2003. 'Scarlet' was finally selected in 2006 after investigating the growth and flower characteristics from 2004 to 2006. 'Scarlet' has bright red colored and elliptic bracts and has absent or very weak intensity of rugosity between veins in bract. In comparison with the check variety, 'Red Velvet', plant height is tall, leafblade is long and narrow. Petiole is also longer than that of 'Red Velvet'. Short day response is fast and its bracts are fully colored 7 weeks after short day commencement.

A new poinsettia cultivar 'Miss Maple' was bred by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2006. A cross was made between 'Sonora Red', a variety with short plant height, dark green leaves and dark red bracts, and 'Cranberry Punch', a deep pink colored variety in 2003. 'Miss Maple' was finally selected in 2006 after investigating the growth and flower characteristics from 2004 to 2006. 'Miss Maple' has light red colored and obovate bracts, and has weak intensity of rugosity between veins in bract. Fully colored transitional leaves are so deeply lobed that they resemble the leaves of maple. Plant height is shorter than that of 'Cranberry Punch', the check variety. Short day response fast and its bracts are fully colored 7 weeks after short day commencement.

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Yellow PangPang' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), in 2005. The cross between 'Restone' and 'Focus' was made in 2001. After evaluation for the characteristics including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in spring and consecutive selection from 2002 to 2005, final selection was made. The natural flowering time of "Yellow PangPang" is late October, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and illumination. It has pompon type flowers with yellow petals and greenish yellow flower center. It shows very strong stem hardness, especially flower neck, and excellent flower setting. The diameter of flower is 3.9 cm. The number of flowers per stem is 11.3 and the days to flower under the short day treatment is about 54 in autumn season. It has long vase life of 21 days in autumn.

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Innocence' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), in 2005. It was selected from the progenies of open pollination of 'Sei-Alps' in 2002. After evaluation for the characteristics including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in spring between 2002 and 2005, final selection was made. The natural flowering time of "Innocence" is late October, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and illumination. It has round and wide petal, single type flowers with pure white petals and yellowish green flower center. The flowers are large and volumed. The plant shows vigorous growth. The diameter of flower is 7.4 cm. The number of flowers per stem is 9.3 and number of petals per flower is 27.7. The days to flower under short day treatment is about 57 and its vase life is 19 days in autumn season.

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Pink Pride' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), in 2005. The cross between 'Grand Pink' and 'YeonJa' was made in 2001. The characteristics were investigated from 2002 to 2005 for the evaluation and selection of this variety, including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in spring. The natural flowering time of "Pink Pride" is late October, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and illumination. It has pollenless, single type flowers with pink petals and green flower center. The growth of plant is very vigorous and resistant to white rust (Puccinia horiana Henn). The diameter of flower is 6.6 cm. The number of flowers per stem is 11.7 and number of petals per flower is 27. The days to flower under short day treatment is about 56 and its vase life is 19 days in autumn season.

A new white multi-flowering gladiolus with pale greenish core “Wind Ensemble” was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2003. A cross was made between white multi-flowering cultivar “White Nova”, which was released at the NHRI in 2002 and white line “95-24 (True Love × Madame Valdiek)”. It was crossed in 1999 and finally selected in 2003 after investigation of the characteristics for 4 years from 2000 to 2003. “Wind Ensemble” has multiple middle sized florets. This cultivar is middle flowering without stem bending. It has good production of cormlets, vigorous growth and resistant to virus, Fusarium and thrips. The width of “Wind Ensemble” flower is 11.2 cm. The plant height is 130 cm. Days to flowering of “Wind Ensemble” is average 100days in summer season.

A new bright white gladiolus “White Lace” was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2004. A cross was made between late flowering white cultivar “White Goddess” and vigorous white cultivar “Amsterdam”. It was crossed in 1999 and finally selected in 2004 after investigation of the characteristics for 5 years from 2000 to 2004. “White Lace” has a bright white color and multi-flowering florets more than 20 florets with good simultaneous flowering more than 8 florets. This cultivar is middle flowering without stem bending. It has good production of cormlets, vigorous growth and resistant to virus, Fusarium and Thrips. The width of “White Lace” flower is 11.5 cm. The plant height is 137cm. Days to flowering of “White Lace” is average 93days in summer season.

A new bright scarlet gladiolus “Adlib Scarlet” was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2003. A cross was made between early flowering salmon line “94-18 (Arianne×Hongkwang)” and early flowering salmon cultivar “Adlib Salmon”, which was released at the NHRI in 2000. It was crossed in 1999 and finally selected in 2003 after investigation of the characteristics for 4 years from 2000 to 2003. “Adlib Scarlet” has a multiple middle sized bright scarlet florets with good simultaneous flowering. This cultivar is early flowering and moderately resistant against virus and neck rot. It has vigorous growth without stem bending. The width of “Adlib Scarlet” flower is 10.8 cm. The plant height is 132 cm. Days to flowering of “Adlib Scarlet” is average 92days in summer season.

A new standard rose cultivar ‘Pink Stone’ was bred from the cross between red standard cultivar ‘Red Queen’ and pink standard cultivar ‘Vivaldi’ at the National Horticulture Research Institute. The cross was made in 2001 and ‘Pink Stone’ was finally selected in 2006 after investigating characteristics for three years from 2003 to 2006. ‘Pink Stone’, a deep pink standard cultivar grows vigorously and has powder mildew resistant. The major characteristics of this cultivar are 115.1 stems/m2/year in yield, 77.7 cm in length of cut flower, 10.5 cm in flower diameter, 67.0 in petal number, and 12.0 days in vase life. This cultivar can be propagated by both cutting and grafting. The consumer’s preference of this cultivar is relatively higher than that of control cultivar, ‘Noblesse’.