For a long time chrysanthemum has been – after roses – the second most important cut flower in the Netherlands. It covers about 20% of the total annual turnover at the national flower auction. Chrysanthemum breeding in The Netherlands is completely in the hands of private enterprise. Three major breeding companies release most new cultivars, whereas some ten additional smaller companies also breed chrysanthemum. The share of mutant or mutant-derived chrysanthemum cultivars of the total flower market has been estimated at 30–40% during the last 5 years. TheDutchVarietiesListfor1994contained42recommended chrysanthemum cultivars of which some 23 were either mutants or derived from mutants. However, this cultivar list does not make any distinction between spontaneous mutants (‘sport’) and induced mutants. Breeders, for commercial reasons, do not reveal this type of information.Accordingto the Flower Council of Holland, the total value represented by chrysanthemum at the flower auction in 1992 and 1993 amounted to 563 and 581 million Dutch guilders (about US$ 300–350 million), respectively. For example a series of mutants were derived from the officially registered cultivar ‘Reagan’(1991).Twenty of these mutants (e.g. ‘Reagan White’, ‘Reagan Sunny’, Reagan Dark Splendid’, ‘Reagan Yellow’, ‘Reagan Salmon’ and ‘Reagan Orange’) appeared in the cultivar list in 1994 and represented 35–40% of the total Dutchflowermarketin1992and1993.Theywerestill represented in the ten best sold chrysanthemum cultivars at the national flower auction in 1994 and 1995 (A. Ashri and L. van Zanten, pers. commun.).