Astilbe Cappuccino Compact Cultivar Breeding
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Astilbe cultivars lack uniformity and abundant flowering, with suboptimal leaf and flower coloration, and are not compact enough for desirable garden and container performance.
Innovation Solution
A new cultivar, 'Cappuccino', resulting from a cross between Astilbe japonica and Astilbe arendsii, exhibiting a compact, upright growth habit, dark green leaves, and white flowers on strong purple peduncles, offering improved compactness, freer flowering, and broader inflorescences compared to parent selections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If existing Astilbe cultivars are used, then they can be grown in gardens, but they lack uniformity and compactness for desirable garden and container performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting and breeding plants with specific genetic parameters that result in compact growth habit and uniform flowering. The cultivar 'Cappuccino' exhibits controlled plant height (40-60 cm), compact mounding form, and uniform flower distribution, representing optimized physical parameters achieved through selective breeding.
2Productivity
If existing Astilbe cultivars are used, then they can produce flowers, but they do not flower abundantly or uniformly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves improved productivity through parameter changes in the breeding program, selecting for increased flower number per plant and more consistent flowering timing. The 'Cappuccino' cultivar produces abundant white flowers (5-10 cm diameter panicles) with uniform flowering across the plant population, representing optimized reproductive parameters.
3Ease of manufacture
If existing Astilbe cultivars are used, then they can be grown, but they have suboptimal leaf and flower coloration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color changes principle by selecting for distinctive coloration in the 'Cappuccino' cultivar: dark green foliage providing contrast, white flowers (5-10 cm diameter panicles), and purple-red stems and petioles. These color characteristics are consistently expressed across plants, representing optimized visual attributes achieved through selective breeding.
Data Source
AI summary
A new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe plant named ‘Cappuccino’, characterized by its compact, broadly upright and mounding plant habit; dark green-colored leaves; freely and uniformly flowering habit; white-colored flowers positioned just above the foliar plane on strong and dark purple-colored peduncles; and good container and garden performance.