Coreopsis 'Fruit Punch' Breeding for Compact Habit and Flower Color
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a new Coreopsis cultivar that offers distinct flower color, compact growth habit, and excellent vigor, differing from existing varieties like 'Heaven's Gate' and 'Garnet', with specific characteristics such as white flowers with a deep purple to red eye and dense, mounding habit.
Innovation Solution
The development of the Coreopsis 'Fruit Punch' cultivar, resulting from an open-pollinated cross between Coreopsis 'Heaven's Gate' and an unknown proprietary Coreopsis, exhibiting white flowers with a large, deep purple to red eye, compact growth, and excellent vigor, achieved through asexual propagation techniques.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If Coreopsis 'Heaven's Gate' is used as seed parent, then flowering characteristics are inherited, but flower color and habit differ from desired traits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selecting specific traits from different parent plants: Coreopsis 'Heaven's Gate' contributes flowering reliability, while the unknown proprietary Coreopsis contributes white flower color with red eye and compact habit. This selective breeding approach allows different parts of the plant to exhibit different parental characteristics, achieving the desired combination of reliable flowering with distinct visual properties.
2Adaptability or versatility
If open pollinated cross is performed, then genetic diversity is introduced, but trait consistency in progeny may vary
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing controlled open-pollinated crosses between selected parent plants before mass propagation. This preliminary breeding stage allows for the selection and stabilization of desired traits (white flowers with red eye, compact habit) in the F1 generation. Once the desired traits are established through this preliminary cross, asexual propagation methods are then used to maintain trait consistency across all subsequent plants.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies copying by using asexual propagation methods (cuttings and tissue culture) to reproduce the F1 plants. This ensures that all propagated plants are exact genetic copies of the selected parent, maintaining 100% trait consistency. The tissue culture process specifically creates identical clones, preserving the unique combination of traits developed through the open-pollinated cross.
3Volume of moving object
If compact growth habit is selected, then space efficiency is improved, but plant vigor may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selectively breeding for a compact growth habit while simultaneously maintaining excellent vigor through careful parent selection and propagation methods. The unknown proprietary Coreopsis parent contributes the compact, mounding habit trait, while the overall plant vigor is preserved through healthy tissue culture propagation and optimal growing conditions, demonstrating that size and vigor are independent parameters that can be optimized simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
A new and distinct Coreopsis plant named ‘Fruit Punch’ characterized by daisy-type flowers that grow to 5 cm in diameter, flowers that are white with a large, deep purple to red eye, grass green foliage on short stems, flowering for the whole summer, a dense, compact, mounding habit, and excellent vigor.