Panicum ‘Half Pint’ Compact Switch Grass With Fall Color Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Switch Grass cultivars lack a combination of compact upright habit, blue-green foliage retention, and distinctive inflorescence characteristics, making them less desirable for landscaping and ornamental purposes.
Innovation Solution
Development of Panicum 'Half Pint', a new cultivar with upright and compact growth habit, blue-green foliage that retains color through fall, and unique inflorescences producing rosy-reddish seed heads that persist into winter, achieved through asexual propagation and selection from 'Apache Rose'.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If traditional Switch Grass cultivars are used, then they provide general ornamental value, but they lack compact upright habit and blue-green foliage retention
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting and stabilizing specific phenotypic parameters in the new cultivar 'Half Pint', including plant height (90 cm), foliage color (blue-green), and growth habit (compact upright). These parameter modifications create a distinct cultivar that resolves the contradiction between achieving compact shape and maintaining landscaping versatility.
2Ease of manufacture
If existing Panicum cultivars are selected, then they offer various foliage colors, but none retain blue-green coloration through fall
Solution Approach 1:
The patent directly applies color changes principle by developing a cultivar that maintains blue-green foliage coloration throughout the fall season. The new cultivar 'Half Pint' exhibits stable blue-green color that does not change over the growing season, resolving the contradiction between ease of breeding selection and extended color retention duration.
3Length of moving object
If taller Switch Grass varieties are used, then they provide greater height, but they lose compactness and upright stability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by optimizing the height parameter to 90 cm, which provides sufficient visual presence while maintaining compactness and upright stability. The cultivar 'Half Pint' achieves this balance through selective breeding that stabilizes both height and growth habit parameters, preventing lodging while retaining aesthetic appeal.
4Reliability
If asexual propagation is used, then true-to-type reproduction is achieved, but stability across generations must be verified
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by conducting multi-generational stability testing during the breeding process itself. The cultivar was observed and documented across multiple generations (with breeder code 14-5-11 assigned in 2016 and propagation since late fall 2016) to verify true-to-type reproduction before official cultivar designation, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and time investment.
Data Source
AI summary
A new and distinct plant of ornamental Switch Grass named Panicum ‘Half Pint’ with upright blue-green foliage that retains its coloration into the fall. The upright, compact, and dense culms produce small-height plants with broadly airy panicles beginning greyed green, developing rosy-reddish seed heads that are retained as creamy-tan into winter. The upright foliage and inflorescences produce a tight habit that is narrower than the height of the inflorescences. The new plant is useful in the landscape as a specimen, en masse, or in a container.