Hosta 'Waterslide' Compact Habit and Glaucous Foliage Traits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Hosta cultivars lack a compact, rounded-mound habit with dense bluish-colored foliage that retains glaucous bluish coloring throughout the season, and do not combine lanceolate leaves with sinuate margins, longitudinal folding, and tightly-compact lavender flowers on bluish-colored scapes.
Innovation Solution
The development of Hosta 'Waterslide', a hybrid between WGI 16 and 'Neptune', exhibiting a compact rounded-mound habit, lanceolate foliage with sinuate margins, and tightly-compact lavender flowers on bluish-colored scapes that retain glaucous bluish coloring until the end of summer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If Hosta cultivars are bred for larger foliage and more upright habit, then plant size and structural form are improved, but the compact rounded-mound habit and dense bluish-colored foliage are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selecting for specific localized traits in the foliage - the glaucous bluish coating on individual leaves - while maintaining the overall compact rounded-mound habit. This selective breeding approach focuses on enhancing specific local characteristics (bluish coloring, sinuate margins, longitudinal folding) rather than uniform plant architecture, allowing the cultivar to achieve dense bluish-colored foliage within a compact form.
2Area of moving object
If Hosta cultivars are bred for larger leaves and foliage, then leaf size is improved, but the sinuate margins, longitudinal folding, and glaucous bluish coloring are reduced or lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selectively breeding for specific leaf parameter combinations - maintaining moderate leaf size while enhancing margin sinuosity, longitudinal folding depth, and glaucous bluish coating intensity. The cultivar achieves its distinctive appearance through optimized parameter values rather than extreme size, with leaves displaying prominent sinuate margins and heavy glaucous coating that retains color until end of summer.
3Speed
If Hosta cultivars are bred for earlier season growth, then growth rate is improved, but the duration of glaucous bluish coloring retention is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action through the heavy glaucous bluish coating that develops on the foliage early in the season. This preliminary protective coating acts as a persistent characteristic that maintains color intensity throughout the growing season, allowing the cultivar to retain its distinctive bluish appearance until end of summer despite active growth occurring throughout the season.
4Area of stationary object
If Hosta cultivars are bred for more open flower arrangements, then flower display area is improved, but the tightly-compact flower cluster formation is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies merging by combining multiple flower buds into tightly-compact clusters on upright scapes. Rather than spreading flowers individually or in loose arrangements, the cultivar consolidates flowers into dense terminal clusters that maintain a compact sculptural form while still providing substantial visual impact through the concentration of lavender-blue flowers.
Data Source
AI summary
A new and distinct Hosta plant named ‘Waterslide’ with compact rounded-mound habit of dense bluish-colored, lanceolate foliage having wavy margins, narrowly acute apex and cordate base and are longitudinally folded upward at the midrib. The bluish coloring, coming from thick glaucous covering remains through the flowering season until the end of summer. The plant has lavender flowers densely arranged on bluish-colored stapes just above the foliage.