Sedum Angelina's Teacup Compact Non-Flowering Cultivar
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Sedum rupestre cultivars are either too large or flowering, lacking a compact, non-flowering variant with vibrant gold foliage that retains color through fall.
Innovation Solution
Development of Sedum 'Angelina's Teacup', a compact, non-flowering cultivar with heavy lateral branching and bright gold foliage, achieved through controlled breeding and asexual propagation using stem tip cuttings, resulting in a stable and true-to-type cultivar.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If Sedum rupestre cultivars are bred for compact size, then plant habit becomes tight and compact, but flowering is often reduced or lost
Solution Approach 1:
The breeding program performed preliminary controlled crosses between Sedum rupestre plants with desired traits before selection. The inventors made a cross in May 2013 between proprietary plants in their breeding program, then selected the unique plant that exhibited both compact size and non-flowering stability, achieving the desired combination before widespread propagation.
Solution Approach 2:
Asexual propagation by stem tip cuttings was used to create identical copies of the selected plant. This method preserves the exact genetic combination that produces both compact size and non-flowering stability, ensuring true-to-type reproduction without the variability of seed propagation.
2Illumination intensity
If Sedum rupestre cultivars are bred for gold foliage color, then bright gold coloration is achieved, but color retention into fall is often reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The breeding program incorporated multi-year field observations and performance tracking to evaluate foliage color retention. The selected plant 'Angelina's Teacup' demonstrated consistent bright gold coloration that retained its coloration into fall over multiple growing seasons, providing feedback that this genotype achieved the desired color persistence trait.
3Ease of manufacture
If Sedum rupestre cultivars are bred for heavy lateral branching, then branching density increases, but plant size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cultivar exhibits localized intensive branching within a compact form. 'Angelina's Teacup' produces 7 to 9 lateral branches per 72-cell plug after only 14 weeks, creating dense ground cover through intensive local branching rather than extensive radial growth, achieving high branching density without proportional increase in overall plant volume.
Data Source
AI summary
A new cultivar of Sedum plant named ‘Angelina's Teacup’ that is characterized by its very tight and compact plant habit that continues to be compact into winter without the use of plant growth regulators or mechanical pinching, its non-flowering habit, its heavy lateral branching, its bright gold foliage that retains its coloration into fall, and its compact and tight plant habit.