Stardust Hibiscus Cold Hardiness Hybridization

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Solution Overview

Problem

There is a need for a hardy, compact, and floriferous Hibiscus plant that can withstand extreme temperatures and exhibit refined foliage and vibrant, long-lasting flowers, which existing varieties fail to consistently provide.

Innovation Solution

The 'Stardust' Hibiscus, resulting from a 40-year breeding program combining Hibiscus moscheutos and Hibiscus coccineus, features bronze-colored, maple-shaped leaves and large, red and pink streaked flowers, offering enhanced hardiness, disease resistance, and adaptability to extreme weather conditions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If existing Hibiscus varieties are used, then they may produce flowers, but they fail to consistently provide extreme hardiness to withstand −30 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovehardinessVSAvoidadaptability to extreme temperatures

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent combines two different Hibiscus species (Hibiscus moscheutos and Hibiscus coccineus) through hybridization to create a new variety that inherits the hardiness of H. moscheutos and the flower quality of H. coccineus, achieving both extreme cold tolerance and ornamental value

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Shape

If existing Hibiscus varieties are used, then they may grow, but they fail to provide compact and uniform breaking action with small to medium-sized dimensions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompact growth habitVSAvoidlandscape utility

Core Design Contradiction:

ShapeVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a Hibiscus variety with non-uniform branching patterns and compact growth habit that provides desirable breaking action for landscape applications, where the plant's structure is optimized for specific aesthetic and functional properties

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Shape

If existing Hibiscus varieties are used, then they may produce flowers, but they fail to provide refined maple-shaped leaves with bronze color and smooth margins

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefoliage shapeVSAvoidaesthetic quality

Core Design Contradiction:

ShapeVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent produces a Hibiscus variety with distinctive bronze-colored, maple-shaped leaves with smooth margins that provide enhanced aesthetic quality, where specific foliar characteristics are optimized for landscape appeal

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

4Duration of action of moving object

If existing Hibiscus varieties are used, then they may bloom, but they fail to provide prolonged flowering duration of at least one to two days per flower

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflowering durationVSAvoidfloriferousness

Core Design Contradiction:

Duration of action of moving objectVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a Hibiscus variety that is both floriferous (producing many flowers) and has prolonged individual flower duration of one to two days, ensuring continuous visual interest through extended bloom period

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Data Source

PatentUSPP21479P3Hibiscus plant named Stardust

Publication Date: 2010.11.16 FLEMING DAVID WHITMAN

AI summary

A new and distinct cultivar of winter hardy hibiscus plant named “Stardust ” is the result of a unique hybridization. This new and distinct cultivar is characterized primarily to its novelty by, its extreme cold hardiness to Zone 4, large, thick-textured, heavily streaked and speckled, red and pink flowers and its “maple-shaped” foliage with a bronze coloration, compactness of approximately 2½ feet, its vigorous and uniform breaking habit, and its floriferous nature from midsummer until frost.