Sun-Asaro

Asarina

Variety Description

Variety used for comparison: 'Red Dragon'

Summary: 'Sun-Asaro' has longer stem internodes and shorter leaf blades with more deeply incised margins than 'Red Dragon'. 'Sun-Asaro' has longer sepals and a larger corolla diameter than 'Red Dragon'. The upper two corolla lobes are moderately reflexed for 'Sun-Asaro' while they are flat for 'Red Dragon'. 'Sun-Asaro' has flat to slightly incurved lower corolla lobes while those of 'Red Dragon' are moderately incurved. The colour of the dorsal side of the corolla tube is brown purple to blue pink for 'Sun-Asaro' while it is brown purple with white secondary colour located from the base to the middle point of the corolla tube.

Description:

'Sun-Asaro' is an asarina variety with a cascading plant growth habit. The stems are light green with weak to moderate anthocyanin colouration and dense pubescence. The leaf blade is broad ovate with an acuminate shaped apex and truncate shaped base. The leaf blade margin is dentate to deeply incised. The upper side of the leaf blade is light green with strong pubescence. The petiole has moderate to strong anthocyanin colouration.

The flowers of 'Sun-Asaro' are bilabiate type with a trumpet shaped corolla tube. The calyx is light to medium green with absent to weak anthocyanin colouration. Pubescence of the sepals is strong. The upper two lobes of the corolla are moderately reflexed and the lower lobe is flat to slightly incurved. Undulation of the corolla margin is weak. The upper corolla lobes are purple with light brown purple tones on the inner side and purple to light blue pink on the outer side. The outer side of the lower corolla lobe is purple brown and the dorsal side of the corolla tube is brown purple to blue pink.

Origin & Breeding History: 'Sun-Asaro' originated from the self-pollination of variety 'Sun-Asaware' in October of 1998. The cross was conducted at the Omi Research and Development Center of Suntory Flowers Limited in Shiga-ken, Japan. Seed was collected in November of 1998 and of the resulting seedlings, five were selected in August of 1999 based on their strong purple red, reflexed and non-overlapping corolla lobes. From these seedlings, 'Sun-Asaro' was selected based on its performance in potting and field trials which were started in May of 2000.

Tests & Trials: The test and trial for 'Sun-Asaro' was conducted in a polyhouse during the summer of 2005 at BioFlora Inc. in St. Thomas, Ontario. The candidate variety was grown from rooted cuttings while the reference variety was grown from seed. Rooted plants were transplanted into 25 cm baskets with 3 plants per basket. The trial included 6 baskets of the candidate variety and 5 baskets of the reference variety. All colour characteristics were determined using the 2001 RHS colour chart and measured characteristics were based on ten plant measurements.

Comparison tables for 'Sun-Asaro' with reference variety 'Red Dragon'

Stem internode length (cm)

Leaf blade length (cm)

Sepal length (cm)

Corolla diameter (cm)

Colour of upper lobes of corolla (RHS)

Colour of lower lobe of corolla (RHS)

Colour of corolla tube (RHS)