Balpephan

Petunia

Denomination:	'Balpephan'
Trade name:	Phantom
Botanical Name:	Petunia ×hybrida
Applicant/Holder:	Ball Horticultural Company 622 Town Road West Chicago, Illinois 60185 United States of America
Breeder:	Jianping Ren, Ball Horticultural Company, Elburn, United States of America
Agent in Canada:	BioFlora Inc. 38723 Fingal Line R.R. #1 St. Thomas, Ontario N5P 3S5 Canada Tel: 519-317-7511
Application Date:	2010-04-06
Application Number:	10-6921
Grant of Rights Date:	2012-06-20
Certificate Number:	4322
Date rights surrendered:	2013-08-23

Variety Description

Varieties used for comparison: 'Cascadias Bicolor Purple' and 'Balpepin' (Pinstripe)

Summary: The shoots of 'Balpephan' are shorter than the shoots of 'Balpepin'. The leaf of 'Balpephan' is longer than that of 'Balpepin' and narrower than that of both reference varieties. The flower of 'Balpephan' is smaller than that of 'Balpepin'. The colour of the upper side of the corolla lobe and inner side of the corolla tube of 'Balpephan' differs from that of both reference varieties. The corolla tube of 'Balpephan' is longer than that of 'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'. The colour of the anthers before dehiscence are yellowish white for 'Balpephan' while they are violet for 'Cascadias Bicolor Purple' and light blue for 'Balpepin'.

Description:

PLANT: upright growth habit, medium shoot thickness

LEAF: elliptic, obtuse apex, no variegation, medium green on upper side, no blistering

SEPAL: obovate, absent anthocyanin colouration
FLOWER: single, funnelform, yellow veins
COROLLA LOBE: two colours on upper side, black (RHS 203B) with dark violet (RHS N79A) tones and yellow green to light yellow (RHS 3D-5D) along mid-vein on upper side, absent or very weak conspicuousness of veins on upper side, undulation of margin ranging from medium to strong
COROLLA TUBE: black (RHS 203B) with dark violet (RHS N79A) tones and yellow orange to light yellow (RHS 11A-B) veins on inner side, absent or very weak conspicuousness of veins on inner side, anthers yellowish white before dehiscence

Origin & Breeding History: 'Balpephan' originated from a cross pollination conducted in June 2005 at Elburn, Illinois, USA as part of a controlled breeding program. The female parent of 'Balpephan' is the proprietary breeding selection designated 2445-1 and the male parent is the proprietary breeding selection designated 2328-7. The initial selection was made in February 2007 based on unique bicoloured flowers. Asexual propagation since that time has been through the use of vegetative cuttings.

Tests & Trials: Trials for 'Balpephan' were conducted in a polyhouse during the spring of 2011 in St. Thomas, Ontario. The trial included a total of 15 plants each of the candidate and reference varieties. All plants were grown from rooted cuttings and transplanted into 15 cm pots on May 9, 2011. Observations and measurements were taken from 10 plants of each variety on June 8, 2011. All colour determinations were made using the 2007 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Colour Chart.

Comparison tables for 'Balpephan' with reference varieties 'Cascadias Bicolor Purple' and 'Balpepin'

Shoot length (cm)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
mean	16.0	17.4	20.5
std. deviation	1.13	0.99	1.74

Leaf length (cm)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
mean	6.4	5.9	5.6
std. deviation	0.45	0.49	0.41

Leaf width (cm)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
mean	2.4	3.7	3.6
std. deviation	0.22	0.76	0.17

Flower diameter (cm)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
mean	5.4	5.3	7.1
std. deviation	0.32	0.15	0.40

Main colour of corolla lobe (RHS)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
upper side - newly opened	N/A	N79B-C	203B
upper side - fully opened	203B with darker than N79A tones	darker than N74A	N92A with N79A tones

Secondary colour of corolla lobe (RHS)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
upper side - fully opened	3D-5D	NN155D	2D with N80A along transition to main colour

Corolla tube length (cm)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
mean	3.1	2.4	3.2
std. deviation	0.09	0.12	0.32

Colour of corolla tube (RHS)

	'Balpephan'	'Cascadias Bicolor Purple'	'Balpepin'
inner side	203B with N79A tones and 11A-B striping/veins	NN155C with 83D striping and 9C veins	darker than N79A with 9C stripes/veins

Click on image for larger view

Petunia: 'Balpephan' (left) with reference varieties 'Cascadias Bicolor Purple' (centre) and 'Balpepin' (right)