University develops new poinsettia

Bob Shabot, a horticulturist in the University of Connecticut’s Department of Plant Science, discovered a sport of the Fischer poinsettia cultivar Cinnamon Star five years ago.

The sport, which Shabot has named Cinnamon Stick, produces deeper gold, almost russet-colored bracts that point upward giving the bracts a vaselike shape. Cinnamon Star, the parent plant, has creamy-golden horizontal bracts.

The plant is now undergoing trials in Germany and Colorado.

Shabot said a primary concern in the potential commercialization of the plant is determining if this mutation will maintain its characteristics consistently. It has drawn favorable response from local growers and individuals who’ve trialed it at home.

Shabot is working with the university’s Center for Science and Technology Commercialization with the intention of applying for a patent.

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For more: Bob Shabot, University of Connecticut, Department of Plant Science, (860) 486-8518; www.advance.uconn.edu/2007/071210/07121011.htm.