Quantitative dissection of color patterning in the foliar ornamental Coleus reveals underlying features driving aesthetic value

Summary Coleus is a popular ornamental plant that exhibits a diverse array of foliar color patterns. New cultivars are currently hand selected by both amateur and experienced plant breeders. In this study, we reimagine coleus breeding using a quantitative color analysis framework. Despite impressive advances in high-throughput data collection and processing, complex color patterns remain challenging to extract from image datasets. Using a new phenotyping approach called “ColourQuant,” we extract and analyze pigmentation patterns from one of the largest coleus breeding populations in the world. Working with this massive dataset, we are able to analyze quantitative relationships between maternal plants and their progeny, identify features that underlie breeder-selections, and collect and compare consumer input on trait preferences. This study is one of the most comprehensive explorations into complex color patterning in plant biology and provides new insights and tools for exploring the color pallet of the plant kingdom.