Plants – Herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant – Petunia
Plant Patent
2002-03-28
2003-12-16
Grunberg, Anne Marie (Department: 1661)
Plants
Herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant
Petunia
Plant Patent
active
PP014385
ABSTRACT:
Botanical/commercial classification:
Petunia hybrida
/Petunia Plant.
Varietal denomination: cv. ‘Sunbel-Apu’.
BACKGROUND OF THE VARIETY
The Petunia is a very popular plant and is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer season. There are only a few varieties of the Petunia plants that do not have an upright growth habit and which have a high resistance to rain, heat, cold and diseases. Recently, there were developed a series of small-flowered Petunia varieties, such as ‘Suntory SP-R’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,557), ‘Sunberubu’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,754), ‘Sunbelochipi’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355), and ‘Sunbelki’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,558), having a semi-erect growth habit, short stems, a medium plant height, abundant branching, and a high resistance to heat, cold and rain. However, there are only a few Petunia varieties having a great profusion of flowers, a light yellowish pink with vivid reddish orange flower color, a very small flower size, and a high resistance to rain, heat, cold and diseases. Accordingly, this invention was aimed at obtaining a new variety having a light yellowish pink with vivid reddish orange flower color, and very small flowers combined with the above features.
The new variety of Petunia plant according to this invention originated from crossing of a Petunia plant variety named ‘E2’ (non-patented in the United States) and a Petunia plant variety named ‘PE7’ (non-patented in the United States).
Initially, 10 seedlings were selected in 1994 in view of yellowish pink petal coloration and were grown at Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. From 1995 to 1996, open-pollination with those 10 seedlings was conducted at Youkaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. From that crossing, additional seedlings were obtained. In 1997 some seedlings were selected in view of the small flower size, light yellowish pink petals with vivid reddish orange coloration and semi-erect habit. These selected seedlings were grown in beds and pots on trial basis at Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. In September 1998 one Petunia plant of the present inventions was selected. In 1999 the botanical characteristics were examined, using similar ‘Sunbelki’ variety and the ‘Pearl Sky Blue’ variety (non-patented in the United States) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Petunia is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to me and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. This new variety of Petunia plant was named ‘Sunbel-Apu’.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with The R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England. A color chart based on The Japan Color Standard for Horticultural Plants (J.H.S. Color Chart) has also been added for reference.
The main botanical characteristics of the ‘E2’ variety are as follows:
Plant:
Growth habit.—
Semi-erect.
Plant height.—
Medium, approximately 14 cm.
Spreading area of plant.—
Medium to large, approximately 18 cm.
Blooming period.—
May to September in the southern Kanto area, Japan.
Stem:
Thickness.—
Thin, approximately 2.1 mm.
Pubescence.—
Sparse.
Branching.—
Abundant with a superior branching propensity, and the secondary branches are particularly numerous.
Length of internode.—
Short, approximately 1.0 cm.
Leaf:
Shape.—
Lanceolate.
Length.—
Very short, approximately 2.4 cm.
Width.—
Very narrow, approximately 1.1 cm.
Color.—
Grayish olive green (R.H.S. No. 137B, J.H.S. No. 3716).
Thickness.—
Thin, approximately 0.3 mm.
Pubescence.—
Sparse to typical of the species.
Leaf attachment angle to stem.—
Slanted upward to horizontal.
Flower:
Facing direction.—
Slanted upward to horizontal.
Type.—
Single.
Shape.—
Funnel-shaped, with five petals.
Shape of petal tip.—
Round.
Waving of petal.—
Weak.
Lobation of petal.—
Shallow.
Diameter.—
Very small, approximately 2.7 cm.
Ground color of bi
-
colored petal.—
Pale orange yellow (R.H.S. No. 23D, J.H.S. No. 1903).
Color of center part.—
Vivid reddish orange (R.H.S. No. 34A, J.H.S. No. 0705).
Bottom color of the corolla throat.—
Brilliant yellow (R.H.S. No. 15B, J.H.S. No. 2204) .
Outside color of corolla tube.—
Brilliant yellow (R.H.S. No. 13C, J.H.S. No. 2505).
Reproductive organs.—
1 normal pistil and 5 normal stamens.
Fertility.—
Fertile, but self-incompatible.
Peduncle.—
Approximately 0.6 mm in thickness, and approximately 1.9 cm in length.
Physiological and ecological characteristics.—
High resistance to cold, rain, heat, drought and diseases, such as Powdery Mildew. The resistance to rain and heat is very strong.
Blooming.—
A bloom commonly lasts approximately 10 days on the plant. Pinching is not necessary to ensure continued blooming; however, it does tend to enhance bloom production somewhat.
The main botanical characteristics of the ‘PE7’ variety are as follows:
Plant:
Growth habit.—
Medium upright to spreading.
Plant height.—
Medium, approximately 14 cm.
Spreading area of plant.—
Medium, approximately 16 cm.
Blooming period.—
May to September in the southern Kanto area, Japan.
Stem:
Thickness.—
Thin, approximately 1.4 mm.
Pubescence.—
Sparse.
Branching.—
Abundant with a superior branching propensity, and the secondary branches are particularly numerous.
Length of internode.—
Short, approximately 1.2 cm.
Leaf:
Shape.—
Lanceolate.
Length.—
Very short, approximately 2.0 cm.
Width.—
Very narrow, approximately 0.7 cm.
Color.—
Grayish olive green (R.H.S. No. 137A, J.H.S. No. 3716).
Thickness.—
Thin, approximately 0.4 mm.
Pubescence.—
Sparse to typical of the species.
Leaf attachment angle to stem.—
Slanted upward to horizontal.
Flower:
Facing direction.—
Slanted upward.
Type.—
Single.
Shape.—
Funnel-shaped, with five petals.
Shape of petal tip.—
Round.
Waving of petal.—
Weak.
Lobation of petal.—
Shallow.
Diameter.—
Very small, approximately 2.4 cm.
Ground color of bi
-
colored petal.—
Strong yellowish pink (R.H.S. No. 38A, J.H.S. No. 0704).
Color of variegated pattern.—
Vivid red (R.H.S. No. 42A, J.H.S. No. 0707).
Bottom color of the corolla throat.—
Brilliant yellow (R.H.S. No. 15A, J.H.S. No. 2204).
Outside color of corolla tube.—
Vivid yellow (R.H.S. No. 13A, J.H.S. No. 2506).
Reproductive organs.—
1 normal pistil and 5 normal stamens.
Fertility.—
Fertile, but self-incompatible.
Peduncle.—
Approximately 0.7 mm in thickness, and approximately 1.2 cm in length.
Physiological and ecological characteristics.—
High resistance to cold, rain, heat, drought and diseases, such as Powdery Mildew.
Blooming.—
A bloom commonly lasts approximately 10 days on the plant. Pinching is not necessary to ensure continued blooming; however, it does tend to enhance bloom production somewhat.
The main botanical characteristics of ‘Sunbelki’ variety are as follows:
Plant:
Growth habit.—
Decumbent to medium upright.
Plant height.—
Approximately 18 cm.
Spreading area of plant.—
The stems commonly extend to a length of approximately 18 cm from the base.
Growth.—
Very vigorous with abundant branching, and a great profusion of blooms, with the entire plant remaining in bloom for a considerable period of time.
Blooming period.—
April to late October in the southern Kanto area, Japan. The plant shape does not change throughout this period.
Stem:
Thickness.—
Approximately 2.3 mm.
Pubescence.—
Present.
Branching.—
Abundant with a superior branching propensity, and the secondary branches are particularly numerous.
Length of internode.—
Approximately 1.5 cm.
Leaf:
Shape.—
Lanceolate.
Length.—
Approximately 5.0 cm.
Width.—
Approximately 1.4 cm.
Color.—
Moderate olive green (R.H.S. No. 146B, J.H.S. No. 3508).
Thickness.—
Very thin, approximately 0.2-0.4 mm.
Pubescence.—
Sparse.
Leaf attachment angle to stem.—
Slanted upward to horizontal.
Flower:
Facing direction.—
Horizontal.
Type.—
Single.
Shape.—
Funnel-shaped, with five petals.
Shape of petal tip.—
Mucronate.
Waving of petal.—
Weak.
Lobation of petal.—
Shallow.
Diameter.—
Approximately 2.8 cm.
Color of petals.—
Brilliant yellow (R.H.S. No. 12A, J.H.S. No. 2505). At low temperatures, it displays a dark reddish brown (R.H.S. No. 166A, J.H.S. No. 1310) main vein, and grayish reddi
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Grunberg Anne Marie
Suntory Flowers Limited
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