Strawberry plant named `Canterbury`

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Canterbury`. The variety is similar to the varieties `Coronada` and `San Miguel`. The variety is distinguished from `Coronado` and `San Miguel`, in particular, by its upright to globose habit, very strong plant vigor, high density, obtuse shape of the terminal leaflet base, medium to dense petiole pubescence, its inflorescence being positioned level with the leaves, very slight to slight difference in the shapes of the primary and secondary fruits, absent or very weak unevenness of surface, strong sweetness, and fine texture when tasted.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants `9A264` (unpatented variety) and `Balboa` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,130) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered as a seedling in a controlled breeding plot, in Ventura County, Calif. in February 1996. The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated by stolons in McArthur, Shasta County, Calif. `Canterbury` was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing in Ventura County, Calif. for three years. This propagation and testing has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein which characterize the new variety are fixed and retained true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Canterbury`. The variety is botanically identified as Fragaria×ananassa. The new variety is distinguished from other varieties by a number of characteristics as set forth in Tables 1-6.

COMPARISON TO SIMILAR VARIETIES

The varieties which we believe to be similar to `Canterbury` from those known to us are `Coronado` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,221) and `San Miguel` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,642). There are several characteristics of the new variety that are different from, or not possessed by `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. The new variety has an upright to globose habit, very strong plant vigor, high density, obtuse shape of the terminal leaflet base, medium to dense petiole pubescence, its inflorescence positioned level with the leaves, very slight to slight difference in the shapes of the primary and secondary fruits, absent or very weak unevenness of surface, strong sweetness, and fine texture when tasted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying photographs show typical specimens of the new variety, including fruit, foliage and flowers, in color as nearly true as it is reasonably possible to make in color illustrations of these characteristics.

FIG. 1 shows the whole plant.

FIG. 2 shows typical whole fruit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

The following detailed description of the new variety is based upon observations taken of plants and fruit grown in Ventura County, Calif., U.S.A. Observations of `Canterbury`, `Coronado` and `San Miguel` were taken in side by side comparison in 1999. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from the stated values and descriptions depending upon variation in environmental, seasonal, climatic and cultural conditions. Colors are described and the most similar color designations are provided from The Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.) Colour Chart.

PROPAGATION

The new variety is principally propagated by way of stolons. Although propagation by stolons is presently preferred, other known methods of propagating strawberry plants may be employed.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW VARIETY

Information on the new variety is presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3. In the tables, the flowers described are secondary flowers except where indicated. The petal color of `Canterbury` is white which is not referenced in The R.H.S. Colour Chart. The fruit described is the secondary fruit on one year old plants. Fruit and flower measurements are an average of both primary and secondary fruit and flowers.

Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Canterbury` compared with characteristics of `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Canterbury` compared with characteristics of the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to stresses as compared to the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. The average number of stamens is 29. Anthocyanin pigment on various plant origins is red to purple red in color. The average number of pedicels/peduncle is 5.6. The average diameter of a peduncle is 5.4 mm. The average length of a peduncle is 24.9 cm. The average pedicel diameter is 1.9 mm. The average length of the pedicels is 9.8 cm. The average petiole diameter is 4.1 mm. Achene color is red to yellow-green (46A to 151B). The average sepal number is 11.3 and average sepal size is 1.05 cm. Typical sugar content, as measured by total soluble solids, is 9.5% to 10.5%. An abundant amount of pollen produced. Tables 4 and 5 provide information of the new variety's reaction to pests and diseases, respectively, compared to the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 6 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`.

TABLE 1
DETAILED COMPARISON OF `CANTERBURY`, `CORONADO`,
AND `SAN MIGUEL`
			San
	Canterbury	Coronado	Miguel
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	30.2	39.8	30.3
Spread of Plant (cm)	43.6	42.2	37.2
Number of Crowns	4.9	4.5	3.1
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet Width	9.1	7.7	7.9
(cm)
Terminal Leaflet Length	8.8	8.5	7.3
(cm)
Terminal Leaflet	0.97	1.1	0.93
Length/Width Ratio
Number of Teeth/Terminal	24.7	20.1	22.7
Leaflet
Petiole Length (cm)	16.7	22.0	22.6
Bract Frequency	0%	10%	10%
	Typically	Typically	Typically
	Single	single	Single
Stipule Length (cm)	3.3	3.9	3.7
Stipule Width (cm)	1.1	1.3	1.0
Flower Characteristics
Petal Width (cm)	1.5	1.6	1.6
Petal Length (cm)	1.6	1.7	1.6
Petal Length/Width Ratio	0.95	0.95	0.98
Flower Diameter (cm)	3.7	4.2	4.1
Calyx Diameter (cm)	4.6	6.0	4.9
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Width (cm)	4.2	4.4	4.4
Fruit Length (cm)	4.8	4.8	5.1
Fruit Length/Width Ratio	1.14	1.09	1.16
Average Berry Size (g)	20.7	23.8	25.3
Fruit Skin Color	Orange red	Dark red	Dark red
	46A	46A	46A
Fruit Flesh Color	Red	Orange	Dark red
	42A	red	45B
		43A
Total Yield (g/plant)	522	526	482

TABLE 2
CHARACTERISTICS OF `CATERBURY`, `CORONADO`,
AND `SAN MIGUEL`
	Canterbury	Coronado	San Miguel
Plant
Habit	upright to	flat globose	globose to flat
	globose		globose
Density	dense	open to medium	open
Vigor	very strong	strong	medium to
			strong
Leaf
Color of	Green	Dark Green	Green
upper side	137A	147A	137A
Color of	Light grey	Light grey	Light grey
under side	green	green	green
	138C	147C	138C
Shape in	concave	concave	concave
cross
section
Interveinal	strong	medium strong	strong
blistering
Glossiness	weak	weak	weak to medium
Number of	3 on 90% of	3	3
leaflets	leaves; 4 on
	10% of leaves
Terminal	flat	flat	revolute to
leaflet			flat
margin
profile
Terminal	obtuse	obtuse to	rounded
leaflet		rounded
shape of
base
Terminal	obtuse	obtuse	obtuse
leaflet
shape of
teeth
Petiole	medium to	medium	medium
pubescence	dense
Petiole pose	upwards to	upwards	upwards to
of hairs	outwards		outwards
Stolon
Number	medium to many	medium	many
Anthocyanin	weak to medium	strong	strong
coloration
Thickness	medium	thin	thin to medium
Pubescence	medium	sparse	sparse to
			medium
Inflorescence
Position	level	above	above
relative to
foliage
Diameter of	same size to	same size to	smaller
calyx	larger	larger
relative to
corolla
Diameter of	same size to	larger	same size to
inner calyx	larger		larger
relative to
outer
Spacing of	overlapping	overlapping	touching to
petals			overlapping
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at	erect	semi-erect to	prostrate
first		prostrate
picking
Length (cm)	16.4	28.6	25.3
Fruit
Predominant	conical to	conical to	conical to
shape	cordate	almost	cordate
		cylindrical
Difference	very slight to	moderate	marked
in shapes	slight
between
primary and
secondary
fruits
Band without	absent or very	narrow	narrow to
achenes	narrow		medium
Unevenness	absent or very	weak to medium	medium
of surface	weak
Evenness of	even	even	even
color
Glossiness	medium	strong	medium to
			strong
Insertion of	level with	level with	level with
achenes	surface	surface	surface
Insertion of	level	in a basin to	set above
calyx		level
Pose of the	spreading to	spreading to	reflexed
calyx	reflexed	reflexed
segments
Size of	larger	larger	same size to
calyx in			larger
relation to
fruit
Firmness of	medium to firm	firm	medium to firm
flesh
Evenness of	slightly	slightly uneven	slightly uneven
flesh color	eneven
Distribution	marginal and	marginal and	marginal and
of flesh	central	central	central
color
Hollow	small to	small to medium	small to medium
center size	medium
Sweetness	strong	weak	medium
Texture when	fine	fine to medium	medium
tasted
Acidity	weak	strong	strong
Time of	early	early to medium	early
Flowering
Time of	early	early to medium	early
Fruiting
Time of	partially	partially	partially
Bearing	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing

REACTION TO STRESS

	TABLE 3
	Canterbury	Coronado	San Miguel
Reaction to
Stress
high pH	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	Resistant	Resistant	Resistant
high soil salt	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
levels	Resistant	Resistant	Resistant

PEST AND DISEASE RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY

	TABLE 4
	Canterbury	Coronado	San Miguel
	Reaction to
	Pests
	Tetranychus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
	urticae
	Aphis spp.	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
	Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible

	TABLE 4
	Canterbury	Coronado	San Miguel
	Reaction to
	Pests
	Tetranychus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
	urticae
	Aphis spp.	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
	Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible

ISOZYME ANALYSIS

In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar `Canterbury` has been analyzed to obtain an indication of its genetic makeup to provide further means for identifying the new variety and distinguishing it from some other somewhat similar and/or related strawberry varieties. Specifically, leaf samples of `Canterbury`, `Coronado`, and `San Miguel` were analyzed by electrophoresis for isozyme patterns of the enzymes phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI), leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) and phosphoglucomutase (PGM). See J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 106:684-687. Isozyme characterization of the three varieties is presented in Table 4, with the letters representing the banding patterns for each enzyme as designated in the above-identified article.

TABLE 6
ISOZYME ANALYSIS FOR `CANTERBURY`,
`CORONADO`, AND `SAN MIGUEL`
	Locus	Canterbury	Coronado	San Miguel
	PGI	A3	A2	A4
	LAP	B3	B3	B3
	PGM	C3	C4	C2

Claims

1. A new and distinct variety of strawberry plant, substantially as shown and described.