Strawberry plant named `Driscoll El Capitan`

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll El Capitan`. The variety is similar to the varieties Coronado and San Miguel. The variety is distinguished from `Coronado` and `San Miguel`, in that `Driscoll El Capitan` has an obtuse terminal leaflet teeth shape, medium to dense petiole pubescence, medium to strong anthocyanin coloration, cordate fruit shape, marked difference in shape between primary and secondary fruits, large hollow center size, and time of flowering is mid-December.

Description

1. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants `San Miguel` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,642) and `12A71` (unpatented variety) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered as a seedling in Ventura County, Calif. in February, 1996. The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated by stolons in a nursery in Shasta County, Calif. Propagules were transplanted to a controlled breeding plot in Ventura County, Calif., where the variety was identified and selected for further evaluation. `Driscoll El Capitan` was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing at in Ventura County, Calif. for six 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.

1.1 LATIN NAME OF THE GENUS AND SPECIES OF THE PLANT CLAIMED

The variety is botanically identified as Fragaria×ananassa.

2. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll El Capitan`. 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 1-4.

3. COMPARISON TO SIMILAR VARIETIES

The varieties which we believe to be similar to `Driscoll El Capitan` 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 obtuse terminal leaflet teeth shape, medium to dense petiole pubescence, medium to strong anthocyanin coloration, cordate fruit shape, marked difference in shape between primary and secondary fruits, large hollow center size, and time of flowering is mid-December.

4. 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 leaves of the plant.

FIG. 2 shows the upper side and the under side of the flowers.

FIG. 3 shows a close-up of the fruit.

FIG. 4 shows the fruit in longitudinal cross-section.

5. DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

The following detailed description of the new variety is based upon observations taken of plants and fruit grown in Monterey County, Calif., U.S.A. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Observations of `Driscoll El Capitan`, `Coronado` and `San Miguel` were taken in side by side comparison in the year 2001. 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.

5.1 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.

5.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW VARIETY

Information on the new variety is presented in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the tables, the flowers described are secondary flowers except where indicated. The petal color of `Driscoll El Capitan` is white (155C 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. The average stolon diameter at bract subtending the daughter plant is 2.40 mm. The number of propagules/nursery plant in 2002 was 61.8. The anthocyanin coloration of the stipules in the Fall of the year in nursery is light green with a faint blush of pink anthocyanin (149D in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The petiolule length is 9.47 mm and the petiolule color is 149A. The leaf texture is blistered, the leaf margin is crenate, the leaf vein color is 149A (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart), and the leaf venation is pinnate. The petal shape is ovate to rounded, the petal margin is entire, the petal number is 6, and the petal color of upper and lower surface is 155C (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The sepal color is 137B (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart) on the upper surface and 137D (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart) on the lower surface, the average sepal number is 11.7, average sepal length is 13.98 mm, and average sepal width as 6.90 mm. The color of fruit vascular tissue is 155C (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The average weight of achenes is 0.00064 g and the average number of achenes/berry is 252.5. The anthocyanin color of stolon is purple red 58A (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The color of anthers is yellow 13A (in the R.H.S. Colour Chart) and the color of pistils and receptical is yellow 7A (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart).

Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll El Capitan` compared with characteristics of `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll El Capitan` compared with characteristics of the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to stresses, pests and diseases compared with reactions of the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 4 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to that of the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`.

TABLE 1
DETAILED COMPARISON OF `DRISCOLL EL CAPITAN`,
`CORONADO` AND `SAN MIGUEL`
	`Drsicoll El
	Capitan`	`Coronado`	`San Miguel`
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	24.0	20.7	22.8
Spread of Plant (cm)	32.6	28.7	29.4
Number of Crowns	6.0	4.6	4.4
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet	6.0	6.1	6.2
Length (cm)
Terminal Leaflet	6.0	6.3	5.8
Width (cm)
Terminal Leaflet	1.00	0.97	1.07
Length/Width
# Teeth/Terminal	16.3	21.6	20.7
Leaflet
Color of upper side	dark green	light to	medium to
	147A	medium green	dark green
		137A	147A
Color of under side	light to	light to	light to
	medium green	medium green	medium green
	147C	137B	138B
Petiole Length (cm)	18.2	16.3	16.0
Petiole Color	149A	149A	149A
Bract Frequency	8%	0%	30%
	typically		typically
	single		paired
Stipule Length (cm)	3.4	3.4	2.9
Stipule Width (cm)	1.1	1.2	1.1
Flower Characteristics
Petal Length (cm)	1.5	1.6	1.4
Petal Width (cm)	1.7	1.7	1.5
Petal Length/Width	0.91	0.93	0.98
Ratio
Flower Diameter (cm)	3.2	3.4	2.7
Calyx Diameter (cm)	4.4	4.4	4.1
Fruiting Truss
Length (cm)	22.9	22.1	25.7
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Length (cm)	5.0	4.3	4.3
Fruit Width (cm)	3.9	3.9	4.1
Fruit Length/Width	1.28	1.11	1.07
Ratio
Average Berry Weight	23.3	23.6	23.2
(g)
External Color	dark red	red	dark red
	53A	46A	53A
Internal Color	red	red	dark red
	43A	41A	45A
Average % brix	7.9	7.1	7.1
Brix/Acid Ratio	9.71	9.11	9.33
Achene Coloration	dark red to	dark red to	dark red to
	yellow green	yellow	yellow green
	60A to 151A	53A to 141B	53A to 151B
Yield (g/plant)	695	598	557

TABLE 2
CHARACTERISTICS OF `DRISCOLL EL CAPITAN`,
`CORONADO` AND `SAN MIGUEL`
	`Driscoll El
	Capitan`	`Coronado`	`San Miguel`
Plant
Habit	globase	globase	flat globase
Density	open	open	open
Vigor	strong	medium	medium
Leaf
Shape in cross section	concave	slightly	concave
		concave
Interveinal blistering	medium	strong	strong
Glossiness	medium strong	strong	strong
Number of leaflets	three only	more than three	three only
		on up to 5 out
		of 10 leaves
Terminal leaflet	flat	flat to cupped	flat to revolute
margin profile
Terminal leaflet shape	obtuse	obtuse	rounded
of base
Terminal leaflet shape	obtuse	rounded	rounded
of teeth
Stipule pubescence	sparse	sparse	sparse
Petiole pubescence	medium to	medium	sparse to
	dense		medium
Petiole pose of hairs	outward	outward	outward
Stolon
Amount	many	medium to	many
		many
Anthocyanin	medium to	weak to	weak to
coloration	strong	medium	medium
Thickness	thin	medium	thin to
			medium
Pubescence	sparse to	sparse to	sparse to
	medium	medium	medium
Inflorescence
Position relative to	above	level to	above
foilage		above
Diameter of calyx	larger	larger	larger
relative to corolla
on secondary flowers
Diameter of inner	smaller to	same size	same size
calyx relative to	same size	to larger
outer secondary
flowers
Spacing of petals	overlapping	touching to	overlapping
		overlapping
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at first	prostrate	semi-erect to	prostrate
picking		prostrate
Fruit
Predominant shape	cordate	conical to	conical to
		wedged	cylindrical
Difference in shapes	marked	moderate	moderate
between primary
and secondary fruits
Band without achenes	very narrow	narrow	very narrow
Unevenness of surface	weak to	weak to	weak to
	medium	medium	medium
Evenness of color	slightly uneven	even	even
	to even
Glossiness	strong	medium to	medium
		strong
Insertion of achenes	below to	below	below
	level with	surface	surface
	the surface
Insertion of calyx	in a basin	level to	set above
	to level	set above
Pose of the calyx	reflexed	spreading	spreading to
segments			reflexed
Size of calyx in	larger	larger	same size
relation to fruit
on secondary fruit
Adherence of calyx	strong	medium	strong
Firmness of flesh	firm	firm	firm
Evenness of flesh	even	slightly even	even
color
Distribution of flesh	marginal and	marginal and	marginal and
color	central	central	central
Hollow center size	large	medium	medium
Sweetness	strong	weak	strong
Texture when tested	fine	fine	fine
Acidity	medium	strong	medium
Time of Flowering	mid-December	early-January	early-January
Harvest Interval in	late-January	early-February	early-February
2001	to mid-June	to mid-June	to mid-June
Type of Bearing	partially	partially	partially
	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing

5.3 REACTION TO STRESS, PESTS AND DISEASE

	TABLE 3
	`Driscoll El
	Capitan`	`Coronado`	`San Miguel`
Reaction to Stress
high pH	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
high soil salt levels	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Reaction to Pests
Tetranychus urticae	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Reaction To Diseases
Botrytis fruit rot	moderately	moderately	moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery mildew	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Verticillium wilt	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Strawberry Mottle Virus	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Xanthomonas fragariae	moderately	moderately	moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible

5.4 ISOZYME ANALYSIS

In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar `Driscoll El Capitan` has been analyzed to obtain an indication of its genetic makeup to provide further means for identifying the new variety and distinguishing it from other somewhat similar and/or related strawberry varieties. Specifically, leaf samples of `Driscoll El Capitan`, `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 4
ISOZYME ANALYSIS FOR `DRISCOLL EL CAPITAN`,
`CORONADO` AND `SAN MIGUEL`
		`Driscoll El
	Locus	Capitan`	`Coronado`	`San Miguel`
	PGI	A2	A2	A4
	LAP	B3	B3	B3
	PGM	C4	C4	C2

Claims

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