Strawberry plant named `Driscoll Venice`

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll Venice`. The variety is similar to the varieties `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. The variety is distinguished from `Coronado` and `San Miguel`, in particular, the plant is medium dense, shape of terminal leaflet is obtuse, petiole pubescence is dense, predominant fruit shape is cordate, insertion of achenes is level with surface, and fruit acidity is weak.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The variety is botanically identified as Fragraria×ananassa.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants `Ana Maria` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,035) 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. propagules were transplanted to a controlled breeding plot in Ventura County, Calif. where the variety was identified and selected for further evaluation. `Driscoll Venice` was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing 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.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll Venice`. 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.

COMPARISON TO SIMILAR VARIETIES

The varieties which we believe to be similar to `Driscoll Venice` 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 is medium dense, shape of terminal leaflet is obtuse, petiole pubescence is dense, predominant fruit shape is cordate, insertion of achenes is level with surface, and fruit acidity is weak.

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.

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. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Observations of `Driscoll Venice`, `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.

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, 3 and 4. In the tables, the flowers described are secondary flowers except where indicated. The petal color of `Driscoll Venice` 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 2.88 mm. The number of propagules/nursery plant in 2002 was 71. The anthocyanin coloration of the stipules in the Fall of the year in nursery is light pink 43D (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The petiolule length is 5.32 mm and the petiolule color is 149A (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). 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 pinate. The petal shape is ovate to rounded, the petal margin is entire, the petal number is 6, and the petal color of the upper and lower surface is white 155C (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The sepal color is 147A (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart) on the upper surface and 147C (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart) on the lower surface, the average sepal number is 11.33, average sepal length is 15.64 mm, and average sepal width is 8.51 mm. The average weight of achenes is 0.00055 g and the average number of achenes/berry is 278.3. The anthocyanin color of stolon is purple red 59D (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 Venice` compared with characteristics of `Coronado` and `San Miguel`. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Venice` 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 VENICE`,
`CORONADO` AND `SAN MIGUEL`
	`Driscoll
	Venice`	`Coronado`	`San Miguel`
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	19.5	20.7	22.8
Spread of Plant (cm)	26.0	28.7	29.4
Number of Crowns	3.4	4.6	4.4
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet Length (cm)	5.6	6.1	6.2
Terminal Leaflet Width (cm)	6.2	6.3	5.8
Terminal Leaflet Length/Width	0.91	0.97	1.07
# Teeth/Terminal Leaflet	22.7	21.6	20.7
Color of upper side	dark green	light to	medium to
	147A	medium	dark green
		green	147A
		137A
Color of under side	light to	light to	light to
	medium	medium	medium
	green	green	green
	139C	137B	138B
Petiole Length (cm)	14.9	16.3	16.0
Petiole Color	149A	149A	149A
Bract Frequency	0%	0%	25%
			typically
			paired
Stipule Length (cm)	2.9	3.4	2.9
Stipule Width (cm)	1.0	1.2	1.1
Flower Characteristics
Petal Length (cm)	1.7	1.6	1.4
Petal Width (cm)	1.6	1.7	1.5
Petal Length/Width Ratio	1.06	0.93	0.98
Flower Diameter (cm)	3.2	3.4	2.7
Calyx Diameter (cm)	4.4	4.4	4.1
Fruiting Truss
Length (cm)	21.8	22.1	25.7
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Length (cm)	4.2	4.3	4.3
Fruit Width (cm)	4.1	3.9	4.1
Fruit Length/Width Ratio	1.04	1.11	1.07
Average Berry Weight (g)	27.0	23.6	23.2
External Color	45A	46A	53A
Internal Color	orange red	red	dark red
	and white	41A	45A
	(34A and
	155C)
Average % brix	8.1	7.1	7.1
Brix/Acid Ratio	10.75	9.11	9.33
Achene Coloration	60A to 15B	53A to	53A to 14B
		151B
Yield (g/plant)	695	598	557

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

REACTION TO STRESS, PESTS AND DISEASE FOR `DRISCOLL VENICE`, `CORONADO` AND `SAN MIGUEL`

	TABLE 3
	`Driscoll
	Venice`	`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

ISOZYME ANALYSIS

In Addition to the Morphological Description Above, the New Cultivar `Driscoll Venice` 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 Venice`, `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 VENICE`,
`CORONADO` AND `SAN MIGUEL`
		`Driscoll
	Locus	Venice`	`Coronado`	`San Miguel`
	PGI	A4	A2	A4
	LAP	B3	B3	B3
	PGM	C2	C4	C2

Claims

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