Strawberry plant named `Driscoll Camarillo`

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll Camarillo`. The variety is similar to the varieties `Baeza` and `Ventura`. The variety is distinguished from `Baeza` and `Ventura` in that `Driscoll Camarillo` has a longer fruiting truss, a dark green coloration of the upper side of the leaf, a globosely plant habit, even fruit coloration, and absent to small hollow center size.

Description

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

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants `Baeza` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,548) and `33×257` (unpatented variety of Driscoll Strawberry Associates, Inc.) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered in Ventura County, Calif. in October, 1997. The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated by solons in a nursery in Shasta County, Calif. Propagates were transplanted to a controlled breeding plot in Ventura County, Calif., where the variety was identified and selected for further evaluation. `Driscoll Camarillo` was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing Ventura County, California for five 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 Camarillo`. 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 Camarillo` from those known to us are `Baeza` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,548) and `Ventura`. There are several characteristics of the new variety that are different from, or not possessed by `Baeza` and `Ventura`. The new variety has a longer fruiting truss, a dark green coloration of the upper side of the leaf, a globosely plant habit, even fruit coloration, and an absent to small hollow center size.

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.

FIG. 3 shows the under side of the flowers.

FIG. 4 shows a close-up of the fruit.

FIG. 5 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. Observations of `Driscoll Camarillo`, `Baeza` and `Ventura` were taken in side by side comparison in 2001. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phonotypical 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 solons. Although propagation by solons 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 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 leaf width is 14.78 cm and the leaf length is 9.98 cm. The leaf margin is crenate, and the leaf texture is very strongly blistered. The petiolule length is 16.22 mm, the petiolule diameter is 2.22 mm, and the petiolule color is 149A (in The R.H.S. Colour Chart). The anthocyanin color on stolons is 60C (in R.H.S. Colour Chart). The stolon thickness is 3.875 mm. The sepal length is 9.18 mm, sepal diameter is 5.4 mm, and sepal color is 146B (in R.H.S. Colour Chart). The reproductive organs are typical for the species. The color of the anthers is Yellow 13A (in R.H.S. Colour Chart), and the color of the pistils and receptacle are Yellow 7A (in R.H.S. Colour Chart). The average achene weight is 0.0054 g, and there are an average number of 224 achenes per berry.

Table 1 provides a quantitative comparison of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Camarillo` compared with characteristics of `Baeza` and `Ventura`. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Camarillo` compared with characteristics of the varieties `Baeza` and `Ventura`. Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to stresses, pests and disease as compared to the varieties `Baeza` and `Ventura`. Table 4 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to the varieties `Baeza` and `Ventura`.

TABLE 1
DETAILED COMPARISON OF
CAMARILLO, BAEZA AND VENTURA
	CAMARILLO	BAEZA	VENTURA
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	23.3	20.8	21.0
Spread of Plant (cm)	42.7	38.2	38.7
Number of Crowns	4.8	3.0	3.3
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet	8.2	8.5	7.5
Length (cm)
Terminal Leaflet	8.2	8.7	7.5
Width (cm)
Terminal Leaflet	1.0	0.98	.99
Length/Width
# Teeth/Terminal	24.8	25.4	22.4
Leaflet
Color of upper side	dark green	light to	medium green
	147A	medium green	137A
		147A
Color of under side	light green	light green	light green
	138B	138B	138B
Petiole Length (cm)	15.9	14.5	14.2
Petiole Color	149A	144A	145A
	yellow green	yellow green	yellow green
Bract Frequency	42%	67%	50%
	mostly double	mostly double	mostly double
Stipule Length (cm)	3.5	3.5	2.8
Stipule Width (cm)	1.2	1.1	1.1
Stolon
Diameter at base of	4.09	4.12	4.05
last daughter
Flower Characteristics
Petal Length (cm)	1.22	1.10	1.19
Petal Width (cm)	1.39	1.22	1.09
Petal Length/Width	0.88	0.90	1.09
Ratio
Petal color	155B
Flower Diameter (cm)	2.61	2.50	2.40
Calyx Diameter (cm)	2.98	2.55	2.57
Fruiting Truss
Length (cm)	32.0	28.5	24.8
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Length (cm)	4.1	4.2	4.5
Fruit Width (cm)	4.0	3.8	4.0
Fruit Length/Width	1.03	1.11	1.11
Ratio
Average Berry	21.1	21.5	24.3
Weight (g)
External Color	46A	46A	46A
	red	red	red
Internal Color	34B & 155A	42B & 155D	44A
	orange red &	white &	orange red
	white	orange red
Average % brix	9.26	10.38	9.27
Brix/Acid Ratio	12.62	12.87	12.95
Achene Coloration	184B and 13B	13A and 46A	13B and 45B
Marketable Yield in	410	293	118
2001 (g/plant)

TABLE 2
CHARACTERISTICS OF
CAMARILLO, BAEZA AND VENTURA
	CAMARILLO	BAEZA	VENTURA
Plant
Habit	globose	flat globose	globose to flat
			globose
Density	open	open	medium
Vigor	medium	medium	weak to
			medium
Leaf
Shape in cross section	concave	concave	slightly
			concave
Interveinal blistering	very strong	strong to very	strong
		strong
Glossiness	medium to	weak	medium
	strong
Number of leaflets	three only	three only	three only
Terminal leaflet	revolute to flat	revolute to flat	revolute to flat
margin profile
Terminal leaflet shape	rounded	obtuse to	rounded
of base		rounded
Terminal leaflet shape	rounded	acute to	obtuse
of teeth		obtuse
Stipule pubescence	sparse	sparse	sparse
Petiole pubescence	sparse	very sparse to	sparse
		sparse
Petiole pose of hairs	outwards	outwards	outwards
Stolon
Amount	few to medium	few to medium	few to medium
Anthocyanin	weak to	weak to	medium
coloration	medium	medium
Thickness	thick	thick to	medium to
		very thick	thick
Pubescence	sparse	medium to	dense
Inflorescence		dense
Position relative	above	level to above	level to above
to foliage
Diameter of calyx	smaller to same	same size to	smaller
relative to	size	larger
corolla on
secondary flowers
Diameter of inner	same size	same size	same size
calyx relative
to outer on
secondary flowers
Spacing of petals	overlapping	overlapping	touching to
			overlapping
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at	prostrate	prostrate	semi-erect
first picking
Fruit
Predominant shape	cordate	conical	conical to
			cordate
Difference in shapes	slight	very slight to	slight
between primary and		slight
secondary fruits
Band without achenes	absent or very	very narrow	narrow
	narrow	to narrow
Unevenness of surface	weak	weak to	weak to
		medium	medium
Evenness of color	even	slightly uneven	slightly even
uneven		to even
Glossiness	strong	strong	strong
Insertion of achenes	below surface	level to below	below surface
		surface
Insertion of calyx	in a basin	level	in a basin to
			level
Pose of the calyx	spreading	spreading to	reflexed
segments		reflexed
Size of calyx in	smaller	same size to	smaller
relation to fruit		larger
on secondary fruit
Adherence of calyx	strong	strong	weak to
			medium
Firmness of flesh	firm	medium to firm	firm
Evenness of flesh	slightly uneven	uneven	slightly uneven
color
Distribution of flesh	marginal and	marginal to	marginal to
color	central	central	central
Hollow center size	absent to small	large	small
Sweetness	medium	medium	medium to
			strong
Texture when tasted	medium	medium	fine
Acidity	medium	medium	weak to
			medium
Time of Flowering	mid to late	mid to late	mid to late
	August	August	August
Harvest Interval in	9/29-12/22	9/29-12/22	10/6-12/22
2001 (Week Ending)
Type of Bearing	fully	fully	fully
	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing

REACTION TO STRESS, PESTS, AND DISEASE

TABLE 3
5.3 REACTION TO STRESS, PESTS, AND DISEASE
	CAMARILLO	BAEZA	VENTURA
Reaction to Stress
high pH	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
high soil salt levels	moderately	susceptible	moderately
	resistant		resistant
Reaction to Pests
Tetranychus urticae	moderately	moderately	moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Reaction To Diseases
Botrytis fruit rot	susceptible	susceptible	moderately
			susceptible
Powdery mildew	susceptible	highly	highly
		susceptible	susceptible
Verticillium wilt	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Strawberry Mottle Virus	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Xanthomonas fragariae	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant

ISOZYME ANALYSIS

In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar `Driscoll Camarillo` 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 `Driscoll Camarillo`, `Baeza`, and `Ventura` 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
CAMARILLO, BAEZA AND VENTURA
	Locus	CAMARILLO	BAEZA	VENTURA
	PGI	A2	A1	A2
	LAP	B3	B3	B3
	PGM	C4	C3	C4

Claims

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