Strawberry plant named `Driscoll Lanai`

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll Lanai.` The variety is similar to the varieties `San Juan`, and `Ana Maria`. The variety is distinguished from `San Juan`, and `Ana Maria`, in particular, by a bract frequency that is 80% typically paired, an orange-red external fruit color, an average of 300 achenes per fruit, a flat habit, dense stolon pubescence, a small size of calyx in relation to fruit on secondary fruit, a medium fruit flesh firmness, and moderately resistant to Verticillium wilt.

Description

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

1. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants `62A313` (unpatented) and `San Juan` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,899) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered as a seedling in Monterey Country, Calif. in 1999. The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated by stolons in a Shasta County, Calif. Propagules were transplanted to a controlled breeding plot in Monterey Country, Calif., where the variety was identified and selected for further evaluation. 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.

2. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll Lanai`. 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 Lanai` from those known to us are `San Juan` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,899) and `Ana Maria` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,035). There are several characteristics of the new variety that are different from, or not possessed by `San Juan` and `Ana Maria`. The new variety is distinguished from `San Juan` and `Ana Maria` by having, for example, a bract frequency that is 80% typically paired, an orange-red external fruit color, an average of 300 achenes per fruit, a flat habit, dense stolon pubescence, a small size of calyx in relation to fruit on secondary fruit, a medium fruit flesh firmness, and moderately resistant to Verticillium wilt. Parent variety `62A313` was not available for side-by side comparison. `Driscoll Lanai` differs from `62A313` by having better shipability and rounder berry shape. A comparison between `Driscoll Lanai` and parent variety `San Juan` can be found in Tables 1-4 below.

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 whole the plant.

FIG. 2 shows the upper side of the leaves of the plant.

FIG. 3 shows the under side and upperside of the flowers.

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

FIG. 5 shows a close-up of the fruit.

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 Lanai`, `San Juan`, and `Ana Maria` were taken in side-by-side comparison in 1999-2003. 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.

5.2 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.

5.3. 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 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. Flowers of `Driscoll Lanai` are fully self-fertile and typical of the species.

Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Lanai` compared with characteristics of `San Juan` and `Ana Maria`. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Lanai` compared with characteristics of the varieties `San Juan` and `Ana Maria`. The information in the Tables for quantitative characteristics is shown in average values. Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to pests and diseases compared with reactions of the varieties `San Juan` and `Ana Maria`. Table 4 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to that of the varieties `San Juan` and `Ana Maria`.

TABLE 1
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF `DRISCOLL LANAI`,
`SAN JUAN`, AND `ANA MARIA`
	`Driscoll	`Ana	`San
	Lanai`	Maria`	Juan`
Plant
Characteristics
Height of	21.9	27.4	22.1
Plant (cm)
Spread of	47.6	52.4	47.6
Plant (cm)
Number of	5.3	4.8	3.7
Crowns
Leaf
Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet	8.1	8.9	8.0
Length (cm)
Terminal Leaflet	7.6	8.2	7.6
Width (cm)
Terminal Leaflet	1.07	1.09	1.06
Length/Width
Ratio
# Teeth/	23.4	21.1	20
Terminal Leaflet
Color of	medium	medium	medium to
upper side	green	green	dark green
	139A	147A	147A
Color of	light green	light green	light green
under side	138B	148B	147C
Petiole	18.7	22.9	18.4
Length (cm)
Petiole	yellow-	yellow-	yellow-
Color	green	green	green
	145A	145B	149A
Petiolule	15.5	17.5	13.3
Length (mm)
Petiolule	3.2	3.8	3.1
Diameter (mm)
Petiolule	yellow-	yellow-	yellow-
Color	green	green	green
	145A	145B	149A
Bract	80%	20%	50%
Frequency	typically	typically	typically
	paired	single	paired
Stipule	3.7	3.2	3.2
Length (cm)
Stipule	1.2	0.9	1.1
Width (cm)
Stolon
Characteristics
Anthocyanin	purple		purple
Color	red		red
	60A		59A
Diameter at	3.74		3.10
Bract (mm)
Avg. # of	67	52	57
Daughter Plants
(2002 Nursery)
Flower
Characteristics
Petal	1.21	1.23	1.04
Length (cm)
Petal	1.29	1.20	1.07
Width (cm)
Petal Length/	0.94	1.03	0.97
Width Ratio
Flower	2.58	2.64	2.3
Diameter (cm)
Calyx	3.25	3.03	3.12
Diameter (cm)
Sepal	14.80	11.90	11.97
Length (mm)
Sepal	7.67	6.24	6.74
Width (cm)
Petal Color	white	white	white
	155C	155D	155C
Fruiting Truss	30.0	36.0	27.9
Length (cm)
Fruit
Characteristics
Fruit	4.5	3.9	4.2
Length (cm)
Fruit	3.8	3.6	4.0
Width (cm)
Fruit Length/	1.19	1.10	1.05
Width Ratio
Average Berry	23.3	21.6	25.2
Weight (g)
External Color	orange	red	dark
	red 45B	46A	red 53A
Internal Color	orange	orange	red
	red 47C	red 44B	44A
Achene	gray-	dark	dark
Coloration	purple to	red to	red to
	yellow-	yellow	yellow
	green	46B to	46B to
	185B to	16A	16A
	154B
Achenes	300	217	414
per Berry
Achene	.0059	.0046	.0051
Weight (g)
2003 Yield	1,679	1,645	1,449
(g/plant)

TABLE 2
QUALITATIVE COMPARISON OF `DRISCOLL LANAI`,
`ANA MARIA` AND `SAN JUAN`
	`Driscoll
	Lanai`	`Ana Maria`	`San Juan`
Plant
Habit	flat	globose to	globose to
		upright	flat globose
Canopy Density	open	medium to	medium
		open
Vigor	medium	strong	medium
Leaf
Shape in	slightly concave	slightly con-	flat to
Cross Section	to flat	cave to flat	slightly convex
Interveinal	medium	medium to	medium to
Blistering		strong	strong
Glossiness	weak	medium	weak to
			medium weak
Number of	three only	three only	sometimes more
Leaflets			than 3 leaflets
			(approx. 17%
			of leaves)
Terminal Leaflet	revolute to flat	flat	revolute to flat
Margin Profile
Terminal Leaflet	rounded	rounded to	obtuse to
Shape of Base		oblique	rounded
Terminal Leaflet	rounded	obtuse	rounded
Shape of Teeth
Stipule	medium to	sparse	medium
Pubescence	dense
Petiole	medium	sparse	medium
Pubescence
Petiole Pose	downward	outward	outward to
of Hairs			downward
Stolon
Amount	many	medium to	medium to
		many	many
Anthocyanin	strong	medium	strong
Coloration
Thickness	medium to thick	thin to medium	medium
Pubescence	dense	sparse to	medium
		medium
Inflorescence
Position Relative	level to above	level to above	beneath to level
to Foliage			with
Diameter of	same size to	smaller to same	larger
Calyx Relative	larger	size
to Corolla on
Secondary
Flowers
Diameter of Inner	larger	smaller to same	same size
Calyx Relative		size
to Outer on
Secondary
Flowers
Spacing of Petals	overlapping	free to touching	overlapping
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at	prostrate	semi-erect	prostrate
First Picking
Fruit
Predominant	conical to ovoid	conical	conical to
Shape			almost
			cylindrical
Difference in	slight	none to very	moderate
Shapes Between		slight
Primary and
Secondary Fruits
Band Without	narrow to	narrow to	narrow
Achenes	medium	medium
Unevenness of	weak	weak	medium
Surface
Evenness of	even	even	even
Color
Glossiness	strong	strong	very strong
Insertion of	level with	level with	level with
Achenes	surface	surface	surface
Insertion of	level	level with to	level
Calyx		set above
Pose of the	spreading to	spreading	spreading to
Calyx Segments	reflexed		reflexed
Size of Calyx	smaller	same size to	same size
in Relation to		larger
Fruit, on
Secondary Fruit
Adherence of	strong	weak to	strong
Calyx		medium
Firmness of	medium	soft to medium	firm
Flesh
Evenness of	uneven	slightly uneven	slightly uneven
Flesh Color			to even
Distribution of	marginal and	marginal and	marginal and
Flesh Color	central	central	central
Hollow Center	medium	small	medium
Size
Sweetness	medium	medium to	medium to
		strong	strong
Texture When	fine	fine to medium	medium
Tasted
Acidity	medium	medium	medium
Time of	mid-February	early-February	mid-February
Flowering
Harvest Interval	late March thru	mid-March thru	late-March thru
in 2003	early-November	early-	early-November
		November
Type of Bearing	partially	partially	partially
	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing

5.4. REACTION TO STRESS, PESTS, AND DISEASE

TABLE 3
REACTIONS TO STRESS PESTS AND DISEASES FOR `DRISCOLL
LANAI`, `SAN JUAN` AND `ANA MARIA`
	`Driscoll
	Lanai`	`Ana Maria`	`San Juan`
Reaction to Pests
Tetranychus urticae	susceptible	susceptible	moderately
			susceptible
Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Reaction To Diseases
Botrytis Fruit Rot	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery Mildew	susceptible	moderately	susceptible
		susceptible
Verticillium wilt	moderately	susceptible	susceptible
	resistant
Strawberry Mottle	moderately	moderately	moderately
Virus	resistant	resistant	resistant
Xanthomonas	moderately	moderately	moderately
fragariae	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible

5.5. ISOZYME ANALYSIS

In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar `Driscoll Lanai` 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 Lanai`, `San Juan`, and `Ana Maria` 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 LANAI`,
`ANA MARIA` AND `SAN JUAN`
Locus	`DRISCOLL Lanai`	`ANA MARIA`	`SAN JUAN`
PGI	A1	A1	A2
LAP	B3	B3	B3
PGM	C2	C4	C4

Claims

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