Strawberry plant named `Driscoll Marin`

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named `Driscoll Marin`. The variety is similar to the varieties `Ana Maria` and `San Juan`. The variety is distinguished from `Ana Maria` and `San Juan`, in particular, by its petiole color, achene coloration, growth habit and density, weak vigor, thick stolons, and inflorescence positioned above the foliage.

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 `67C253` (unpatented Driscoll variety) and `Lido` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. PP10,534, issued Aug. 4, 1998) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered in a controlled breeding plot, in Monterey County, Calif. in May 1998. The original seedling 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 it was identified and selected for further evaluation. `Driscoll Marin` was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing at various locations in Monterey county, Calif. for two 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 Marin`. 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 and 2.

COMPARISON TO SIMILAR VARIETIES

The varieties which we believe to be similar to `Driscoll Marin` from those known to use are `Ana Maria` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. PP11,035, issued Aug. 17, 1999) and `San Juan` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. PP12,899, issued Sep. 3, 2002). There are several characteristics of the new variety that are different from, or not possessed by `Ana Maria`, and `San Juan`. The new variety has achene coloration that is greyed purple to yellow, weak interveinal blistering on leaves, and a revolute terminal leaflet margin.

`Driscoll Marin` differs from its parent `67C253` (unpatented Driscoll variety) in several characteristics, including, but not limited to, being adapted to Northern California climate, where `67C253` is adapted to a Southern California climate. `Driscoll Marin` also exhibits superior fruit firmness in comparison to `67C253`. `Driscoll Marin` differs from its patent `Lido` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. PP10,534) in several characteristics, including, but not limited to, exhibiting intense red fruit flesh in comparison to the pale pink fruit flesh color of `Lido`. `Driscoll Marin` also has superior late season production in comparison to `Lido`.

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. The plants of `Driscoll Marin` characterized in the botanical descriptions and depicted in the figures were grown outdoors in an annual production system. Measurements were taken during the late summer in the second half of the production season.

FIG. 1 shows leaves of the plants with three leaflets.

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

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

FIG. 4 shows the strawberry 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 Monterey county, Calif., U.S.A. Observations of `Driscoll Marin`, `Ana Maria` and `San Juan` were taken in side by side comparison in 2002. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from the stated values and description 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 fruit described in the secondary fruit on one year old plants. Fruit and flower measurements are an average of both primary and secondary fruit and flowers. In particular, the reproductive structures of `Driscoll Marin` are fully self-fertile and typical of the species. Anther color is yellow, 13A, pistil color is yellow, 13A, and receptacle color is 150G, yellow green.

Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Marin` compared with characteristics of `Ana Maria` and `San Juan`. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety `Driscoll Marin` compared with characteristics of the varieties `Ana Maria` and `San Juan`. Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to stresses, pests, and diseases as compared to the varieties `Ana Maria` and `San Juan`. Table 4 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to the varieties `Ana Maria` and `San Juan`.

TABLE 1
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF `DRISCOLL MARIN`, `ANA
MARIA`, AND `SAN JUAN`
	`Driscoll
	Marin`	`Ana Maria`	`San Juan`
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	28.8	33.6	30.1
Spread of Plant (cm)	43.5	51.8	47.1
Number of Crowns	4.1	4.3	3.8
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet Length	8.0	9.8	8.3
(cm)
Terminal Leaflet Width (cm)	7.8	9.5	7.9
Terminal Leaflet	1.03	1.03	1.05
Length/Width Ratio
# Teeth/Terminal Leaflet	20.3	21.3	24.6
Color of upper side	medium to	medium	medium to
	dark green	green	dark green
	147A	147A	147A
Color of under side	light green	light green	light green
	147B	148B	147C
Petiole Length (cm)	18.1	20.7	19
Petiole Color	145A	145B	149A
Bract Frequency	58%	67%	25%
	typically	typically	typically
	paired	single	paired
Stipule Length (cm)	3.6	3.4	3.6
Stipule Width (cm)	1.10	1.07	1.11
Flower Characteristics
Petal Length (cm)	1.16	1.29	1.05
Petal Width (cm)	1.09	1.22	1.10
Petal Length/Width Ratio	1.07	1.05	0.95
Flower Diameter (cm)	2.15	2.15	2.15
Calyx Diameter (cm)	2.85	3.07	2.91
Fruiting Truss Length (cm)	31.1	36.9	34.0
Petal Color (cm)	155D	155D	155C
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Length (cm)	4.26	3.99	4.33
Fruit Width (cm)	3.52	3.74	3.85
Fruit Length/Width Ratio	1.21	1.07	1.13
Average Berry Weight (g)	24.3	22.5	28.4
External Color	dark red	red	dark red
	53A	46A	53A
Internal Color	red	orange red	red
	45A	44B	44A
Average % brix	8.12	8.34	8.97
Brix/Acid Ratio	11.36	13.48	15.07
Achene Coloration	greyed	dark red to	dark red to
	purple to	yellow	yellow
	yellow	46B to 16A	46B to 16A
	187B to 16A
Yield (g/plant)	1,349	1,504	1,225

TABLE 2
QUALITATIVE COMPARISON OF `DRISCOLL MARIN`, `ANA
MARIA` AND `SAN JUAN`
	`Driscoll
	Marin`	`Ana Maria`	`San Juan`
Plant
Habit	flat	globose to	globose to
		upright	flat globose
Density	open	medium to	medium
		open
Vigor	weak	strong	medium
Leaf
Shape in cross section	slightly	slightly	flat to
	concave	concave to	slightly
		flat	convex
Interveinal blistering	weak	medium to	medium to
		strong	strong
Glossiness	weak	medium	weak to
			medium
			weak
Number of leaflets	three only	three only	sometimes
			more than
			3 leaflets
			(approx.
			17% of
			leaves)
Terminal leaflet margin	revolute	flat	revolute to
profile			flat
Terminal leaflet shape of base	obtuse	rounded to	obtuse to
		oblique	rounded
Terminal leaflet shape of teeth	obtuse	obtuse	rounded
Stipule pubescence	medium	sparse	medium
Petiole pubescence	medium	sparse	medium
Petiole pose of hairs	outward to	outward	outward to
	downward		downward
Stolon
Amount	medium to	medium to	medium to
	many	many	many
Anthocyanin coloration	medium	medium	strong
Thickness	thick	thin to	medium
		medium
Pubescence	medium	sparse to	medium
		medium
Inflorescence
Position relative to foliage	above	level to	beneath to
		above	level with
Diameter of calyx relative to	same size to	smaller to	larger
corolla on secondary flowers	larger	same size
Diameter of inner calyx	same size	smaller to	same size
relative to outer on secondary		same size
flowers
Spacing of petals	free to	free to	overlapping
	touching	touching
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at first picking	prostrate	semi-erect	prostrate
Fruit
Predominant shape	conical to	conical	conical to
	almost		almost
	cylindrical		cylindrical
Difference in shapes between	marked with	none to very	moderate
primary and secondary fruits	primaries	slight
	being
	flattened and
	secondary
	fruit more
	conical
Band without achenes	very narrow	narrow to	narrow
	to narrow	medium
Unevenness of surface	medium	weak	medium
Evenness of color uneven	even	even	even
Glossiness	strong	strong	very strong
Insertion of achenes	level with	level with	level with
	surface	surface	surface
Insertion of calyx	level	level with to	level
		set above
Pose of the calyx segments	spreading to	spreading	spreading to
	reflexed		reflexed
Size of calyx in relation to	smaller	same size to	same size
fruit on secondary fruit		larger
Adherence of calyx	strong	weak to	strong
		medium
Firmness of flesh	firm	soft to	firm
		medium
Evenness of flesh color	slightly	slightly	slightly
	uneven	uneven	uneven to
			even
Distribution of flesh color	marginal and	marginal and	marginal and
	central	central	central
Hollow center size	medium	small	medium
Sweetness	medium	medium to	medium to
		strong	strong
Texture when tasted	fine to	fine to	medium
	medium	medium
Acidity	medium	medium	medium
Time of Flowering	late-March	early-March	early-March
Harvest Interval in 2002	late-April	mid-April	mid-April
	thru early-	thru early-	thru early-
	November	November	November
Type of Bearing	partially	partially	partially
	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing

STRESS PEST AND DISEASE RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY

TABLE 3
REACTIONS TO STRESS PESTS AND DISEASES FOR `DRISCOLL
MARIN`, `SAN JUAN` AND `ANA MARIA`
	`MARIN`	`Ana Maria`	`San Juan`
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	susceptible	susceptible	moderately
			susceptible
Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Reaction To Diseases
Botrytis fruit rot	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery mildew	moderately	moderately	susceptible
	susceptible	susceptible
Verticillium wilt	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Strawberry Mottle Virus	moderately	moderately	moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
Xanthomanas fragariae	susceptible	moderately	moderately
		susceptible	susceptible

ISOZYME ANALYSIS

In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar `Driscoll Marin` 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 Marin`, `Ana Maria` and `San Juan` 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 MARIN`, `ANA MARIA`
AND `SAN JUAN`
	Locus	`Driscoll Marin`	`Ana Maria`	`San Juan`
	PGI	A3	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.