Strawberry plant named ‘DrisStrawEight’

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant named ‘DrisStrawEight’. The new cultivar is primarily characterized by its large, firm and medium to strong sweet tasting fruit, medium-vigor and moderate resistance to Powdery mildew, is disclosed.

Description

Genus and species: Fragaria×ananassa.

Variety denomination: ‘DrisStrawEight’.

BACKGROUND OF THE NEW PLANT

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry cultivar designated ‘DrisStrawEight’ and botanically known as Fragaria×ananassa. This new strawberry cultivar was discovered in Camarillo, Calif. in January 2005 and originated from a cross between the female parent ‘Driscoll Ojai’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,575) and the male parent ‘Driscoll Agoura’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,731). The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated at a nursery in Shasta County, Calif.

‘DrisStrawEight’ was subsequently asexually propagated in Shasta County, Calif. and underwent further testing at a nursery in Ventura County, Calif. for three years. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations via stolons and tissue culture.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The accompanying color photographs show typical specimens of the new cultivar at various stages of development as nearly true as it is possible to make in color reproductions.

FIG. 1 shows overall plant habit including fruit at various stages of development.

FIG. 2 shows the upper and lower surfaces of several of the flowers.

FIG. 3 shows the fruit in longitudinal cross-section.

FIG. 4 shows the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves at the three leaf stage.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW CULTIVAR

The following description of ‘DrisStrawEight’ is based on observations taken in Ventura County, Calif. from 2006–2008. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. 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. ‘DrisStrawEight’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The botanical description of ‘DrisStrawEight’ was taken from 6 month-old plants and the botanical descriptions of ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’ were taken from 5 month-old plants. Color terminology follows The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, London (R.H.S.) (2001).

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

Table 1 shows selected plant characteristics of the new variety compared with plant characteristics of ‘Driscoll Agoura’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,731) and ‘Driscoll Ojai’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,575). Plant characteristics include stolon number, fruit shape, insertion of achenes and fruit production.

TABLE 1
		‘Driscoll
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Stolon number	Medium	Few	Many
Fruit shape	Conical and almost	Almost	Almost
	cylindrical	cylindrical	cylindrical
Insertion of achenes	Below surface	Level with	Above surface
		surface
Fruit production	529	617	504
(g/plant)

Table 2 shows plant characteristics of the new variety compared with plant characteristics of the commercial varieties ‘Driscoll Agoura’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,731) and ‘Driscoll Ojai’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,575). Plant characteristics include plant height, diameter, the number of crowns per plant, habit, the density of individual plants and the vigor.

TABLE 2
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	‘Driscoll Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Plant height (cm)	16.1	13.2	14.0
Plant diameter	28.3	30.3	32.0
(cm)
Number of	2	3	2
crowns/plant
Habit	Globose	Flat	Flat-globose
Density of	Medium	Medium	Medium
individual plant
Vigor	Medium	Weak	Strong

Table 3 shows leaf characteristics of the new cultivar compared with leaf characteristics of ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’. Leaf characteristics include terminal leaflet length and width in centimeters, length to width ratio, number of teeth per terminal leaflet, shape of teeth, color of upperside and underside of leaf, leaf shape in cross section, leaf blistering, leaf glossiness, number of leaflets, terminal leaflet margin, terminal leaflet length to width ratio, overall leaf shape and shape of leaf apex and base.

TABLE 3
Leaf
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	‘Driscoll Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Terminal leaflet	0.64	0.58	0.60
length (cm)
Terminal leaflet	0.61	0.56	0.63
width (cm)
Terminal leaflet	1.0	1.0	1.0
length/width
ratio
No. teeth/terminal	21	23	20
leaflet
Shape of teeth	Rounded	Rounded	Rounded
Color of upper	RHS 139A	RHS 139A (Dark-	RHS 147A
surface of leaf	(Dark-green)	green)	(Medium
			yellow-green)
Color of lower	RHS 148B	RHS 147B	RHS 147C
surface of leaf	(Medium yellow-	(Medium yellow-	(Medium
	green)	green)	yellow-green)
Leaf shape in	Concave	Concave	Concave
cross section
Leaf blistering	Weak	Medium	Medium
Leaf glossiness	Weak	Medium	Medium
No. leaflets	Three only	Three only	Three only
Terminal leaflet	Revolute	Revolute	Revolute to flat
margin
Terminal leaflet:	As long as broad	As long as broad	As long as
length/width			broad
ratio
Terminal leaflet	Orbicular	Orbicular	Orbicular
shape
Terminal leaflet	Obtuse	Obtuse	Obtuse
base shape
Terminal leaflet	Rounded	Rounded	Rounded
apex shape

Table 4 shows information about the petiole, the petiolule, the bract, and the stipule of the new cultivar compared to ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’. This includes petiole length in centimeters, petiole diameter in centimeters, petiole pubescence, pose of hairs on the petiole, color of the petiole, color of the petiolule, petiolule length in centimeters, petiolule diameter in centimeters, bract frequency per petiole, stipule length in centimeters, stipule width in centimeters, stipule pubescence and stipule anthocyanin coloration.

TABLE 4
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	‘Driscoll Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Petiole length	8.5	6.4	6.5
(cm)
Petiole diameter	0.281	0.274	0.323
(cm)
Petiole	Very dense	Dense	Dense
pubescence
Petiole pose of	Outwards	Outwards	Between
hairs			outwards to
			downwards
Petiole color	RHS 146C	RHS 146D	RHS 145A
	(Medium	(Medium	(Light yellow-
	yellow-green)	yellow-green)	green)
Petiolule	RHS 146C	RHS 145A (Light	RHS 145A
color	(Medium	yellow-green)	(Light yellow-
	yellow-green)		green)
Petiolule length	0.40	0.366	0.434
(cm)
Petiolule diameter	0.145	0.131	0.194
(cm)
Bract frequency	1	0	1
Stipule length	0.37	0.35	0.36
(cm)
Stipule width	1.119	1.128	1.256
(cm)
Stipule	Absent/very	Absent/very	Medium
pubescence	sparse	sparse
Stipule	Weak	Weak	Weak
anthocyanin
coloration

Table 5 shows stolon characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’. These characteristics include the number of stolons, average number of daughter plants, the anthocyanin coloration of the stolons, the thickness of the stolons, and the pubescence of the stolons.

TABLE 5
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	‘Driscoll Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Stolon Number	Medium	Few	Many
Average number	44	11	72
of daughter plants
Stolon	Weak	Between weak	Weak
Anthocyanin		and medium
Stolon Thickness	Thin	Between medium	Medium
		and thick
Stolon	Absent or very	Dense	Absent or very
Pubescence	sparse		sparse

Table 6 shows inflorescence characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’. These characteristics include inflorescence position relative to foliage, time of flowering, relative flower size, flower diameter in centimeters (measured from petal tip to petal tip), petal shape, relative spacing of petals, petal apex, base and margin, petal length in centimeters, petal width in centimeters, petal length to width ratio, number of petals, petal color, calyx diameter in centimeters (measured on back of flower from sepal tip to sepal tip), diameter of calyx relative to corolla, diameter of inner calyx relative to outer, sepal shape, apex and margin, sepal length in centimeters (measured from sepal tip to point of attachment to receptacle), sepal width in centimeters, number of sepals, receptacle color and anther color.

TABLE 6
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	‘Driscoll Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Inflorescence	Above	Level with	Above
position relative
to foliage
Time of flowering	Early	Early	Early
(50% of plants at
first flower)
Flower size	Medium	Medium	Medium
Flower diameter	3.247	2.859	3.531
(cm)
Petal shape	Orbicular	Orbicular	Orbicular
Petal spacing	Overlapping	Overlapping	Overlapping
Petal apex shape	Rounded	Rounded	Rounded
Petal margin	Entire	Entire	Entire
Petal base shape	Concave-convex	Concave-convex	Concave-
			convex
Petal length (cm)	1.741	1.577	1.818
Petal width (cm)	1.719	1.537	1.873
Petal length/width	1.0-As long as	1.0-As long as	1.0-As long as
ratio	broad	broad	broad
Typical and	6	7	6
observed petal
number
Petal color	RHS 155D	RHS 155D	RHS 155B
	(White)	(White)	(White)
Calyx diameter	5.210	4.603	5.466
(cm)
Calyx diameter	Larger	Larger	Larger
relative to corolla
Inner calyx	Same size	Larger	Same size
diameter relative
to outer
Sepal shape	Elliptical	Elliptical	Elliptical
Sepal apex shape	Convex	Convex	Retuse
Sepal margin	Entire	Entire	Entire
Sepal length (cm)	2.174	1.814	2.103
Sepal width (cm)	0.897	0.766	1.031
Typical and	13	14	13
observed sepal
number
Receptacle color	RHS 151B	RHS 151D	RHS 151B
	(Medium	(Medium yellow-	(Medium
	yellow-green)	green)	yellow-green)
Anther color	RHS 16B (Light	RHS 14C (Light	RHS 17A
	yellow-orange)	yellow-orange)	(Medium
			yellow-orange)

Table 7 shows fruit characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’. These characteristics include fruiting truss length in centimeters, fruiting truss diameter, number of berries per truss, fruiting truss attitude, fruiting truss color, fruit length in centimeters, fruit truss width in centimeters, fruit length to width ratio, fruit hollow length and width in centimeters, fruit hollow length to width ratio, fruit weight in grams, relative fruit size, predominant fruit shape, difference in shape between primary and secondary fruits, band without achenes, unevenness of fruit surface, fruit skin color, evenness of fruit color, fruit glossiness, insertion of achenes, achene coloration (sunward and shaded sides of berry) and the number of achenes per berry.

TABLE 7
		‘Driscoll
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Fruiting truss length	17.4	14.4	16.7
(cm)
Fruiting truss	Medium	Medium	Medium
length-
general
Fruiting truss	0.295	0.297	0.348
diameter (cm)
Number of berries	1	3	1
per fruiting truss
Fruiting truss	Prostrate	Prostrate	Prostrate
attitude
Fruiting truss color	RHS 146C	RHS 145A	RHS 145A
at base of truss	(Medium yellow-	(Light	(Light yellow-
	green)	yellow-	green)
		green)
Fruit length (cm)	4.496	4.916	4.712
Fruit width (cm)	4.029	4.331	4.700
Fruit length/width	1.1-As long as	1.1-As long	1.0-As long as
ratio	broad	as broad	broad
Fruit hollow length	2.216	2.532	3.032
(cm)
Fruit hollow width	1.043	1.542	1.082
(cm)
Fruit hollow	2.1	1.6	2.8
length/width ratio
Fruit weight (g)	26.5	27.5	28.8
Relative fruit size	Large	Large	Large
Predominant fruit	Conical and almost	Almost	Almost
shape	cylindrical	cylindrical	cylindrical
Difference in shape	None or very slight	None or very	None or very
between primary &		slight	slight
secondary fruits
Band without	Broad	Medium	Medium
achenes
Unevenness of fruit	Weak	Weak	Medium
surface
Fruit skin color	RHS 45B	RHS 46A	RHS 46A
	(Medium-red)	(Dark-red)	(Dark-red)
Evenness of fruit	Even	Even	Even
color
Fruit glossiness	Medium	Medium	Weak
Insertion of achenes	Below surface	Level with	Above surface
		surface
Achene coloration-	RHS 53B	RHS 181A	RHS 182A
sunward side of	(Dark-red)	(Dark	(Dark greyed-
berry		greyed-red)	red)
Achene coloration-	RHS 146D	RHS 153A	RHS 152D
shaded side of berry	(Medium yellow-	(Medium	(Medium
	green)	yellow-	yellow-green)
		green)
Achenes per berry	200.8	331.4	174.5

Table 8 shows fruit characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’. These characteristics include the harvest maturity, insertion of calyx, pose of calyx segments, size of calyx in relation to fruit, adherence of calyx, firmness of flesh, color of the fruit flesh, evenness of the flesh color, distribution of flesh color, hollow center, sweetness of fruit, acidity of fruit, texture of fruit when tasted, type of bearing, grams of fruit per plant.

TABLE 8
		‘Driscoll
Characteristic	‘DrisStrawEight’	Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
Harvest maturity	Early January to	Late January	Late January to
	mid-June	to mid-June	late May
Insertion of calyx	Set above fruit	Set above	Level
		fruit
Pose of calyx	Reflexed	Reflexed	Between
segments			spreading and
			reflexed
Size of calyx in	Larger	Between	Larger
relation to fruit		same size
		and larger
Adherence of calyx	Between medium	Strong	Between
	and strong		medium and
			strong
Firmness of flesh	Firm	Firm	Extremely firm
Color of the flesh	RHS 155A	RHS 155C	RHS N155D
	(White)	(White) and	(White) and
	and RHS 41B	RHS 41A	RHS 45C
	(Medium-red)	(Medium-	(Medium-
		red)	red)
Evenness of flesh	Slightly uneven	Slightly	Slightly uneven
color		uneven
Distribution of flesh	Marginal and	Marginal and	Marginal and
color	central	central	central
Hollow center	Large	Large	Large
Sweetness	Between medium	Medium	Medium
	and strong
Acidity	Medium	Medium	Medium
Texture when tasted	Medium	Medium	Medium
Type of bearing	Partially	Partially	Partially
	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing
Grams of fruit/plant	529	617	504

Table 9 shows stress, pest and disease characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Driscoll Agoura’ and ‘Driscoll Ojai’.

TABLE 9
Pest,
Stress or Disease	‘DrisStrawEight’	‘Driscoll Agoura’	‘Driscoll Ojai’
High	Moderately		Moderately
temperatures	resistant		resistant
High pH	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	resistant	resistant	resistant
High soil salt	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
levels	resistant	resistant	resistant
Water logging	Moderately		Moderately
	resistant		resistant
Tetranychus	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
urticae	resistant	resistant	resistant
Lygus hesperus	Susceptible	Susceptible	Susceptible
Botrytis fruit rot	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery mildew	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	resistant	resistant	susceptible
Verticillium wilt	Susceptible	Susceptible	Susceptible
Strawberry mottle	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
virus	resistant	resistant	resistant
Xanthomonas	Moderately	Moderately	Susceptible
fragariae	susceptible	susceptible

COMPARISON WITH PARENTAL AND COMMERCIAL CULTIVARS

When ‘DrisStrawEight’ is compared to the male parent ‘Driscoll Agoura’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,731), ‘DrisStrawEight’ begins fruiting a week to two weeks earlier than ‘Driscoll Agoura’. Additionally, ‘DrisStrawEight’ is less rain tolerant and has smaller fruit size than ‘Driscoll Agoura’.

When ‘DrisStrawEight’ is compared to the female parent ‘Driscoll Ojai’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,575), ‘DrisStrawEight’ begins fruiting two to four weeks earlier than ‘Driscoll Ojai’. Additionally, the fruit of ‘DrisStrawEight’ is a lighter red and more conically shaped than the fruit of ‘Driscoll Ojai’.

When compared to the commercial variety ‘DrisStrawFour’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,240), ‘DrisStrawEight’ has a shorter petiole (8.5 cm) and higher fruit production (529 grams per plant), while ‘DrisStrawFour’ has a longer petiole (11.2 cm) and lower fruit production (443 grams per plant).

Claims

1. A new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant, as described and shown herein.