A new and distinct gardenia plant named ‘4MARIAJ01’ particularly distinguished by flowers that are double-flowered with an early flowering habit, upright, dark green growth with a dense branching habit and increased flower production compared to other standard large growing double-flowered cultivars, and plants having uniform growth under commercial production practices, is disclosed.
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1. A new and distinct variety of gardenia plant named ‘4MARIAJ01’, substantially as illustrated and described herein.
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Genus and species: Gardenia jasminoides.
Variety denomination: ‘4MARIAJ01’.
The present invention comprises a new and distinct variety of gardenia plant, botanically known as Gardenia jasminoides, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name ‘4MARIAJ01’. This new gardenia plant originated from an open pollination conducted in 2009 in Dearing, Ga. between an unknown female gardenia plant and an unknown male gardenia plant. The objective of the breeding program was to create a new gardenia plant with an early blooming habit, double-flowered, compact growth habit, easy-to-grow, and plants exhibiting cold hardiness.
Approximately 1400 progeny seeds resulting from said open pollination were planted in 2009. In 2010, progeny seedlings were planted in 2.5 inch liner cups and then in 2011 progeny seedlings were planted in 1-gallon containers. In 2013, progeny seedlings were planted in 3-gallon containers, inoculated with Phytophthora cinnamomi, and grown to evaluate disease response and production characteristics. The new variety was selected by the inventor as a single plant within said progeny in a controlled environment in Dearing, Ga. The new variety was selected based on its response to drought stress, disease, cold hardiness, and unique flowering and growth characteristics. ‘4MARIAJ01’ was first reproduced asexually by vegetative semi-softwood stem cuttings in October 2013 in Dearing, Ga. ‘4MARIAJ01’ has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics and has been found to be stable and reproduce true-to-type through two successive generations of asexual reproduction by vegetative semi-softwood stem cuttings.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this variety have not been applied for. ‘4MARIAJ01’ has not been made publicly available or sold anywhere in the world prior to the effective filing date of this application.
The new gardenia variety has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, day length, light intensity, water status, fertilizer rate and type, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following are the most outstanding and distinguishing characteristics of this new gardenia variety when grown under normal horticultural practices in Dearing, Ga. The combination of these characteristics distinguishes ‘4MARIAJ01’ as a new and distinct variety of gardenia:
This new gardenia is illustrated by the accompanying photographs which show the overall plant habit including flowers and foliage of the plant. The colors shown are as true as can be reasonably obtained by conventional photographic procedures. The photographs are of 3.6 to 4-year-old plants and 8-year-old plants grown in the ground and in 3-gallon containers in Dearing, Ga. The photographs were taken in May 2017 in Dearing Ga. under natural light. Colors in the photographs may differ slightly from the color values cited in the botanical description which accurately describes the colors of the new variety.
In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, Sixth Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.
The following observations and measurements describe plants grown in the ground and in 3-gallon containers when grown outdoors under a natural photoperiod in full sun in Dearing, Ga. Detailed descriptions were taken in 2016 and 2017 from approximately 4-year-old plants grown from single vegetative semi-softwood stem cuttings. Measurements and numerical values represent averages of typical plant types.
‘4MARIAJ01’ differs from the commercial gardenia variety ‘BAB1183’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 22,797) in that ‘4MARIAJ01’ has a more compact growth habit with plants measuring 93.0 cm by 72.0 cm after 4 years of growth, whereas plants of ‘BAB1183’ measure 122.0 cm by 152.0 cm after 2 years of growth. Additionally, when compared to ‘BAB1183’, ‘4MARIAJ01’ has tighter growth with an internode length of 3.03 cm, whereas ‘BAB1183’ has an internode length of 5.2 cm. Furthermore ‘4MARIAJ01’ exhibits much smaller leaves measuring 4.43 cm by 2.58 cm, whereas leaves of ‘BAB1183’ measure 10.2 cm by 4.4 cm.
‘4MARIAJ01’ differs from the commercial gardenia variety ‘Chuck Hayes’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,755), in that ‘4MARIAJ01’ has a growth rate of 15.0 cm to 22.0 cm per year, whereas ‘Chuck Hayes’ has a growth rate of 30.48 cm to 45.72 cm per year. Additionally, leaves of ‘4MARIAJ01’ are obovate, whereas leaves of ‘Chuck Hayes’ are lanceolate to broad, short and obovate. Furthermore, when compared to ‘Chuck Hayes’, ‘4MARIAJ01’ has an improved production consistency under a production setting in Dearing, Ga.
| Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
| Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
| Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
| Nov 16 2017 | Center for Applied Nursery Research, Inc. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
| Dec 22 2017 | JERNIGAN, BRIAN J | CENTER FOR APPLIED NURSERY RESEARCH, INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 044541 | /0310 |
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