U.S. patent number PP32,954 [Application Number 16/350,861] was granted by the patent office on 2021-04-06 for lagerstroemia plant named `dark roast`.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Walters Gardens Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Hans A Hansen. Invention is credited to Hans A Hansen.
United States Patent |
PP32,954 |
Hansen |
April 6, 2021 |
Lagerstroemia plant named `Dark Roast`
Abstract
The new and distinct crape myrtle plant named Lagerstroemia
`Dark Roast` has a dense, short, compact, broadly-rounded habit, is
ground hardy to at least USDA zone 6, has semi-glossy,
mahogany-colored foliage becoming deep green at flowering time. The
flowers arise from shiny, deep-red buds, are lightly fragrant,
covering the shrub with their bright fuchsia-pink color. The new
plant resists leaf spot and powdery mildew and is useful in the
landscape as a specimen, en masse, or as a container plant.
Inventors: |
Hansen; Hans A (Zeeland,
MI) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hansen; Hans A |
Zeeland |
MI |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Walters Gardens Inc. (Zeeland,
MI)
|
Family
ID: |
71732967 |
Appl.
No.: |
16/350,861 |
Filed: |
January 24, 2019 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20200245518 P1 |
Jul 30, 2020 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
PLT/252 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01H
6/00 (20180501); A01H 5/02 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A01H
5/02 (20180101); A01H 6/00 (20180101) |
Field of
Search: |
;PLT/252 |
Primary Examiner: Robinson; Keith O.
Claims
It is claimed:
1. A new and distinct cultivar of crape myrtle plant named
Lagerstroemia `Dark Roast` essentially as herein illustrated and
described.
Description
Botanical classification: Lagerstroemia (L.) hybrid.
Variety denomination: `Dark Roast`.
STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(B)(6)
The first public disclosure of the claimed plant, in the form of a
photograph and brief description was on a website operated by
Walters Gardens, Inc. on Feb. 1, 2018. After that, on Mar. 12, 2018
the claimed plant was sold by Walters Gardens, Inc., who obtained
the plant and all information relating thereto, from the inventor.
No plants of Lagerstroemia `Dark Roast` have been sold in this
country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new
plant been made, more than one year prior to the filing date of
this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was
either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of
Lagerstroemia plant, commonly known as Crape Myrtle, and
hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name `Dark Roast` or the
"new plant." `Dark Roast` is grown primarily as an ornamental for
landscape use and for use as a potted plant and is the result of an
ongoing breeding program to produce new and improved garden worthy
plants for the ornamental market. The new plant was the result of
pollination in an isolation block in August of 2012 at a wholesale
perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA using the unreleased
proprietary hybrid H10-11-22 (not patented) as the seed or female
parent and the male or pollen parent is a sibling named with only
with the breeder code H10-11-23 (not patented). The new plant was
given the breeder code 12-30-1.
Lagerstroemia `Dark Roast` was initially asexually propagated by
stem cuttings at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich.,
USA in 2014. The resultant plants from successive generations have
demonstrated that the new plant has remained stable and true to
type in multiple and successive generations of asexual
propagation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Plants of the new cultivar `Dark Roast` have not been observed
under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary
somewhat with changes in light, temperature, soil and available
moisture and fertility without, however, any variance in
genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are
determined to be unique characteristics of `Dark Roast`. Among the
characteristics in combination which distinguish `Dark Roast` as a
new and distinct cultivar, unique from all other cultivars known to
the inventor are: 1. Dense, short, compact, broadly-rounded growth
habit; 2. Semi-glossy foliage of mahogany develop to deep green at
flowering period; 3. Heavily-branched reddish-brown colored stems;
4. Bright fuchsia-pink flowers open from deep red buds on new
growth to cover the shrub; 5. Resistance to Cercospora leaf spot
and Erisphe powdery mildew; 6. Ground hardy to at least USDA
hardiness zone 6.
The most similar cultivars known to the inventor include: `Spiced
Plum` U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,478, `Whit VI` U.S. Plant Pat. No.
14,438, `Cool Beans` U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,940, `Sweet Macchiato`
U.S. Plant Pat. No. 28,759, and the three copending cultivars `Chai
Berry` U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 16/350,860, and `Lava
Java` U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 16/350,862. `Spiced
Plum` blooms about a week later with flowers that are more
raspberry purple. `Whit VI` is much larger in habit and has flowers
of a different color. `Cool Beans` has slightly larger habit and
the flower color is a different pink hue. `Sweet Macchiato` is
slightly larger in habit and the flower color is of a more lavender
pink hue and less bright fuchsia-pink. `Chai Berry` is slightly
taller in habit and the flower color is a different hue of rosy
pink. `Lava Java` is slightly taller in habit and the flowers are a
deeper reddish hue. The female parent is slightly taller and
broader in habit with more dense branching, and the flower color is
a coral pink hue. The male parent is shorter in habit, the leaves
more green and less mahogany and the flower not as fuchsia.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying color photographs illustrate the flower and
foliage characteristics and the overall appearance of a
five-year-old plant of `Dark Roast`, growing in a full-sun trial
garden in Zeeland, Mich., showing the colors as true as it is
reasonably possible to obtain in color reproductions of this type.
Colors in the photographs may differ slightly from the color values
cited in the detailed botanical description which accurately
describe the colors of the new Lagerstroemia.
FIG. 1 shows a plant in a full-sun trial garden in late summer peak
flowering.
FIG. 2 shows a close-up for the flowers and buds.
DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
The following color references are based on the 2015 edition of The
Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common
dictionary terms are used. The following observations and size
descriptions are of approximately five-year-old plants grown in a
loamy-sand, full-sun, open trial bed in Zeeland, Mich., USA with
supplemental water and fertilizer as needed. The phenotype may vary
slightly with different environmental conditions, such as
temperature, light, fertility, moisture and maturity levels, but
without any change in the genotype. Botanical classification:
Lagerstroemia (L.) hybrid; Parentage: Female, or seed parent
H10-11-22; the male, or pollen parent is H10-11-23; Propagation:
Terminal softwood stem cuttings; Time to initiate roots: About
three weeks; Growth rate: Moderate; finishing from a 65 mm liner in
a 3.7 liter container in about 10 to 14 weeks during the summer
season; Plant description: Deciduous, woody, narrow, compact
flowering shrub; about six mainly upright to outward primary stems;
freely branched; Root description: Fine, numerous, fibrous,
well-branched; Plant habit: About 53.0 cm high from the soil level
to the top of the inflorescences; about 68.0 cm wide with no
pinching, pruning or plant growth regulators; Stems: About twelve
per plant; to about 35.0 cm long and about 12.0 mm diameter at
base; young stems cylindrical with four longitudinal carinae, along
line on either side of petioles; basal stems cylindrical with
slightly exfoliating bark; highly branched with about 12 to 20
alternate branches held at about 45 degree angle above horizontal;
branches to about 25.0 cm long and 4.0 mm diameter at base; Stem
color: Woody basal portion variable with nearest RHS 165A and RHS
166C; young developing stems striated with blend of RHS 199B and
RHS 177B and darker portions nearest RHS 166A; Node: About 20 to 25
per main stem; internode length average about 2.2 cm in main stems;
Node color: Same as surrounding stem, striated with blend of RHS
199B and RHS 177B; Foliage description: Sub-opposite to alternate;
simple; ovate; margin ciliolate, slightly involute; acute apex;
aequilateral, rounded to attenuate base; to about 5.5 cm long and
3.5 cm wide, average about 4.2 cm long and 2.9 cm wide; adaxial and
abaxial glabrous and lustrous; Abaxial leaf color: Young emerging
adaxial RHS 187C, abaxial nearest RHS 184A; mature adaxial nearest
RHS 139A with frequent light blush of nearest RHS N187A around
perimeter, abaxial nearest RHS NN137B; Veins: Pinnate, puberulent
adaxial and abaxial; Vein color: Young emerging adaxial nearest RHS
187C, abaxial nearest RHS 187C; mature adaxial midrib nearest RHS
187A, secondary veins nearest RHS 138A; mature abaxial midrib
nearest RHS 184A, secondary veins nearest RHS 187B; Petiole: Short,
typically 1.0 mm long and 1.0 mm wide; color nearest RHS N187A both
adaxial and abaxial of mature and young leaves; Inflorescence:
Panicle; terminal branched panicles up to about 400 flowers;
average about 250 flowers; up to about 26.0 cm long and about 23.0
cm across; beginning mid-July and continuing for about seven weeks;
Buds: Globose to ellipsoidal with rounded to slightly apiculate
apex and rounded base; carinate; lustrous; glabrous; about 7.0 mm
long and about 6.0 mm diameter one day prior to opening; sutures
weakly prominent; Bud color: Exposed petals nearest RHS NN74C; sun
exposed dorsal portion nearest RHS 187B, ventral portion nearest
RHS 179A with undertones of nearest RHS 146D, with carina same as
surrounding portion, sun exposed dorsal portion nearest RHS 187B,
ventral portion nearest RHS 179A with undertones of nearest RHS
146D; Flowers: Perfect; regular; actinomorphic; terminal panicle;
individually about 27.0 mm across and about 15.0 mm long to tip of
exserted anthers, corolla to about 14.0 mm long; lasting about two
days; Flower fragrance: Faintly sweet; Peduncle: Cylindrical with
four longitudinal carinae in proximal portion and cylindrical in
distal portion; about 4.5 mm diameter at base below lowest
flowering branch, to about 26.0 cm long; Peduncle color: Variable
with position; proximal variable with nearest RHS 200A and between
RHS 177A and RHS 177B, and distal portion striated with nearest RHS
185A and nearest RHS 187B; Pedicel: Cylindrical; glabrous;
lustrous; about 4.0 mm long and 1.0 mm diameter; Pedicel color:
Nearest RHS 187B; Calyx: Fused into hypanthium; 7.0 mm long and 9.0
mm across; Sepals: Fused in about the basal 5.0 mm; acute apex,
entire margin; glabrous and lustrous both adaxial and abaxial;
about 9.0 mm long and individually and about 3.5 mm wide at fusion
point; Sepal color: Adaxial basal 3.0 mm nearest RHS 157D with
middle between RSH 182C and RHS 186C, apical portion between RHS
195D and RHS 197D with light blush nearest RHS 182C; abaxial
variable nearest RHS 187A and RHS 183C; Petals: Six; stalked;
glabrous; blade ruffled or crisped; margin crisped; blade with
rounded apex and auriculate base, to about 15.0 mm across and 9.0
mm long; claw base or stalk adnate to calyx, to about 5.0 mm long
and 1.0 mm diameter; overall about 14.0 mm long; Petal color: Blade
adaxial and abaxial nearest RHS 64B; claw nearest RHS 64B;
Androecium: Stamens.--Typically about 36; six longer and about 30
shorter. Filaments.--Shorter stamens to about 10.0 mm long and
about 0.2 mm diameter, curved to twisted; longer filaments about
15.0 mm long and about 0.3 mm diameter; color of shorter filaments
between RHS 56B and RHS 54D; color longer filaments nearest RHS
57B. Anthers.--Flattened ellipsoid; more developed on longer
stamens to about 1.7 mm long and 1.0 mm across, on shorter stamens
about 1.2 mm long and about 0.7 mm across; color nearest RHS 12C.
Pollen.--Abundant on longer stamens; color nearest RHS 13A.
Gynoecium: One; about 14.0 mm long; Style.--Cylindrical; glabrous;
about 11.5 mm long and 0.5 mm diameter; color nearest RHS 181B.
Stigma.--Globose; about 0.5 mm diameter; color nearest RHS 187A.
Ovary.--Superior; globose; lustrous; about 2.0 mm tall and 2.0 mm
diameter; color nearest RHS 150D. Fruit: Globose; dehiscent,
loculicidal, penta-valved capsule; about 7.0 mm across and 9.0 mm
long; immature color nearest RHS 146B, mature nearest RHS 199C;
Seed: Typically 12 to 24 per fruit; winged; to 6.5 mm long and 3.0
mm across and 1.0 mm thick at embryo; color between RHS 199D and
RHS 161A; Disease resistance: Lagerstroemia `Dark Roast` has shown
resistance to powdery mildew and black leaf spot, Erisphe and
Cercospora fungi, respectively. Other resistance beyond that
typical for crape myrtle has not been observed. The new plant's
root system is capable of withstanding cold temperatures typical of
those found in USDA zone 6.
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