Cornus kousa tree named ‘Pam's mountain bouquet’

Abstract

A new and distinct cultivar of flowering dogwood tree, which has fused bracts is provided. This dogwood tree is botanically known as Cornus kousa and referred to by the following cultivar name: ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of flowering dogwood tree cultivar, which has fused bracts. This dogwood tree is botanically known as Cornus kousa and hereinafter referred to by the following cultivar name: ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’.

This new dogwood cultivar was discovered in a planting of seedlings within a cultivated area in Oak Ridge, Tenn. ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’ is a selection from the original seedlings grown in Oak Ridge, Tenn. from seed gifted by Polly Hill. Asexual reproduction of ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’ by rooting of harvested terminal cuttings and grafting of axillary buds onto seedling rootstocks in Oak Ridge, Tenn. and at a nursery located in Belvidere Tenn. have shown that the unique features of this new dogwood cultivar are stable and reproduced true-to-type in successive vegetative generations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Photograph of ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’. Colors in the photograph may differ from actual colors due to lighting and light reflectance.

FIGS. 2A and 2B. Close-up Photographs of ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’ bracts.

FIG. 3. Dendrogram illustrating the relatedness of “Pam's Mountain Bouquet” to other selected Cornus kousa cultivars using 11 microsatellite (SSR; Simple Sequence Repeat) markers. Note: Cultivar Beni Fuji is disclosed in U.S. Plant. Pat. No. 8,676.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

A new and distinct cultivar of flowering dogwood tree cultivar, which has fused bracts is provided. This dogwood tree cultivar is botanically known as Cornus kousa and referred to by the following cultivar name: ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’. This cultivar appears to be resistant to powdery mildew caused by Erisphe pulchra and dogwood anthracnose caused by Discula destructiva.

This new and distinct dogwood tree cultivar was discovered in a planting of seedlings within a cultivated area in Oak Ridge, Tenn. and arose from seed gifted by Ms. Polly Hill. ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’ is a selection from the original seedlings. The instant cultivar was derived from open-pollinated seeds that were bulked from maternal parents ‘Big Apple’, ‘Snowbird’, ‘Steeple’ and an unnamed tree and the potential paternal parents ‘Big Apple’, ‘Julian’, ‘Steeple’ and another unnamed tree (Auge et al., 2002). Thus, it is not possible to ascertain the exact parentage. The subject dogwood tree cultivar differs from all of the potential parents in that the instant cultivar has fused bracts, whereas none of the potential parent cultivars show the same characteristic.

Asexual reproduction of ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’ by rooting of harvested terminal cuttings and grafting of axillary buds onto seedling rootstocks in Oak Ridge, Tenn. and at a nursery located in Belvidere, Tenn. has shown that the unique features of this new dogwood cultivar are stable and reproduced true-to-type in successive generations.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following observations, measurements and comparisons describe this cultivar grown in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Trees used for this description were about twenty (20) years old. Plant hardiness is expected to be zones 4-9. The color characteristic descriptions use color references to The Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.) Colour Chart (published 2001), except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. Measurements are provided as an average (with ranges also provided as indicated).

The following Table 1 shows microsatellite (SSR) markers used to perform unweighted pair group with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis of 29 cultivars and lines of Cornus kousa. GenBank accession numbers are given along with, locus designations, forward (F) and reverse (R) primer sequences (5′-3′ direction), and repeat motif:

TABLE 1
GenBank
acces-
sion no.	Locus	Primer sequences (5'-3')	Repeat
EU544308	CK005	F:GCATTTGTCCTTTGTTTGACAT	(AC)20
		(SEQ ID NO: 1)
		R:TTTTTCGCGAAGTGTTCTCTAC
		(SEQ ID NO: 2)
EU125522	CK007	F:GAGCCCAGAAGAAGAATATAGAC	(AG)8
		(SEQ ID NO: 3)
		R:ATATAATTGGGTTGGGTTTTG
		(SEQ ID NO: 4)
EU125523	CK015	F:GTCAAATTTTTGATCTTTCTCTCT	(CT)10
		(SEQ ID NO: 5)
		R:GGAGAGACAGAGTACAGTAGAGGT
		(SEQ ID NO: 6)
EU125524	CK029	F:AATTTAGGTTAAGGTTTTGATTTG	(TC)8
		(SEQ ID NO: 7)
		R:AGAGAGAATAGGTTACAGCATCAT
		(SEQ ID NO: 8)
EU125525	CK031	F:TGTCACTGCTTACAGAAACAAT	(CT)7
		(SEQ ID NO: 9)
		R:TATGACGAGATTGTATAAGTTGCT
		(SEQ ID NO:10)
EU125526	CK040	F:CCAAGTCAGTTTGGTAGTAATTC	(GT)16
		(SEQ ID NO: 11)
		R:AGTGCAACTTTTACTTGCTATGT
		(SEQ ID NO: 12)
EU125529	CK048	F:ACCAACCAAAAGAAGTATAAAGAA	(TA)6
		(SEQ ID NO: 13)
		R:CCTATAAATAAGGAGTGATTTGGT
		(SEQ ID NO: 14)
EU544309	CK058	F:CTTAAGTCACAAAGACAATGAAAT	(GT)10
		(SEQ ID NO: 15)
		R:AAGAGAGTTCAGATTTATCTTTGC
		(SEQ ID NO: 16)
EU544310	CK070	F:CTTTTCTACACCCTTAACAAGTG	(GT)9
		(SEQ ID NO: 17)
		R:TAGACAATATGTGCTTAATTGGTT
		(SEQ ID NO: 18)
EU544311	CK071	F:CTGCTCGGTTAAGGTATGTT	(TG)9
		(SEQ ID NO: 19)
		R:TTTAAAGTGCGTTGTATACATAA
		AT (SEQ ID NO: 20)
EU544312	CK072	F:AGCACTCATAGTCCTTGCAC	(GT)10
		(SEQ ID NO: 21)
		R:GTTAAAACGAAGAAGATACAACAA
		(SEQ ID NO: 22)

TABLE 2
Characteristics of Pam's Mountain Bouquet'
Color Descriptions are based upon the
Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) colour chart, 2001.
				Comparative
				Variety
		Generalized	‘Pam's Mountain	(Milky
	Character	Characteristics	Bouquet’	Way Select)
1	Tree form	upright	spreading	Spreading-
	(observation)	semi-upright		to semi-
		spreading		upright
		weeping
		others
2	Tree height	dwarf	low	Medium
	(observation)	low	(about 3-4 meters;
		medium	spread about 4 -5
		high	meters, and
		very high	dependent on age
			and environment)
3	Branch thickness	thin	medium	Medium
	(measurement)	medium	(age dependent)
	Thickness in the	thick
	middle portion
	of a plant
4	Color of current	Yellow	Green	Green
	Shoot	Yellow green	143B	143B
	(observation)	Green
	current shoot	Grayish green
	color in the	Purple
	middle portion	Crimson
	of a plant	Brown
		Others
5	Branch color	Yellow	Greyed; Green	Greyed;
	(observation)	Yellow green	198B	Green
	current branch	Green		198B
	color in the	Purplish
	middle portion	crimson
	of a plant	Crimson
	second year+	Brown
		Others
6	Dark spots on	Absent	Absent	Absent
	Branch	Present
	(observation)
	presence of dark
	spots on the
	branch
7	Branching	Low	High	Medium
	(observation)	Medium
	density of	High
	branching
8	Internode length	Short	Short	Short
	(measurement)	medium
	Internode length	long
	in the middle
	portion of a plant
9	whole shape of	Lanceolate	Obovate	Obovate
	leaves	Oblanceolate
	(observation)	Oblong
	see Fig. 1 whole	Elliptical
	shape of a leaf in	Ovate
	the middle	Obovate
	portion of a plant	Orbicular
		Others
10	Shape of leaf	Acuminate	Acuminate	Acuminate
	tip(observation)	Acute
	see Fig. 2 Tip	obtuse
	shape of a leaf in	Rotundate
	the middle	Others
	portion of a plant
11	Shape of leaf	Acuminate	Truncate	Truncate
	Base	Acute
	(observation)	obtuse
	see FIG. 2A	Rotundate
	and FIG. 2B	Others
	Base shape of a
	leaf in the middle
	portion of a plant
12	Shape of leaf	Entire	Entire	Entire
	Margin	others
	(observation)
	shape of a leaf
	margin in the
	middle portion of
	a plant
13	Leaf rolling	Rolling inward	Rolling inward	Rolling
	(observation)	Flat		inward
		Rolling outward
14	Leaf curvature	In-curved	Flat	Flat
	(observation)	Flat
		Out-curved
15	Leaf margin	None	None	None
	Undulation	presence
	(observation)
16	Leaf length	Short	Long	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(about 10-14 cm)
	Length from the	long
	tip to the base of
	mature leaf
17	Leaf width	Narrow	Narrow	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(about 4-5 cm)
	The maximum	wide
	width of mature
	leaf
18	Leaf thickness	Thin	Medium	Medium
	(observation)	Medium
	Thickness of	Thick
	mature leaf
19	Bud color	Yellowish	Grayish green	Grayish
	(observation)	white	179A	Green
	Color of bud just	Yellow		191A
	after sprouting	Yellow green
		Green
		Grayish green
		Crimson
		Others
20	Immature leaf	Yellowish	Light Green	Light Green
	color	white	135B	135B
	(observation)	Yellow
		Yellow green
		Green
		Grayish green
		pink
		Crimson
		others
21	Presence of	Absent	Absent	Absent
	anthocyanin	present
	(observation)
	Coloration by
	anthocyanin on
	the immature leaf
	upperside
22	Color of leaf	Yellow	Green	Green
	upperside	Yellow green	143B	146A
	(observation)	Green
	Color of mature	Grayish green
	leaf upperside	Purplish
		crimson
		Crimson
		others
23	Color of leaf	Yellow	Light Green	Medium
	lowerside	Yellow green	146B	Green
	(observation)	Light green		137A
	Color of mature	Green
	leaf lowerside	Dark green
		Grayish green
		Purplish
		crimson
		others
24	Seasonal change	Unchanged	Changed	Changed
	of a mature leaf	changed
	(observation)
25	Color of leaves in	Yellow	Red	Dull Red to
	autumn	Orange	10C -46A	maroon
	(observation)	Crimson		61B
		others
26	Leaf variegation	Not variegated	Not variegated	Not
	(observation)	variegated		variegated
	Variegation on
	leaf upperside
27	Variegation	Spotted	NA	NA
	pattern	Splashed
	(observation)	Margined
	Pattern of	Centered
	variegation on a	Blotched
	leaf upperside	others
28	Variegation color	White	NA	NA
	(observation)	Yellowish
		white
		Greenish white
		Yellow
		Yellow Green
		Green
		Crimson
		others
29	seasonal change	Unchanged	NA	NA
	of variegation	changed
	color
	(observation)
30	Hair on leaf	None	None	None
	upperside	Low
	(observation)	Medium
	hair density on a	high
	mature leaf
	upperside
31	Hair on leaf	None	None	None
	lowerside	Low
	(observation)	Medium
	hair density on a	high
	mature leaf
	lowerside
32	Petiole length	Short	Short	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(about 1.5-2.5
	Length from	Long	cm.)
	the base of blade	Very long
	to the base
	petiole
33	Petiole width	Narrow	Medium	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(<8 mm)
	The maximum	wide
	width of a
	mature leaf
	petiole
34	Petiole color	Yellowish white	Green	Green
	(observation)	Yellow Green	143B	143B
		Green
		Crimson
		others
35	Inflorescence	Corymb	Umbel	Umbel
	type	Umbel
	(observation)	Head
		others
36	Inflorescence	Upright	Upright	Upright
	direction	Horizontal
	(observation)	pendulous
37	Inflorescence	Small	Medium	Medium
	diameter	Medium	(diagonal mean
	(observation)	large	length including
			bracts = 7.4 cm.;
			mean width not
			including bracts =
			5.3 cm)
38	Flower diameter	Small	Small	Small
	(measurement)	Medium
		Large
		Very large
39	Floret diameter	Small	Small	Small
	(measurement)	Medium
		Large
40	Floret color	White	Yellow	Greenish
	(observation)	Yellowish white	150C	yellow
		Greenish yellow		150C
		Light Green
		others
41	Bract type	Single	83% are FUSED;	Single and
	(observation)	Semi-double	17% are Single	unfused
		Full-double	(see Table 3)
		others
42	Uniformity of	Not uniform	Not uniform	Uniform
	bract size	uniform
	(observation)
43	Bract over-	Not overlap	No overlap --	Slightly
	lapping	Slightly	fused	overlap
	(observation)	overlap
		overlap
44	Bract orientation	Ascending	Recurved,	Horizontal
	(observation)	Horizontal	Reflexed, or Flat
		arching
45	Bract rolling	Rolling inward	Varies (may roll	Horizontal
	(observation)	Horizontal	inward or
		Rolling outward	outward
46	Degree of bract	Weak	strong	Weak
	rolling	Medium
	(observation)	strong
47	Bract curvature	In-curved	Varies	Horizontal
	(observation)	Horizontal	(can be recurved,
		Out-curved	flat, or reflexed)
48	Bract twisting	None	None	None
	(observation)	Weak
		Medium
		strong
49	Whole shape of	Oblong	Obovate
	bracts	Elliptical	Ovate
	(observation)	Ovate
		Obovate
		Orbicular
		others
50	Shape of bract	Acuminate	Acuminate
	apex	Acute	Acuminate
	(observation)	Abtuse
		Rotundate
		Emarginated
		others
51	Bract length	Short	Medium	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium
		Long
52	Bract width	Narrow	FUSED	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium
		wide
53	Number of bracts	Few	FUSED, but 4	Medium(4)
	(measurement)	Medium(4)
		Many(over 10)
54	Bract color	(color of bract	155A	155A
	(measurement)	in full bloom)	(immature: 157A)
55	Bract variegation	Not variegated	Not variegated	Not
	(observation)	variegated		variegated
56	Variegation	Margined	NA	NA
	pattern	Splashed
	(observation)	Bi-colored
		Spotted
		shaded
		others
57	Variegation	(Color of	NA	NA
	color	variegation
	(measurement)	pattern of a
		bract in full
		bloom)
58	Pistil color	White	Yellow green	Yellow
	(observation)	Yellowish	Not coded	green
		white		Not coded
		Greenish white
		Yellow green
		Green
		others
59	Stigma color	White	Dark Green	Green
	(observation)	Yellowish	(Not Coded)	(Not
		white		Coded)
		Greenish white
		Yellow green
		Green
		others
60	Peduncle	Thin	Medium	Medium
	thickness	Medium
	(measurement)	thick
61	Peduncle length	Short	Long	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(mean of 6.8 cm)
		long
62	Peduncle color	Yellowish white	Yellow green	Yellow
	(observation)	yellow	144B	green
		Yellow green		144B
		Green
		Crimson
		brown
		others
63	Fruit shape	Elliptical	Globose	Globose
	(observation)	Ovate
		Obovate
		Globose
		others
64	Fruit length	Short	Medium	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(about 4 cm)
		long
65	Fruit width	Narrow	Medium	Medium
	(measurement)	Medium	(about 4 cm)
		wide
66	Fruit color	Yellow	Unripe:143B;	Ripe: 33B
	(observation)	Orange	Ripe 33B to 43A.	to 44A
		Crimson	Highly variable	Highly
		Purplish black	depending on	variable
		Black	ripeness	depending
		others		on ripeness
67	Fragrance	Absent	Absent	Absent
	(observation)	present
68	Seed fertility	Sterile	High	High
	(observation)	Low
		Medium
		high
69	Time to the first	Early	Medium	Medium
	flowering	Medium	(April-mid-May)
	(observation)	late
70	Blooming habit	Few	Many	Many
	(observation)	Medium
		many
71	Flowering	One season	One season	One season
	season	flowering	flowering	flowering
	(observation)	Recurrent
		blooming
		others
72	Flowering time	Early	Medium	Medium
	(observation)	Medium
		late
73	Deciduous or	Deciduous	Deciduous	Deciduous
	evergreen	Half-deciduous
	(observation)	evergreen
74	Cold hardiness	Weak	Medium	Medium
	(observation)	Medium	(to −20° C.—no
		strong	effect)
75	Heat tolerance	Weak	Strong	Strong
	(observation)	Medium	(to 40° C.—no
		strong	effect)
76	Pest resistance	Weak	Strong	Strong
	(observation)	Medium	(no specific pests
		strong	noted; resistant to
			dogwood
			anthracnose and
			powdery mildew)
77	Disease	Weak	Strong	Strong
	resistance	Medium
	(observation)	strong
78
79	Bark color	n/a	Grayed-Green	Not
			198B	observed
80	Bark texture	n/a	Smooth	Not
				observed
81	Angle of	n/a	20°-30° from	Not
	Emerging		vertical stem	observed
	Branches
82	Time to first leaf	n/a	Mid- to late-April	Not
	bud burst			observed
83	Leaf Vein color	n/a	Green-Greyed	Not
			192A	observed
84	Immature Leaf	n/a	Similar to fully	Not
	color		expanded leaf	observed
			color
85	Bract base	n/a	Truncate	Not
				observed
86	Bract margin	n/a	Entire	Not
				observed
87	Vestiture	n/a	Puberulous,	Not
			reticulate	observed
88	Flower/	n/a	Mean = 34	Not
	inflorescensce			observed
	number
89	Seed shape	n/a	Flattened along	Not
			length	observed
90	Seed color	n/a	Greyed Yellow	Not
			162D	observed
91	Seed number	n/a	0-17 per fruit	Not
				observed
92	Bloom duration	n/a	3-5 weeks	Not
			(dried, dead	observed
			bracts are retained
			as a “collar” on
			peduncle until
			fruit fall in
			Autumn)
93	Time of Fruit	n/a	Begins mid- to	Not
	Ripening		late-August	observed
			through October
94	Trunk diameter	n/a	18 cm at 15 years	Not
	(at approximately		of age	observed
	breast height)
95	Anther color	n/a	Greyed-purple	Not
			N186	observed
96	Flower petal	n/a	Yellow-green	Not
	color		145C	observed
97	Style/Stigma	n/a	Inconspicuous	Not
	description			observed

• Botanical classification: Cornus kousa ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’.
• Unique features: This tree features heavy flowering and exhibits fused bracts. About 82% of all bracts on the cultivar exhibit some degree of fusion (one side, two sides or three to four sides being fused; see data in Table 3).

TABLE 3
Cornus kousa ‘Pam's Mountain Bouquet’
bract characteristics.
		One side	Two sides	3-4 sides
Year	Not fused	fused	fused	fused
2008 (n = 50)	7	(14%)	3 (6%)	12	(24%)	28 (56%)
2009 (n = 50)	10	(20%)	1 (2%)	4	(8%)	35 (70%)
2011 (n = 50)	9	(18%)	5 (10%)	9	(18%)	27 (54%)
Mean	9	(18%)	3 (6%)	8	(16%)	30 (60%)

• All categories of fused bracts=82%.
• Disease susceptibility: None noted. Powdery mildew caused by Erisphe pulchra and dogwood anthracnose Discula destructiva were not observed. Nearby C. florida (flowering dogwood) trees were heavily infested with powdery mildew, but not dogwood anthracnose.
• Insect damage: None noted.

REFERENCES

• Auge, R. M., M. T. Windham, J. L. Moore, W. T. Witte, E. Kubikova, W. E. Klingeman, R. M. Evans, J. H. Reiss, P. C. Flanagan, and A. M. Saxton. 2002. Leaf curl and water relations of kousa dogwoods showing resistance to summer stress. J. Environ. Hort. 20 (3):143-147.
• Wadl, P. A., X. Wang, A. N. Trigiano, J. A. Skinner, M. T. Windham, T. A. Rinehart, S. M. Reed, V. R. Pantalone and R N. Trigiano. 2008. Molecular identification key for cultivars and lines of Cornus florida and C. kousa based on microsatellite loci. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 133 (6): 783-793.
• Wadl, P. W., X. Wang, B. E. Scheffler, T. A. Rinehart, and R. N. Trigiano. 2008. Microsatellites from kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa). Molec. Ecol. Res. 8:780-782. DOI:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.0262.x.
• Wadl, P. W., Windham, M. T., Evans, R., Trigiano, R. N. 2014. Three New Cultivars of Cornus kousa: Empire, Pam's Mountain Bouquet, and Red Steeple. HortScience 49 (9):1230-1233.

Claims

1. A new and distinct cultivar of Dogwood tree, Cornus kousa, named ‘PAM'S MOUNTAIN BOUQUET’, as illustrated and described.