Patent Grant
PP35875
Genus and species: Epipremnum aureum.
Cultivar denomination: ‘UF-Ea-0311’.
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Epipremmim Schott, commonly known as Pothos, belongs in the family Araceae and is native to the southeast Asian and Solomon Islands in the Pacific. Epipremmim has about 10 species, but only E. aureum or E. pinnatum ‘Aureum’ (Boyce, 1998) has been widely grown as an ornamental and is among the most popular foliage plants worldwide. Pothos is an important foliage plant in the commercial trade. Based on the USDA Floriculture Crops Statistics, the wholesale value of Pothos in 2018 was $22.89 million. It ranked as the third among all cultivated foliage plant genera. With the increased popularity of “living walls” since 2010, pothos has been the highest in-demand indoor foliage plant, especially demand for cultivars with contrasting and bright foliage colors. Prior to 2009, there have been only four cultivars available in commercial trade, ‘Golden Pothos’ (unpatented), ‘Marble Queen’ (unpatented), ‘Jade’ (unpatented), and ‘Neon’ (unpatented). In 2009, two new Pothos cultivars were released, namely, ‘UFM10’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,930, commercial name Green Genie™, owned by Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.) and ‘UFM12’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 21,217, commercial name Pearls and Jade®, registered trademark of Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.). These two cultivars are the result of mutation breeding through exposure to gamma ray radiation.
Pothos has bisexual flowers like its relatives of Anthurium and Spathiphyllum but rarely flowers in nature. Thus, Pothos is propagated predominantly through single or double eye stem or vine cuttings. As a result, there have been no literature reports of Pothos breeding through hybridization. Since Pothos breeding through conventional hybridization is difficult, a new method was initiated for developing new Pothos cultivars through selection of mutants from regenerated populations. Pothos was first successfully regenerated from leaf and petiole explants in 2002, and subsequently, methods for regeneration of ‘Golden Pothos’ through direct somatic embryogenesis was accomplished in 2005, ‘Marble Queen’ in 2012, and as well as other Pothos cultivars. The established regeneration systems were used for isolation of mutants.
The invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Pothos plant named ‘UF-Ea-0311’. The new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0311’ originated from a regenerated population of ‘UFM12’. Leaf explants of ‘UFM12’ were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 9 μM N-phenyl-N′-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea (TDZ) and 1 μM α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Somatic embryos directly occurred on the leaf surface and on the cut ends in 4-6 weeks. Subsequent embryo conversion resulted in plantlets four weeks later. Variegated plantlets were selected and transplanted into plug trays filled with a substrate in a shaded greenhouse for acclimatization. Selected plants were potted in 15-cm pots for evaluation. ‘UF-Ea-0311’ was selected as a single plant from said regenerated population in March 2014 in Apopka, Florida due to its unique leaf shape and leaf color patterning.
The new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0311’ was first propagated asexually by vegetative stem cuttings in October 2014 in Apopka, Florida and has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations for 7 years.
Plant Breeder's Rights for the new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0311’ have not been applied for, and ‘UF-Ea-0311’ has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing date of this application.
The new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0311’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype of the new cultivar may vary with variations in environment and cultural practices such as temperature, light intensity, fertilization, irrigation, and application of plant growth regulators without any change in genotype.
The following are the most outstanding and distinguishing characteristics of ‘UF-Ea-0311’ when grown under normal horticultural practices in Apopka, Florida: Cordate shaped leaves having a broad, white center coloration mixed with streaks of yellow green and green; robust and very compact growth habit; and predominantly whited colored stems with streaks of green.
When compared to the parent Pothos plant ‘UFM12’, ‘UF-Ea-0311’ is also compact but has larger leaves that are cordate in shape, whereas ‘UFM12’ has smaller leaves that are aristate in shape. Additionally, ‘UF-Ea-0311’ has a broad center leaf coloration of white, whereas ‘UFM12’ has a center leaf coloration of green-white to greyed-green in irregular sized patches. Further, ‘UF-Ea-0311’ has stems that are predominantly white with green streaking, whereas ‘UFM12’ has stems that are predominantly green with white streaking.
This new Pothos cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0311’ is illustrated by the accompanying photographs, which show the plant's form and foliage. The colors shown are as true as can be reasonably obtained by conventional photographic procedures. The photographs are of 6-month old plants grown from unrooted cuttings in May 2018 in a shaded greenhouse in Apopka, Florida.
Foliage color was determined under full sun conditions in the middle of the day in a shaded greenhouse with 75% light exclusion. Color references are to The R.H.S. Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society of London (R.H.S.), 2007 5th Edition. The following detailed description of ‘UF-Ea-0311’ was obtained using six-month old plants grown from unrooted cuttings in May 2018 in a shaded greenhouse in Apopka, Florida. The plants were propagated in mist for 21 days after cuttings were stuck, then grown in 20-cm (8″) diameter pots with approximately 20 cuttings per pot for approximately 23 additional weeks.
‘UFM12’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 21,217, commercial name Pearls and Jade®) is the best commercial comparison. When compared to ‘UFM12’, the new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0311’ is also compact but has larger leaves that are cordate in shape, whereas ‘UFM12’ has smaller leaves that are aristate in shape. Additionally, ‘UF-Ea-0311’ has a broad center leaf coloration of white, whereas ‘UFM12’ has a center leaf coloration of green-white to greyed-green in irregular sized patches. Further, ‘UF-Ea-0311’ has stems that are predominantly white with green streaking, whereas ‘UFM12’ has stems that are predominantly green with white streaking.
