Patent Grant
PP35876
Genus and species: Epipremnum aureum.
Cultivar denomination: ‘UF-Ea-0316’.
Epipremnum Schott, commonly known as Pothos, belongs in the family Araceae and is native to the southeast Asian and Solomon Islands in the Pacific. Epipremnum 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-0316’. The new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0316’ originated from a regenerated population of ‘Marble Queen’. Leaf explants of ‘Marble Queen’ 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. Plantlets with short internodes were selected and transplanted into plug trays filled with a substrate in a shaded greenhouse for acclimatization. Variegated plantlets were selected and transplanted in 10 cm pots filled with a substrate in a shaded greenhouse for acclimatization. Selected plants were potted in 15-cm pots for evaluation. ‘UF-Ea-0316’ was selected as a single plant from said regenerated population in April 2015 in Apopka, Florida due to its unique leaf shape and leaf color patterning as well as compact growth form.
The new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0316’ was first propagated asexually by vegetative stem cuttings in September 2015 in Apopka, Florida and has been found to remain true-to-type and to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations for seven years.
Plant Breeder's Rights for the new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0316’ have not been applied for, and ‘UF-Ea-0316’ has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing date of this application.
The new cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0316’ 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-0316’ when grown under normal horticultural practices in Apopka, Florida: Lanceolate shaped leaves having a consistent marbled green and bright white coloration across the entire leaf surface; small size plant form; and robust and extremely compact growth habit.
When compared to the parent Pothos plant ‘Marble Queen’, ‘UF-Ea-0316’ has a smaller plant form with smaller, lanceolate shape leaves, whereas ‘Marble Queen’ has a larger plant form with larger, cordate shaped leaves. Additionally, ‘UF-Ea-0316’ has a leaf internode length that is significantly smaller than the leaf internode length of ‘Marble Queen’. Further, ‘UF-Ea-0316’ has an extremely compact growth habit, whereas ‘Marble Queen’ has a more trailing growth habit and is less compact.
This new Pothos cultivar ‘UF-Ea-0316’ 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 seven-month old plants grown from unrooted cuttings in November 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 RHS Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society of London (RHS), 2007 5th Edition. The following detailed description of ‘UF-Ea-0316’ was obtained using seven-month old plants grown from unrooted cuttings in November 2018 in a shaded greenhouse in Apopka, Florida. Single eye or double eye cuttings from stems were directly rooted in either 15-cm pots (10-15 cuttings per pot) or 20-cm pots (15-20 cuttings per pot) filled with commercial substrates generally comprised of 60% peat, 20% perlite, and 20% vermiculite based on volume. Cuttings rooted in 2-3 weeks in the shaded greenhouse. After rooting, plants were fertilized with a controlled-release fertilizer (15-9-12) at 5 g per 15-cm pot and 8 g per 20-cm pot and grown for an additional 25 weeks.
