Lachenalia Jacq. f. ex murray plant named ‘Aqua Lady’

Abstract

A new and distinct form of Lachenalia plant characterized by a bulb plant type having a spreading growth habit of a height of 15-30 centimetres (cm) and width of 10-15 cm having a turquoise blue flower and green leave with maroon spots, further characterized in that the spots are relatively small in size and fairly pronounced in that it has a good contrast.

Description

Genus and species: Lachenalia Jacq. f. ex Murray.

Variety denomination: ‘Aqua Lady’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Lachenalia, botanically known as Lachenalia Jacq. f. ex Murray having the common name of Viooltjies/Cape cowslip and hereinafter referred to by its variety denomination ‘Aqua Lady’.

The variety was first cultivated in 2008 and originated by means of conventional breeding by the inventor during 2009 to 2010 at the premises of Agricultural Research Council Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute, Roodeplaat, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa.

Asexual reproduction of the ‘Aqua Lady’ plant at the same location has shown that the unique features thereof are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of Lachenalia which originated from the controlled pollination between a Lachenalia hybrid as seed bearing parent and a Lachenalia viridiflora as pollen parent as detailed hereinbelow.

The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics, under the local evaluation conditions, of the ‘Aqua Lady’ plant. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘Aqua Lady’ as a new and distinct Lachenalia cultivar:

• • 1. Bulb plant type having a spreading growth habit of a height of 15-30 centimetres (cm) and width of 10-15 cm.
  • 2. Flower color: turquoise-blue (RHS #120B).
  • 3. Leaf color: green (RHS #139B) with maroon (RHS #183A) spots.

Color references are made to The R.H.S. Colour Chart, 1^st edition, 1966, except where general color terms of ordinary significance are used or indicated otherwise.

Plants of the new Lachenalia variety ‘Aqua Lady’ can be compared to the variety denomination ‘Rupert’ but differs in that the flower color of ‘Aqua Lady’ is turquoise-blue (RHS #120B) compared to the purple of ‘Rupert’. The maroon (RHS #183A) spots of the ‘Aqua Lady’ plant is furthermore smaller in size, yet more pronounced in that it has a good contrast compared to the low contrast found in ‘Rupert’.

‘Rupert’ furthermore has a shorter peduncle and more dense inflorescence compared to ‘Aqua Lady’.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The first drawing illustrates the overall appearance of the ‘Aqua Lady’, showing the colors as true as it is reasonably possible to obtain in colored reproductions of this type.

The first drawing comprises a front perspective view of a typical ‘Aqua Lady’ grown in an indoor nursery, but located in an outdoor setting.

The second drawing illustrates the overall appearance of the ‘Aqua Lady’, showing the colors as true as it is reasonably possible to obtain in colored reproductions of this type. The second drawing comprises a front perspective view of a typical ‘Aqua Lady’ grown in an indoor nursery, but located in an outdoor setting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The aforementioned drawings, following observations and measurements describe ‘Aqua Lady’ grown by the inventor on behalf of Agricultural Research Council Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute, Roodeplaat, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. Thereafter ‘Aqua Lady’ was made subject of a South African Plant Breeders' Right application in March 2009. This application was granted in 2010 under number ZA20104392.

The plant is an early flowering cultivar and may be used for landscaping and should be planted during the month of March; indoors and in pots only. The plant should be kept at temperatures of 20-25 degrees Celsius during the day and 10-15 degrees Celsius at night. Plenty of light should be provided.

‘Aqua Lady’ is a hybrid-hybrid cross containing the following Lachenalia species: Lachenalia viridiflora, Lachenalia orchioides subsp. glaucina, Lachenalia bulbifera, Lachenalia quadricolor and Lachenalia rubida.

The female parent (GenBank accession number 1978/093/198) has flowers which are more purple with dark purple tips, but with the same flower orientation as ‘Aqua Lady’.

The male parent is L. viridiflora (unnamed) which has blue flowers, but with much less flowers, shorter peduncle and shorter inflorescence. The leaves of this species are also shorter, with more pronounced spots as compared to those of ‘Aqua Lady’.

‘Aqua Lady’ was originally produced sexually from a cross between the hybrid and L. viridiflora (unnamed) described above. A specific seedling with number 1992/125/012 was selected from this cross and thereafter asexually propagated. The asexual progeny of this seedling is the cultivar ‘Aqua Lady’ and was multiplied via tissue culture at the premises of Agricultural Research Council Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute, Roodeplaat, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa.

The following characteristics of ‘Aqua Lady’ are described with reference to description of said characteristic which are comparable with the mentioned variety/ies having said similar characteristic.

• Leaf: Monocolored.
  • • Spots on upper side.—Present, small and with good contrast.

		Variety having
	Description of	similar
Characteristic:	‘Aqua Lady’:	characteristics:
Attitude:	Semi-erect	‘Romaud’
Length:	Medium - 22.5	‘Bontrok’, ‘Winsome’
	cm
Width:	Medium - 4.8 cm	‘Rosabeth’
Ratio: length/width	Large	‘Rodelein’
	(elongated): 4.7:1
Shape:	Oblong	‘Romargo’
Color:	Green (RHS	‘Roinge’
	#139B)
Leaf color designation for	Green (RHS
lower sides of the leaf	#139B)
Shape in cross section:	Angular	‘Robyn’, ‘Romelia’
Recurving of margin:	Absent	‘Eliza’, ‘Rodelein’
Undulation of margin:	Absent	‘Romelia’
Blistering and pubescence of	Absent	‘Rodelein’, ‘Rosabeth’
upper side:
Spots on upper side:	Present (Maroon)	‘Bontrok’, ‘Roingec
	(RHS #183A)	‘Rosabeth’
Number of spots per leaf	Amount differs
	from plant to
	plant, no exact
	number of spots
	per leaf
Size of spots on upper side:	Small to medium
	(1-2 millimeter
	(mm))
Density of spots on upper side:	Medium	‘Roinge’, ‘Rosabeth’
Intensity of spots on upper	Dark	‘Bontrok’, ‘Roklara’
side:
Markings on outer side of leaf	Present	‘Roinge’, ‘Rozanne’
base:

• Peduncle:

		Variety having similar
Characteristic:	Description of ‘Aqua Lady’:	characteristics:
Length:	Medium - 16.5 cm	‘Rosabeth’
Peduncle color	Maroon (RHS #183A) with
designation	green (RHS #143D)
Spots or markings:	Present	‘Bontrok’, Rosabeth’
Coloration of	Maroon (RHS #183A)
peduncle spots
Size of spots or	Large (some cover the stem	‘Roinge’, Rolina’
markings:	and others are between 0.1-1
	cm)
Density of spots or	Dense, close to each other:	‘Roinge’
markings:	spots may be as close as 0.2
	mm, but may differ

• Bud:

Characteristic: Description of ‘Aqua Lady’:
Color           Turquois (RHS #121 C) with green
                (RHS #143D) tip

Inflorescense:

			Variety having
		Description of	similar
	Characteristic:	‘Aqua Lady’:	characteristics:
	Length:	Medium - 13 cm	‘Robyn’, ‘Roklara’
	Rudimentary apex:	Conspicuous	‘Ronette’
	Number of flowers:	Few (20-30	‘Bontrok’
		flowers)

Flower:

		Variety having
	Description of	similar
Characteristic:	‘Aqua Lady’:	characteristics:
Description of floral organs	Inflorescence
	containing
	individual tubular
	flowers attached
	with pedicels to
	the peduncle
Attitude:	Horizontal	‘Robyn’, Romargo’
Pedicel:	Present	‘Romelia’
Length of pedicel:	Medium (2-3 mm)	‘Bontrok’, ‘Louis’
Length of flower:	Medium - 2.8 cm	‘Lizelle’, ‘Rolane’,
		‘Sonni’
Diameter excluding apex:	Medium - 0.8 cm	‘Romargo’,
		‘Romelia’,
		‘Rosabeth’
Diameter at apex:	Medium - 1.0 cm	‘Ronita’
Attitude of distal part of inner	Straight	‘Robyn’
perianth segments
Glossiness:	Absent
Predominant color:	Turquoise-blue	‘Ronita’
	(RHS #120B)
Intensity of predominant color:	Medium	‘Gail’
Outer perianth segment: color	Blue-green (RHS
of basal part just before	#121A of RHS
opening of flower	color chart, 2nd
	edition, 1986)
Outer perianth segment: color	Blue-green (RHS
of basal part of fully opened	#121A of RHS
flower	color chart, 2nd
	edition, 1986)
Outer perianth segment: color	Clearly different	‘Ronette’
of apex relative to other part
Outer perianth segment: color	Turquoise-blue	‘Gail’, ‘Robyn’
of apex if clearly different	(RHS #120B)
from other part
Inner perianth segment:	Present	‘Ronette’
distinct spot in middle of apex
Inner perianth segment: color	Clearly different	‘Louis’, Roinge’
of margin of apex relative to
other part
Inner perianth segment: color	Purple (RHS	‘Leipoldt’, ‘Louis’
of differently colored margin	#81B)
of apex
Inner perianth segment:	Blue-green (RHS
predominant color of exposed	#121A of RHS
part (excluding differently	color chart, 2nd
colored margin of apex)	edition, 1986)
Length of inner perianth	Longer	‘Roinge’, Rosabeth’
segment compared to outer
segments:
Extrusion of stamens:	Absent	‘Roinge’, Rosabeth’
Fragrance:	Absent	‘Romelia’
Bulb: predominant shape:	Oblate	‘Romaud’
Time of flowering:	Early - flowering	‘Celia’, ‘Lizelle’,
	time vary from	‘Sonni’
	April to May
	(Southern
	Hemisphere)
Duration of flowering:	Medium (Up to 1	‘Rodelein’, Roinge’
	and half to 2
	months)

• Others:

Characteristic:                 Description of ‘Aqua Lady’:
Description of the bulb         Cream/white (color designation - RHS
including size and color of the #158C)
bulb at maturity                Size: between 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter
Time of leaf growth/bud burst   Starts within the first week of watering
                                (normally March/April in Southern
                                Hemisphere)
A description of any fruit and  No seed or fruit
seed set
Timing of leaf senescence       After flowering has completed and starts
                                to die down, the leaves start to die off
                                (wheat color) and plant dry out
                                (September-October in Southern
                                Hemisphere)

The variety is not genetically modified and has been tested to be free of Ornithogalum Mosaic Virus.

Claims

1. A new and distinct variety of Lachenalia plant named ‘Aqua Lady’ as illustrated and described herein.