Lachenalia Jacq. f. ex Murray plant named ‘Riana’

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 hyacinth-like soft pink flower with spreading tips; green leaves with maroon spots, further characterized in that the spots are fairly pronounced in that it has a good contrast.

Description

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

Variety denomination: ‘Riana’.

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 ‘Riana’.

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 ‘Riana’ 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 ‘Riana’ plant. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘Riana’ as a new and distinct Lachenalia cultivar:

• • 1. Bulb plant type having a spreading growth habit of a height of 15-30 centimeters (cm) and width of 10-15 cm.
  • 2. Flower color: soft pink (RHS #55B).
  • 3. Leaf color: green (RHS #141C) with maroon (RHS #60A) spots.
  • 4. Flower form: Hyacinth like with spreading tips.

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

Plants of the new Lachenalia variety ‘Riana’ can be compared to similar denominations such as ‘Winsome’ and ‘Leipoldt’.

‘Winsome’ has darker and brighter pink flowers compared to the soft pink (RHS #55B) color of ‘Riana’. The tips of the flowers of ‘Winsome’ are purple-pink compared to the cream-yellow (RHS #4C) tips of ‘Riana’. ‘Winsome’ has tubular flowers whilst the flowers of ‘Riana’ have spreading tips. This results in a denser appearance of the inflorescence. ‘Riana’ in general also has shorter inflorescences compared to that of ‘Winsome’.

‘Leipoldt’ has pink flowers but with a more orange tone and with dark purple tips compared to the soft pink (RHS #55B) flowers of ‘Riana’ with cream-yellow (RHS #4C) tips. Flowers of ‘Leipoldt’ have spreading tips like ‘Riana’ but the density of ‘Riana’ is better than that of ‘Leipoldt’.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The aforementioned drawing, following observations and measurements describe ‘Riana’ grown by the inventor on behalf of Agricultural Research Council Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute, Roodeplaat, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. Thereafter ‘Riana’ was made subject of a South African Plant Breeders' Right application in March 2009. This application was granted in 2010 under number ZA20104397.

The plant has an intermediate flower time 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.

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

The female cultivar of ‘Riana’ is known as ‘Rupert’ whereas the male cultivar is ‘Rolina’.

‘Riana’ can be compared to ‘Rupert’ and ‘Rolina’ but differs in that the flower color is a soft pink (RHS #55B) compared to the purple and apricot colors of ‘Rupert’ and ‘Rolina’ respectively. The flower form of ‘Riana’ is hyacinth-like with spreading tips compared to the tubular form of ‘Rolina’. The maroon (RHS #60A) spots on the leaves of the ‘Riana’ plant are furthermore more pronounced in that they have a good contrast compared to the low contrast found in ‘Rupert’.

The ‘Rupert’ flower tips are furthermore purple, whereas ‘Riana’ flowers have cream-yellow (RHS #4C) tips.

‘Rolina’ has much taller inflorescence than ‘Riana’ and leaf spots in ‘Riana’ are more pronounced.

Riana was originally produced sexually from a cross between the two cultivars ‘Rupert’ and ‘Rolina’ as mentioned above. A specific seedling with number 2000/113/74 was selected from this cross and thereafter asexually propagated. The asexual progeny of this seedling is the cultivar ‘Riana’ 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 ‘Riana’ 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:	‘Riana’:	characteristics:
Attitude:	Semi-erect	‘Romaud’
Length:	Medium to long -
	25 cm
Width:	Medium to wide -
	5.7 cm
Ratio: length/width	Large	‘Rodelein’
	(elongated): 4.4:1
Shape:	Oblong	‘Romargo’
Color:	Green	‘Roinge’
	(RHS #141C)
Leaf color designation for	Green (RHS
lower sides of the leaf	#141C)
Shape in cross section:	Angular	‘Robyn’, ‘Romelia’
Recurving of margin:	Absent	‘Eliza’, ‘Rodelein’
Undulation of margin:	Absent	‘Romelia’
Blistering and pubescence	Absent	‘Rodelein’, ‘Rosabeth’
of upper side:
Spots on upper side:	Present (Maroon	‘Bontrok’, ‘Roinge’,
	color) (RHS	‘Rosabeth’
	#60A)
Number of spots per leaf	Amount differs
	from plant to
	plant, no exact
	number of spots
	per leaf
Size of spots on upper side:	Large	‘Eliza’, ‘Roklara’
	(Between 0.3-1.5
	cm)
Density of spots on upper side:	Medium	‘Roinge’, ‘Rosabeth’
Intensity of spots on upper	Light to medium
side:
Markings on outer side of leaf	Present	‘Roinge’, ‘Rozanne’
base:

• Peduncle:

		Variety having
	Description of	similar
Characteristic:	‘Riana’:	characteristics:
Length:	Medium - 17 cm	‘Rosabeth’
Peduncle color designation	Purplish (RHS
	#53B)
Spots or markings:	Present	‘Bontrok’, ‘Rosabeth’
Coloration of peduncle spots	Purplish (RHS
	#53B)
Size of spots or markings:	Large (some cover	‘Roinge’, ‘Roline’
	the entire stem)
Density of spots or markings:	Dense, covers the	‘Roinge’
	peduncle: spots
	may be as close as
	0.2 mm, but may
	differ

• Bud:

Characteristic: Description of ‘Riana’:
Color           Light pink (RHS #55C) with green (RHS
                #150B) tips

• Inflorescense:

			Variety having
		Description of	similar
	Characteristic:	‘Riana’:	characteristics:
	Length:	Medium to long -
		22 cm
	Rudimentary apex:	Conspicuous	‘Ronette’
	Number of flowers:	Many	‘Romaud’, ‘Sonni’
		(40+ flowers)

• Flower:

		Variety having
	Description of	similar
Characteristic:	‘Riana’:	characteristics:
Description of floral organs	Inflorescence
	containing
	individual tubular
	flowers with
	spreading tips
	attached with
	pedicels to the
	peduncle
Attitude:	Horizontal	‘Robyn’, ‘Romargo’
Pedicel:	Present	‘Romelia’
Length of pedicel:	Short to medium
	(2-3 millimeter
	(mm))
Length of flower:	Medium - 2.7 cm	‘Lizette’, ‘Rolene’,
		‘Sonni’
Diameter excluding apex:	Medium - 0.8 cm	‘Romargo’, ‘Romelia’,
		‘Rosabeth’
Diameter at apex:	Large - 1.9 cm	‘Romelia’, ‘Sonni’
Attitude of distal part of inner	Spreading	‘Rozanne’
perianth segments
Glossiness:	Absent
Predominant color:	Soft pink	‘Rozanne’, ‘Winsome’
	(RHS #55B)
Intensity of predominant color:	Medium to strong
Outer perianth segment: color	Red-purple
of basal part just before	(plum) (RHS
opening of flower	#70B of RHS
	color chart, 2nd
	edition, 1986)
Outer perianth segment: color	Red-purple (RHS
of basal part of fully opened	#70C 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	Cream-yellow
of apex if clearly different	(RHS #4C)
from other part
Inner perianth segment:	Present	‘Ronette’
distinct spot in middle of apex
Inner perianth segment: color	Similar	‘Biedou’, ‘Rupert’
of margin of apex relative to
other part
Inner perianth segment: color	Other (light pink)	‘Leipoldt’, ‘Louis’
of differently colored margin	(RHS #55C)
of apex
Inner perianth segment:	Cream-yellow
predominant color of exposed	(RHS #4C)
part (excluding differently
colored margin of apex)
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:	Medium -	‘Louis’, ‘Rozanne’
	flowering time
	vary from June to
	July (Southern
	Hemisphere)
Duration of flowering:	Long	‘Romelia’, ‘Rosabeth’
	(up to 2 and a
	half months)

• Others:

Characteristic:                 Description of ‘Riana’:
Description of the bulb         Cream/white (color designation - RHS
including size and color of the #158B)
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 ‘Riana’ as illustrated and described herein.