Raspberry plant named ‘Elegance’

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct everbearing variety of raspberry plant named ‘ELEGANCE’. The new variety is primarily adapted to the growing conditions of the central coast of California and is characterized by the following: firm, glossy medium-red fruit of conic shape, even color, and very good flavor. Foliage is slightly to strongly concave, medium green; possessing medium to strong rugosity and mostly 3-foliate. Primocanes have a weak waxy coat, medium thorn density, and weak anthocyanin coloration. Time of production of the floricane crop is early.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: Rubus idaeus.

Variety denomination: ‘ELEGANCE’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct fall bearing raspberry variety designated as ‘ELEGANCE’. This new variety is a result of a controlled cross made in 2001 between raspberry variety ‘PS-1703’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,151) and raspberry variety ‘PS-1720’ (unpatented) in an ongoing breeding program. The variety is botanically known as Rubus idaeus.

The seedling resulting from the aforementioned cross was asexually propagated by dormant canes in Santa Cruz County, Calif., and was subsequently selected by the inventors from a controlled breeding plot in Watsonville, Calif. in 2003. After its selection, the new variety was further asexually propagated by dormant canes, roots and non-dormant root shoot cuttings in Santa Cruz County, Calif., San Joaquin County, Calif. and Siskiyou County, Calif. The new variety was then extensively tested over the next several years in fruiting fields in Santa Cruz County, Calif. This propagation has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein as characterizing the new variety are fixed and remain true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

‘ELEGANCE’ is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary year-round temperatures required for it to produce and maintain a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from July through December on primocanes and in the ensuing year from May through July on the floricanes. The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be unique characteristics of ‘ELEGANCE’, which in combination distinguish this raspberry plant as a new and distinct variety:

• • 1. Early floricane time of fruiting;
  • 2. Weak primocane glaucosity;
  • 3. Light brown floricane color;
  • 4. Predominant leaflet number of 3; and
  • 5. Strong fruit gloss.

The raspberry varieties that are believed to be most closely related to the new raspberry variety ‘ELEGANCE’ are the raspberry variety ‘PS-1049’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,142), and the parental, raspberry variety ‘PS-1703’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,151). In comparison to the similar raspberry varieties ‘PS-1049’ and ‘PS-1703’, ‘ELEGANCE’ differs by the following combination of characteristics described in Table 1:

TABLE 1
		‘PS-1049’	‘PS-1703’
Characteristic	‘ELEGANCE’	(US PP10,142)	(US PP15,151)
1. Primocane waxy coat	Weak	Strong	Ranges from
(glaucosity)			medium to strong
2. Predominate number of	Mostly 3	Equal 3-5	Mostly 5
leaflets
3. Floricane time of fruiting	Early	Medium	Medium
4. Floricane color	RHS 161C	RHS 166C	RHS 164A
	Greyed-yellow	Greyed-orange	Greyed-orange
	group	group	group
5. Primocane lateral length (cm)	25.8	35.6	48.8
6. Primocane % of cane length	37%	42%	52%
fruiting
7. Primocane color	RHS 145A	RHS 154C	RHS 145D
	Yellow-green	Yellow-green	Yellow-green
	group	group	group
8. Color mature fruit	RHS 47B	RHS 46A	RHS 53A
	Red group	Red group	Red group
9. Gloss mature fruit	Strong	Medium	Strong

For identification, a series of AFLP molecular markers have been determined for this new variety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The accompanying color photographs illustrate the overall appearance of typical specimens of the new raspberry variety, ‘ELEGANCE’ at various stages of development as true as reasonably possible with color reproductions of this type. Color in the photographs may differ slightly from the color value cited in the detailed botanical description which accurately describes the color of ‘ELEGANCE’. The depicted plant and plant parts of the new raspberry variety ‘ELEGANCE’ were taken in Watsonville, Calif. and are approximately 2 to 16 months old:

FIG. 1. shows typical primocane foliage and fruit color; foliate and rugosity characteristics of ‘ELEGANCE’, taken in the month of August 2008;

FIG. 2 shows typical primocane foliage and fruit color; foliate and rugosity characteristics of ‘ELEGANCE’, taken in the month of September 2008;

FIG. 3 shows typical harvested fruit of ‘ELEGANCE’, taken in the month of July 2009; and

FIG. 4 shows typical dormant cane color characteristics of ‘ELEGANCE’, taken in the month of February 2007.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

‘ELEGANCE’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The characteristics of the new variety may vary in detail, depending upon variations in environmental factors, including weather (temperature, humidity and light intensity), day length, soil type, and location.

The aforementioned photographs, together with the following description of the new raspberry variety ‘ELEGANCE’, unless otherwise noted, are based upon observations taken during the 2008 to 2009 growing season in Watsonville, Calif. Primocane measurements and ratings were taken from plants of ‘ELEGANCE’ dug from a nursery located in Siskiyou County, Calif. during the middle of October 2007 and planted approximately 7 to 8 weeks later in Watsonville, Calif. The approximate age of the observed primocane plants is 7 to 8 months. Floricane measurements and ratings were taken from the same planting of ‘ELEGANCE’ at an approximate age of 16 to 18 months. Yield observations and fruit quality characteristics are averaged from three years of data collected from the 2006 through 2008 production seasons. Flower measurements and characteristics are from secondary flowers unless otherwise noted. Fruit characteristics and measurements are from secondary fruit unless otherwise noted. Foliage characteristics and measurements are from 3-foliate foliage unless otherwise noted.

Color terminology where noted follows The R.H.S. Colour Chart, Royal Horticultural Society, London, England 2007.

The following Tables 2-6 describe fruit, plant, foliage, flower and pest/disease characteristics of the new raspberry ‘ELEGANCE’ in comparison to the similar raspberry varieties ‘PS-1049’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,142) and ‘PS-1703’ (patented, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,151).

TABLE 2
FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-1049’	‘PS-1703’
Characteristic	‘ELEGANCE’	(US PP10,142)	(US PP15,151)
Color mature fruit	RHS 47B	RHS 46A	RHS 53A
	Red group	Red group	Red group
Color achenes	RHS 164D	RHS 164D	RHS 164D
	Greyed-orange	Greyed-orange	Greyed-orange
	group	group	group
Fruit Length (cm)	1.9	1.9	2.0
Fruit Width (cm)	1.8	1.8	1.9
Length/Width Ratio	1.0	1.1	1.1
	Slightly longer	Slightly longer	Slightly longer
	than broad	than broad	than broad
Seed weight (mg)	1.4	1.5	1.5
Druplets per berry	70	73	78
Fruit size	Medium	Medium	Medium
Predominant shape	Conical	Conical	Conical
Evenness of color	Even	Even	Even
Glossiness	Strong	Medium	Strong
Adherence to	Weak to medium	Weak	Weak
receptacle
Firmness of flesh	Very firm	Very firm	Firm
Firmness of skin	Very firm	Very firm	Medium
Soluble Solids	9.5	9.2	10.3
(% brix)
Flavor	Very Good	Good	Excellent

TABLE 3
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-1049’	‘PS-1703’
Characteristic	‘ELEGANCE’	(US PP10,142)	(US PP15,151)
General:
Habit	Upright	Semi-upright	Semi-upright
Size	Medium	Medium	Medium
Productivity	Medium to high	Medium to high	High
Self fruitfulness	Yes	Yes	Yes
Type of bearing	Everbearing	Everbearing	Everbearing
Primocane:
Color	RHS 145A	RHS 154C	RHS 145D
	Yellow-green	Yellow-green	Yellow-green
	group	group	group
Length (m)	1.9	1.7	1.6
Basal diameter (mm)	12.1	14.8	12.4
Diameter central 1/3 (mm)	11.0	11.9	11.4
Lateral length (cm)	25.8	35.6	48.8
No. fruiting laterals	20	16	19
per cane
% of cane length fruiting	37%	42%	52%
Internode length at	5.8	5.2	4.8
central 1/3 (cm)
Anthocyanin coloration	RHS 59B	RHS 59C	RHS 59B
Anthocyanin intensity	Weak	Weak to medium	Medium to strong
Pubescence	Absent	Absent	Absent
Length of vegetative bud	Short	Medium to short	Medium to short
Strength of waxy coat	Weak	Strong	Ranges from
			medium to strong
Time of flowering	Medium	Medium	Early
Time of fruiting	Medium	Medium	Early
Length of fruiting season	Long	Long	Long
% of total yield	42%	47%	47%
Flowering period	Late June to	Late June to	Early June to
	late November	late November	late November
Harvest period	Late July to	Late July to	Early July to
	late December	late December	late December
Primocane fruit weight (g)	2.6	2.6	2.9
Primocane yield (g/plant)	1,587	1,862	2,241
Young Shoots:
Number	Medium	Medium	Medium
Anthocyanin coloration	Present	Present	Present
Anthocyanin intensity	Weak to	Very weak to	Weak to
	medium	weak	medium
Thorns:
Color	RHS 59B	RHS 59B	RHS 59B
	Red-purple	Red-purple	Red-purple
	group	group	group
Length at central 1/3 (mm)	1.5	2.4	1.8
Presence on cane	Present	Present	Present
Density on cane	Medium	Medium	Medium to dense
Texture	Rigid	Rigid	Rigid
Attitude of the tip	Horizontal	Horizontal	Horizontal
Floricane:
Color	RHS 161C	RHS 166C	RHS 164A
	Greyed-yellow	Greyed-orange	Greyed-orange
	group	group	group
Length (M)	1.5	1.3	1.3
Length vegetative bud	Short	Medium to short	Medium to short
Strength of waxy coat	Weak	Strong	Ranges from
(glaucosity)			medium to strong
Fruiting lateral attitude	Erect to semi-	Erect to semi-	Horizontal to
	erect	erect	drooping
Time of bud burst	Medium-Early	Medium	Medium
Time of flowering	Medium-Early	Medium	Medium
Time of fruiting	Early	Medium	Medium
Length of fruiting season	Medium to long	Medium to long	Medium to long
% of total yield	58%	53%	53%
Flowering period	Late March to	Late April to	Mid April to
	Late June	Late June	Late June
Harvest period	Mid April to	Late May to	Early May to
	Late July	Late July	Late July
Floricane fruit weight (g)	2.7	2.5	2.9
Floricane yield (g/plant)	2,199	2,145	2,497

TABLE 4
FOLIAGE CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-1049’	‘PS-1703’
	‘ELEGANCE’	(US PP10,142)	(US PP15,151)
Characteristic	(3 Foliate)	(3 Foliate)	(5 Foliate)
General:
Color of upper surface	RHS 139A	RHS 138A	RHS N137A
	Green group	Green group	Green group
Color of lower surface	RHS 190B	RHS 190C	RHS 190B
	Greyed-green	Greyed-green	Greyed-green
	group	group	group
Shape in cross section	Ranges from	Slightly concave	Ranges from
	slightly concave to		slightly convex to
	strongly concave		slightly concave
Arrangement	Compound	Compound	Compound
Relief between veins	Medium to strong	Medium	Medium to strong
Glossiness	Weak	Weak	Medium
Number of leaflets/leaf	Mostly 3	Equal 3-5	Mostly 5
Terminal Leaflet:
Length(cm)	11.1	12.2	10.7
Width (cm)	7.2	8.0	5.3
Length/Width Ratio	1.5	1.5	2.0
	Longer than broad	Longer than broad	Much longer than
			broad
Size	Medium to large	Medium to large	Medium to small
Shape	Lobed cordate	Cordate	Lobed oblique
Shape of base	Cordate	Cordate	Acute
Shape of tip	Acuminate	Acuminate	Acuminate
Margins	Biserrate	Biserrate	Biserrate
Lateral Leaflet:
Length (cm)	9.2	9.9	9.5
Width (cm)	5.6	6.1	5.5
Rachis length (cm)	1.6	2.8	1.7
Orientation	Opposite	Opposite	Opposite
Arrangement	Compound	Compound	Compound
Shape	Ovate	Ovate	Oblique
Overlapping	Touching	Touching	Free
Shape of the base	Acute obtuse	Oblique rounded	Acute oblique
Shape of the tip	Acuminate	Acuminate	Acuminate
Margins	Biserrate	Biserrate	Biserrate
Petiole:
Length (cm)	3.9	4.4	5.3
Width (mm)	2.7	2.4	2.7
Thorn presence	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thorn orientation	Erect	Erect	Erect
Anthocyanin coloration	Red-purple	Red-purple	Greyed-purple
of upper surface	RHS 60A	RHS 58A	RHS 187B
Intensity of anthocyanin	Weak	Weak	Strong
coloration
Pigmentation of	Yellow-green	Yellow-green	Yellow-green
lower surface	RHS 145B	RHS 145C	RHS 145C
Stipule length (cm)	0.9	0.9	0.9
Stipule orientation	Erect	Erect	Erect

TABLE 5
FLOWER CHARACTERISTICS
		‘PS-1049’	‘PS-1703’
Characteristic	‘ELEGANCE’	(US PP10,142)	(US PP15,151)
Petal color	RHS 155C	RHS 155C	RHS 155C
	White group	White group	White group
Flower diameter (cm)	1.6	1.8	1.5
Petal Length (mm)	6.4	6.1	6.0
Petalwidth(mm)	3.2	3.1	3.0
Petal length/width	2.0	2.0	2.0
ratio	Much longer	Much longer	Much longer
	than broad	than broad	than broad
No. petals/flower	5.2	5.1	5.3
No. sepals/flower	5.2	5.1	5.3
Pedicel no. spines	Many	Many	Medium
Peduncle anthocyanin	Present	Present	Present
presence
Peduncle anthocyanin	RHS 60A	RHS 59C	RHS 187C
color	Red-purple	Red-purple	Greyed-purple
	group	group	group
Peduncle anthocyanin	Weak	Very weak	Weak
intensity

TABLE 6
PEST AND DISEASE REACTIONS
		‘PS-1049’	‘PS-1703’
Characteristic	‘ELEGANCE’	(US PP10,142)	(US PP15,151)
Two spotted spider	Susceptible	Susceptible	Susceptible
mite
Grey fruit mold	Susceptible	Susceptible	Susceptible
Powdery mildew	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	Susceptible	Susceptible	Susceptible
Yellow rust	Moderately	Moderately	Moderately
	Resistant	Susceptible	Resistant

Claims

1. A new and distinct Rubus idaeus variety of raspberry plant named ‘ELEGANCE’, as herein described and illustrated by the characteristics set forth above.