Patent Grant
PP32238
Latin name of the genus and species: Comptonia peregrina.
Variety denomination: ‘Blue Sea’.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Sweetfern plant, botanically known as Comptonia peregrina and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Blue Sea’. The plant is a woody-stemmed shrub whose common name is “Sweetfern.” This name is given because the plant's foliage resembles leaflets of some ferns and the plant emits an aroma similar to the smell of some ferns. Sweetfern is difficult to produce from seed and stem cuttings. Currently, rhizomes are harvested from the wild but produce an inferior highly variable crop, which does not meet the need of the growing demand. Also, rhizome division is labor intensive and yields relatively few plants. Current practices involving rhizomes result in an inferior product and irregular supply. The disclosed new and distinct Sweetfern cultivar ‘Blue Sea’ allows growers to reliably produce a uniform, high quality shrub product.
The new Sweetfern plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Storrs, Conn. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new uniform, dense, fine-textured Comptonia plants with blue-green foliage and good propagation and container performance. The new Sweetfern plant originated from an open-pollination in spring 2010 in Storrs, Conn., of an unnamed proprietary plant of Comptonia peregrina, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Comptonia peregrina as the male, or pollen, parent. Seedlings were evaluated from 2011 to 2016, and the new Sweetfern plant was discovered and selected by the Inventors during the spring of 2016 as a single plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in Storrs, Conn.
Asexual reproduction of the new Sweetfern plant by softwood shoot cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Storrs, Conn., since 2012 has shown that the unique features of this new Sweetfern plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The Inventors optimized propagation by cuttings to achieve ˜80% success. The cuttings were taken early in the growth cycle when shoots were first emerging following dormancy. Cuttings sourced from container plants in hoop houses were obtained in late March to early May and taken from recently expanded (in a young physiological state) shoots when the shoots had emerged and elongated to a length of 2 to 3 inches. The shoots were cut close to the stem from which it emerged. Wounding of the slender stems was not needed. The cuttings were dipped in indolebutyric acid (IBA) in talc at 3000 (Hormodin 2) or 8000 ppm (Hormodin 3) and stuck in 50 plug trays or another propagation container filled with media composed of 1:1:1 of peat:perlite:vermiculite and set in mist. The cuttings were provided with 30 to 50% shade when rooting. The cuttings rooted in 4 to 6 weeks and were then up-potted.
Plants of the new Sweetfern have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions and cultural practices. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environmental conditions such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘Blue Sea’: Grows 2 to 3 feet tall (˜60 cm to ˜90 cm) with a similar spread. Plants are densely branched with a mounded habit. Because the plant is rhizomatous and spreads by underground stems, the number of branches varies. A plant of 18 inches (46 cm) tall by 24 inches (60 cm) in diameter typically has 10 to 12 branches. The alternate simple leaves are linear (5 to 10 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm wide) with coarsely toothed margins. ‘Blue Sea’ exhibits uniformly dark green foliage with a blue cast to the foliage. The fine textured leaves are uniformly dark green with a blue tint. Plants are monoecious, but the inflorescences are small and not ornamentally significant. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘Blue Sea’ as a new and distinct Sweetfern plant:
Plants of the new Sweetfern can be compared to wild-type Sweetfern plants. Plants of the new Sweetfern differ from wild-type Sweetfern plants in the following characteristics:
The accompanying colored photographs illustrate the overall appearance of the new Sweetfern plant showing the colors as true as it is reasonably possible to obtain in colored reproductions of this type. Colors in the photographs may differ slightly from the color values cited in the detailed botanical description, which accurately describe the colors of the new Sweetfern plant.
The aforementioned photographs and following observations, measurements and values describe plants grown during summer in pots in an outdoor cold frame in Storrs, Conn. Plants used for the photographs and description were 3 years old. In the following detailed description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200053938 P1 | Feb 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62764585 | Aug 2018 | US |
