Patent Grant
PP36070
Botanical classification: x Mangave times x Agave hybrid.
Variety denomination: ‘Touch of Frost’.
No plants of x Mangave ‘Touch of Frost’ have been sold or offered for sale in this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made more than one year prior to the filing date of this application and such disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.
The present invention relates to the new and distinct x Mangave plant, x Mangave ‘Touch of Frost’ discovered on Feb. 11, 2021, by the inventor at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan, USA as a whole plant mutation of x Mangave ‘Frosted Elegance’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 32,289. Through trials at the same nursery, the plant was referred to by the breeder code 21-sp-MANG-1016C prior to naming. The new plant has been successfully asexually propagated by shoot tip tissue culture in 2024 at the same nursery in Zeeland, Michigan. This asexual propagation method has been found to produce stable and identical plants that maintain all the unique characteristics of the original plant in successive generations.
X Mangave ‘Touch of Frost’ differs from its parent as well as all other Manfreda, Agave, and x Mangave known to the applicant. The parent has a similar habit without the creamy-white marginal variegation on the leaves per plant. The new plant has glaucous blue-green margins and light blue-chartreuse center and a cream-white marginal variegation.
The most similar known X Mangave cultivar known to the inventor are: ‘Blue Dart’ (not patented), ‘Blazing Saddles’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,274, ‘Desert Dawn’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 32,330, ‘Racing Stripes’ U.S. Plant Pat. application No. 31,251, ‘Shadow Waltz’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,601 and ‘Painted Desert’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,630.
‘Blue Dart’ is a larger plant with broader foliage, the foliage is thicker, has brown marginal teeth and apical spine, and lacks the lighter blue-green center band. ‘Blazing Saddles’ has a larger habit with foliage that is broader, more lustrous, less glaucous leaves with reddish spotting in high light intensity. ‘Desert Dawn’ has a larger habit, broader foliage, smaller marginal teeth, and less glaucous foliage that is more solid greyed-purple with a purple center stripe in high ultraviolet light. ‘Racing Stripes’ has a larger habit, leaves that are shiny deep green on the margins and chartreuse-yellow in the center midrib, and the larger teeth and apical spine are yellowish as the leaf expands and develops a cinnamon color when mature. ‘Shadow Waltz’ has narrow arching leaves with broad dark green margins and light green to chartreuse center. ‘Painted Desert’ has a larger more horizontal habit, foliage with more flexible marginal teeth, and lacks the semi-flexible mucro at the leaf apex and also has greyed-purple spotting on the leaf surfaces. None of the above comparison varieties have the narrow creamy-white marginal variegation.
The new plant is unique from all of these variegated Agave, x Mangave and Manfredaknown to the inventor by the following combined traits:
The photograph of the new plant demonstrates the overall appearance of the new plant including the unique traits of a three-year-old plant grown in a container initially in a greenhouse with supplemental water and fertilizer as needed. The colors are as accurate as reasonably possible with color reproductions. Ambient light spectrum, temperature, source, and direction may cause the appearance of minor variations in color.
The following descriptions and color references are based on the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common dictionary terms are used. The new plant, x Mangave ‘Touch of Frost’, has not been observed under all possible environments.
The phenotype may vary slightly with different environmental conditions, such as temperature, light, fertility, moisture, and maturity levels, but without any change in the genotype. The following observations and size descriptions are of a three-year-old plant in a commercial wholesale greenhouse in Zeeland, Michigan with supplemental water and fertilizer as needed.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PP34270 | Hansen | May 2022 | P2 |
