USPP15438P2 - Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Maia’ - Google Patents

Abstract

A Chrysanthemum plant named 'Maia' characterized by its medium sized blooms with pink ray florets and prolific branching, natural season flower date August 18-23, blooming for a period of 5 weeks.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

‘Maia’ is a product of a breeding and selection program for outdoor pot mums (garden mums) which had the objective of creating new Chrysanthemum cultivars with a decorative type flower, a natural season flower date around August 18-23, blooming for a period of 5 weeks. The new plant of the present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant ‘Maia’ is a seedling resulting from the open pollination among groups of Chrysanthemum cultivars maintained under the control of the inventor for breeding purposes. The new and distinct cultivar was discovered and selected as one flowering plant by Mark Roland Boeder on a cultivated field in Rijsenhout Holland in August 2001. The plant has been asexually reproduced by cuttings in greenhouses at Rijsenhout Holland. The new cultivar has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention of a new and distinct variety of Chrysanthemum is shown in the accompanying drawings, the color being as nearly true as possible with color photographs of this type.

FIG. 1 shows a plant of the cultivar in full bloom.

FIG. 2 shows the various stages of bloom and foliage of the new cultivar.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The new variety of Chrysanthemum is of the botanical classification Chrysanthemum morifolium. The observations and measurements were gathered from plants grown out door in Rijsenhout, Holland under natural day length and temperature and planted in week 23 in 2002. The natural blooming date of this crop was August 18-23 (week 34). The average height of the plants was 35 cms. No growth retardants were used. No tests were done on disease or insect resistance or susceptibility. No tests were done on cold or drought tolerance. This new variety produces medium sized blooms with pink ray florets and a purple/yellow center blooming for a period of 5 weeks. From the cultivar known to inventor the most similar existing cultivar in comparison to ‘Maia’ is ‘Cefreya’ (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 10/316,870). When ‘Cefreya’ and ‘Maia’ are being compared the following differences are noticed. The differences of ‘Cefreya’ and ‘Maia’ are (1) Color of bloom. ‘Cefreya’ has salmon-coral colored ray florets, while those of ‘Maia’ are dark pink. (2) Longitudinal axis of majority of ray florets. The axis is reflexing to twisted in ‘Cefreya’, while it is straight in ‘Maia’.

The following is a description of the plant and characteristics that distinguish ‘Maia’ as a new and distinct variety. The color designations are taken from the plant itself. Accordingly, any discrepancies between the color designations and the colors depicted in the photographs are due to photographic tolerances. The color chart used in this description is: The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, edition 1995.

TABLE 1
Botanical Description of cultivar ‘Maia’

Bud
Size	Small; cross-section 0.8 cm, height 0.7 cm
Outside Color	Greyed-green 192A
Involucral bracts	2 rows, length 7 mm, width 3 mm
Involucral bracts among	Not present
disc-florets
Involucral bracts color	Greyed-green 194A
Bloom
Type	Decorative
Size	medium
Fully Expanded	6 cm
Peduncle length	9 cm
Peduncle color	Green 138B
Number of blooms per	Approx. 9 blooms per branch
branch
Performance on the plant	5 weeks
Seeds	Produced in small quantities, ovate grey-
	brown 199A, 1½ mm in length.
Fragrance	Typical chrysanthemum, slightly
Color
Center of the flower	Immature Red-purple 60B
	Mature Yellow 13A
Color of upper surface of	Red-purple 60D to Greyed-purple 186B
the ray-florets
Color of the lower surface	Greyed-purple 186D
of the ray-florets
Tonality from Distance	A garden mum with pink flowers
Color of upper surface	Greyed-purple 186C
ray florets at
aging of the plant
Ray florets
Texture	Upper and under side smooth
Number	120-140
Cross-section	Flat
Longitudinal axis of	Straight
majority
Length of corolla tube	0.5 cm
Ray-floret margin	Entire
Ray-floret length	3.1 cm
Ray-floret width	0.8 cm
Ratio length/width	Medium
Shape of tip	Rounded
Disc florets
Disc diameter	0.5 cm
Distribution of disc	Few, present only in mature stage
florets
Shape	Tubular
Color	Yellow-green 145C
Receptacle shape	Conical raised
Reproductive Organs
Stamen	Present in disc florets only
Stamen color	Yellow-green 144A
Pollen	Produced in small amount
Pollen color	Yellow 7A
Styles	Thick
Style color	Yellow 13A
Style Length	4 mm
Stigma color	Yellow-green 144A
Stigma Width	1 mm
Ovaries	Enclosed in calyx
Plant
Form	A garden mum outdoor mounded and round
Growth habit	Spreading
Growth rate	High
Height	35 cm
Width	40 cm
Stem Color	Yellow-green 148B with streaks of
	Greyed-red 182B
Stem Strength	Strong
Stem Brittleness	Not brittle
Stem Anthocyanin	Present
Coloration
Internode length	2.5 cm
Length of lateral branch	From top to bottom 18 cm
Lateral branch color	Yellow-green 147C with streaks of
	Greyed-red 182B
Lateral branch, attachment	Strong
Branching (average number	Good with 10 breaks after pinching
of lateral branches)
Natural season blooming	August 18-23
date
Foliage
Leaf color	Upper side Green 138A
	Under side Green 138B
Color midvein	Upper side Yellow-green 145C
	Under side Yellow-green 147D
Size	Small; length 4.5 cm, width 2.8 cm
Quantity (number per	16-18
lateral branch)
Shape	Obovate
Texture upper side	Glabrous
Texture under side	Pubescent
Venation arrangement	Palmate
Shape of the margin	Serrated
Shape of Base of Sinus	Rounded
Between Lateral Lobes
Margin of Sinus Between	Diverging
Lateral Lobes
Shape of Base	Obtuse
Apex	Mucronate
Petiole length	1 cm
Petiole color	Yellow-green 145C

TABLE 2
Differences with the comparison variety

	‘Maia’	‘Cefreya’

Color of the upper surface of	Red-purple 60D	Red 37B
the ray florets
Longitidunal axis of majority	Straight	Reflexing to twisted
of ray florets

Claims (1)

I claim:

1. A new and distinct variety of Chrysanthemum plant as described and illustrated.

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