USPP18533P3 - Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Achilles’ - Google Patents

Abstract

A chrysanthemum plant named ‘Achilles’ characterized by its medium sized blooms with yellow-bronze ray florets and prolife branching; natural season flowering date August 16; blooming for a period of 5 weeks.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

‘Achilles’ 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 single, spoon type flower, a natural season flowering date around August 16; blooming for a period of 5 weeks. The new plant of the present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of chrysanthemum plant. ‘Achilles’ is a seedling resulting from a crossing program, set up by a previous breeder, and which records are unknown to the inventor. The new and distinct cultivar was discovered and selected as a flowering plant by Mark Roland Boeder on a cultivated field in Rijsenhout, The Netherlands in 2001. The first act of asexual production of ‘Achilles’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in 2001 and propagated further in a controlled environment in Rijsenhout, The Netherlands. 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 of the new cultivar.

FIG. 3 shows the various stages of foliage of the new cultivar.

The plant shown in the photographic drawings was thirteen (13) weeks old when those photographs were taken.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This new variety of chrysanthemum is of the botanical classification Chrysanthemum morifolium L. The observations and measurements were gathered from plants grown out door in Rijsenhout, The Netherlands under natural day length and temperature and planted in week 24 in 2004. The natural blooming date of this crop was August 16-21 (week 34). The average height of the plants was 27 cm. 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 yellow-bronze ray florets blooming for a period of 5 weeks.

From the cultivars known to inventor the most similar existing cultivar in comparison to ‘Achilles’ is ‘Mars’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,678). When ‘Mars’ and ‘Achilles’ are being compared the following differences are noticed: The differences of ‘Mars’ and ‘Achilles’ are (1). Natural flowering date; (2). Ray-floret type; and (3). Ray-floret color. (1) The natural season blooming of ‘Mars’ occurs later than that of ‘Achilles’. (2) Both varieties have single type flowers, but the major part of the ray-florets of ‘Achilles’ is fused into a long corolla tube, leading to the appearance of spoon type flowers. (3) The orange color of the ray-florets of ‘Mars’ is more bright than that of ‘Achilles’.

The following is a description of the plant and characteristics that distinguish ‘Achilles’ 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 chrysanthemum plant ‘Achilles’

Bud
Size	Small; cross-section 0.5 cm, height 0.5
	cm
Outside Color	Yellow-green 145D
Involucral bracts	2 rows, length 7 mm, width 3 mm
Involucral bracts among disc-	Not present
florets
Involucral bracts color	Green 138A
Bloom
Type	Single, spoon
Height	1.5 cm
Size	Medium
Fully Expanded	4.5 cm
Peduncle length	7 cm
Peduncle color	Green 138B
Number of blooms per	Approx. 8 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 Yellow-orange 14A
	Mature Yellow-orange 15A
Color of upper surface of the	Greyed-orange 173C-175C, blending to
ray-florets	Yellow 13C at tip
Color of the lower surface	Greyed-orange 165C-167C
of the ray-florets
Tonality from Distance	A garden mum with yellow-bronze
	flowers
Color of the ray-florets after	Greyed-orange 165C to Greyed-yellow
aging of the plant	162C
Ray florets
Texture	Upper and under side smooth
Number	120-140
Cross-section	Spatulate to convex at tip
Longitudinal axis of	Straight
majority
Length of corolla tube	1.5 cm
Ray-floret margin	Entire
Ray-floret length	2 cm
Ray-floret width	0.2-0.3 cm
Ratio length/width	High
Shape of tip	Rounded
Disc florets
Disc diameter	0.5-0.7 cm
Distribution of disc florets	Numerous
Shape	Tubular
Color	Yellow 11D
Receptacle shape	Domed raised
Reproductive Organs
Stamen	Present in disc florets only
Stamen color	Yellow-green 144A
Pollen	Present
Pollen color	Yellow 7A
Styles	Thick
Style color	Yellow 13A
Style Length	0.4 cm
Stigma color	Yellow-green 144A
Stigma Width	1 mm
Ovaries	Enclosed in calyx
Plant
Form	Grown as a spray type potmum, outdoor
	mounded and round
Growth habit	Spherical shape
Growth rate	Moderate
Height	27 cm
Width	25 cm
Stem Color	Yellow-green 147B with streaks of
	Greyed-red 182B
Stem Strength	Weak
Stem Brittleness	Brittle
Stem Anthocyanin Coloration	Present
Internode length	2.5 cm
Length of lateral branch	From top to bottom 15-16 cm
Lateral branch color	Yellow-green 147B-C
Lateral branch, attachment	Medium strength
Branching (average number	Good with 5-6 breaks after pinching
of lateral branches)
Natural season blooming date	August 16-September 20
Foliage
Leaf color	Upper side Green 139 A-B
	Lower side Green 139C
Color midvein	Upper side Yellow-green 147D
	Lower side Yellow-green 148C
Size	Small.; length 3-5 cm, width 2-3 cm
Quantity (number per lateral	25-30
branch)
Shape	Elliptic
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	Mucronulate
Petiole length	0.5-1 cm
Petiole color	Yellow-green 147D

TABLE 2
Differences with the comparison variety

	‘Achilles’	‘Mars’

Natural season blooming date	August 16-21	September 6-11
Length corolla tube of ray-florets	1.5 cm	0.3 cm
Color upper surface ray-florets	Greyed-orange	Yellow-orange 22B
	173C to 175C

Claims (1)

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

Images