USPP25360P3

USPP25360P3 - Zoysiagrass named ‘LR2’

Info

Publication number: USPP25360P3
Application number: US13/986,623
Authority: US
Inventors: David Doguet; Virginia Lehman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Bladerunner Farms Inc
Priority date: 2013-05-20
Filing date: 2013-05-20
Publication date: 2015-03-17
Also published as: US20140345023P1

Abstract

An asexually reproduced variety of perennial zoysiagrass with a unique combination of morphological characters including medium leaf blade width, low canopy height, and medium stiff leaf texture.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The present invention relates to the genus and species Zoysia japonica (L.) Merr.

Variety denomination: ‘LR2’.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

“Not Applicable”

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

“Not Applicable”

REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX

“Not Applicable”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a new and distinct asexually reproduced variety of perennial zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica (L.)) Merr.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Background of the Invention

This invention relates to a new and distinct perennial zoysiagrass cultivar identified as ‘LR2’ zoysiagrass (herein referred to as ‘LR2’). The inventors, David L. Doguet and Virginia G. Lehman, discovered ‘LR2’ under cultivated conditions near Poteet, Tex. in a collection of seedling plants originating from field grown open pollinated crosses between ‘VJay’ (unpatented), ‘6136’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,808), and ‘JaMur’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178) Zoysia plants. ‘LR2’ was identified in 2005 as a distinctly different vegetative patch or clonal plant differing from the surrounding plants in a medium leaf texture, sparse flowering, low natural crown height, short internode lengths and a rapid lateral growth rate. The inventors asexually reproduced ‘LR2’ by taking vegetative cuttings of stolons and rhizomes, cutting the rhizomes and stolons into segments, each with a vegetative bud, and rooting them in potting media.

For purposes of registration under the “International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants” (generally known by its French acronym as the UPOV Convention) and noting Section 1612 of the Manual of Plant Examining Procedure, it is proposed that the title of the invention is zoysiagrass plant named ‘LR2’.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. 1. Tiller of ‘LR2’ zoysiagrass.

FIG. 2. Inflorescence of ‘LR2’ zoysiagrass.

COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

‘LR2’ was characterized in greenhouse and field conditions. ‘LR2’ is a unique variety of zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica (L.)) Merr. that was discovered under cultivated conditions. The inventors, David L. Doguet and Virginia G. Lehman, discovered ‘LR2’ under cultivated conditions near Poteet, Tex. in a collection of seedling plants originating from field grown open pollinated crosses between ‘VJay’ (unpatented), ‘6136’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,808), and ‘JaMur’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178) Zoysia plants. ‘LR2’ was identified in 2005 as a distinctly different vegetative patch or clonal plant differing from the surrounding plants in a medium leaf texture, sparse flowering, low natural crown height, short internode lengths and a rapid lateral growth rate. The plants were located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8. The inventors asexually reproduced ‘LR2’ by taking vegetative cuttings of stolons and rhizomes, cutting the rhizomes and stolons into segments, each with a vegetative bud, and rooting them in potting media. Planting of the rooted material provided planting stock for studying performance and for comparison of morphological characters after propagation. ‘LR2’ has been propagated by rhizomes, stolons, tillers, and sod. Asexually reproduced plants of ‘LR2’ have remained stable and true to type through successive generations of propagation. No seedling establishment from ‘LR2’ has been noticed in either greenhouse or field studies.

‘LR2’ is a perennial zoysiagrass that spreads by both stolons and rhizomes. Characteristics of ‘LR2’ measured in 2013 were taken from plants that were approximately 12 months in age. The greenhouse was located near Lebanon, Oreg., with a nighttime low temperature of 50 degrees F., and daytime high of 80 degrees F., and a minimum soil temperature of 77 degrees F. The plants were grown with a minimum 14-hour day length, supplemented with photosynthetically active radiation equivalent to approximately 50% sunlight. The plants were fertilized with the equivalent of 1 pound of actual N per month, using a soluble fertilizer of 20-20-20 in two equal soluble applications per month.

‘LR2’ has a medium leaf texture with a leaf length shorter than ‘Cavalier’ and ‘Zorro’ (Table 1). ‘LR2’ has an absence of leaf hairs versus ‘Palisades’, ‘Zorro’, ‘Crowne’, and ‘Cavalier’ which each have many leaf surface hairs (Table 2). ‘LR2’ has a thicker youngest stolon node and shorter stolon internode lengths than ‘Diamond’ (Table 3). ‘LR2’ has a shorter unmown canopy height than ‘Cavalier’ or ‘Zorro’ (Table 4), and has a distinctive leaf height as a percentage of total canopy height that includes inflorescence height. The leaf height of ‘LR2’ is only 66% of the total canopy height, whereas the leaf length of ‘Cavalier’ extends beyond the inflorescence height.

‘LR2’ has not shown susceptibility to the zoysiagrass mite when tested at Poteet, Tex., where susceptible varieties have shown the coachwhip leaf symptoms of the mite. ‘LR2’ has shown good turfgrass performance and temperature adaptation when tested as far north as Athens, Ga., USDA hardiness zone 8a, which would extend the area of adaptation for ‘LR2’ in a line from northern Georgia across central Texas in an East/West line and on a North/South line from Atlanta, south through Mexico. ‘LR2’ will be limited only by winter survival in colder regions. ‘LR2’ is similar to most medium textured zoysiagrasses in water use demands as shown in test situations near Poteet, Tex., ‘LR2’ is adapted from sandy to heavier loam soil textures and from slightly acid to slightly alkaline soil pH.

TABLE 1

Leaf blade widths and lengths and texture class of
selected zoysiagrass cultivars, measured under
greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2012-2013.

		Length,
		2nd	Width, 2nd
		youngest	youngest crown	Leaf
	Leaf	crown leaf	leaf	Texture
Variety	Stiffness	--cm--	--mm--	Class

‘LR2’	Medium	2.96	2.61	Medium
	Stiff
‘LR1’	Medium	3.67	3.27	Medium
	Stiff
‘LIF’	Very Soft	3.02	1.60	Medium
				Fine
‘Diamond’	Soft	2.50	1.40	Very Fine
‘Cavalier’	Medium	3.78	1.94	Medium
	Stiff			Fine
Zorro	Medium	4.30	1.74	Medium-
	Stiff			Coarse
Lsd,		1.03	0.24
p = 0.05

TABLE 2

Adaxial leaf hair presence or absence of selected zoysiagrass cultivars,
measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2012-2013.

		Leaf hair, adaxial
	Variety	Presence/Number

	‘LR2’	Absent
	‘Palisades’	Many
	‘Zorro’	Many
	‘Diamond’	Absent
	‘Royal’	Absent
	‘Crowne’	Many
	‘Cavalier’	Many

TABLE 3

Stolon characters of selected zoysiagrass cultivars, measured under
greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2012-2013.

	Thickness	Thickness	Stolon	Stolon
	1^st	2nd	Internode	Internode	Stolon
	youngest	youngest	length, 1^st	length,	Internode
	stolon	stolon	to 2^nd	2nd to ^3rd	length, 3rd
	node	node	node	node	to 4th node
Variety	-mm-	-mm-	-cm-	-cm-	-cm-

‘LR2’	1.93	1.89	0.89	0.91	0.90
‘Cavalier’	1.65	1.57	1.22	1.38	1.38
‘Diamond’	1.44	1.49	1.0	0.94	1.86
‘Zorro’	1.57	1.67	1.51	1.47	1.45
Lsd,	0.16	0.38	0.34	0.28	0.31
p = 0.05

TABLE 4

Leaf and canopy characters of selected zoysiagrass cultivars, measured
under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR, 2012-2013.

	Canopy	Width, 4th youngest	Leaf Height as %
	height	crown leaf	Total Height
Variety	--cm--	--mm--	--%--

‘LR2’	7.32	2.18	66
‘LR1’	6.62	2.69	75
‘LIF’	7.01	1.49	115
‘Diamond’	7.24	1.15
‘Cavalier’	10.8	1.55	115
‘Zorro’	11.09	1.41	95
Lsd, p = 0.05	1.76	0.71

COMPLETE BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

Origin: ‘LR2’ is a cultivar of a single clone discovered under cultivated conditions in a Poteet, Tex. planting of zoysiagrass clones derived from a collection of seedling plants originating from field grown open pollinated crosses between ‘VJay’ (unpatented), ‘6136’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,808), and ‘JaMur’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,178) Zoysia plants.
Classification: Zoysia japonica (L.) Merr.
Growth habit: ‘LR2’ is a perennial plant that spreads by stolons and rhizomes and produces a dense, medium textured turfgrass. The inflorescence of ‘LR2’ is a terminal spike-like raceme, with spikelets on short pedicels.
Leaf blade: Rolled in the bud, flat surface.
Leaf blade pubescence: No hairs on abaxial or adaxial leaf.
Leaf sheath pubescence: Absent except for long hairs at mouth of sheath.
- - ‘LR2’ mean length sheath mouth hairs.—1.1 mm; Diamond 1.0 mm.
Leaf blade margin: ‘LR2’=slight roughness; BM230=rough; Cavalier=mostly smooth.
Leaf blade veins: Obscure.
Leaf blade flexibility (softness): Medium stiff.
Vegetative leaf, 2nd youngest vegetative leaf:
- - Blade length range.—‘LR2’: 1.9 cm to 4.3 cm, mean length: 3.1 cm.
  - Blade width mean.—‘LR2’: 2.1 mm to 3.4 mm, mean width: 2.8 mm.
  - ‘Zorro’ mean width.—1.74 mm.
  - ‘Diamond’ mean width.—1.4 mm.
Sheath length, 4^thyoungest vegetative leaf:
- - Mean length ‘LR2’.—3.6 cm.
  - ‘Diamond’ mean length.—2.93 cm.
Stolon leaf angle, third youngest leaf: ‘LR2’: 65; ‘Cavalier’:76; ‘Diamond’: 52.
Inflorescence characters:
- - Culm total length, including floral area to node below flag leaf.—73.0 mm. Length of stem of inflorescence: 60.0 mm. Floral area length: 13.0 mm.
  - Culm width, stem thickness, base of floral area.—1.0 mm.
  - Anther length.—1.8 mm.
  - Floret (seed) length.—2.75 mm.
  - Floret (seed) width.—1.0 mm.
  - Node thickness, node below flag leaf.—0.75 mm.
  - Pedicel length.—1.25 mm.
  - Flag leaf length.—‘LR2’: 6 mm.
  - Flag leaf width.—‘LR2’: 1.0 mm.
Mature plant height, including inflorescence: 8 to 11 cm.
Color notations, vegetative characters, based on The R.H.S. Colour Chart (light quality, photoperiod, and general growth of the plants affect color notations):
- - Leaf blade color adaxial leaf surface.—137A green.
  - Leaf blade color abaxial leaf surface.—137A green.
  - Stolon color.—158A to 158C yellow-white, 164 D greyed orange.
Color notations, floral characters, based on The R.H.S. Colour Chart (light quality, photoperiod, and general growth of the plants affect color notations):
- - Culm stalk.—144A yellow green.
  - Stigma.—155A, 160C greyed yellow.
  - Anther color, fresh.—187A greyed purple.
  - Anthers, mature, dried.—164C, 164D greyed orange.
Turf quality (rated 1-9, 9 best): ‘LR2’: 7; ‘Meyer’: 5.


References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents

November 2002	Doguet, D.	U.S. Pat.	‘JaMur’ zoysiagrass
		No. 13,178.
June 2007	Doguet, D.	U.S. Pat.	‘6136’ zoysiagrass
		No. 17,808.
July 1997	Engelke, M.C.	U.S. Pat.	‘Cavalier’ zoysiagrass
		No. 10,778.
October 1998	Engelke, M.C.	U.S. Pat.	‘Diamond’ zoysiagrass
		No. 10,636.
October 2000	Engelke, M.C.	U.S. Pat.	‘Crowne’ zoysiagrass
		No. 11,570.
September 2000	Engelke, M.C.	U.S. Pat.	‘Palisades’ zoysiagrass
		No. 11,515
July 2002	Engelke, M.C.	U.S. Pat.	‘Zorro’ zoysiagrass
		No. 14,130.

Claims

We claim:

1. A new and distinct variety of zoysiagrass plant, substantially as described and illustrated herein, characterized particularly by a unique combination of morphological characters.