USPP30578P2 - Strawberry plant named ‘Keepsake’ - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of strawberry named ‘Keepsake’. The new cultivar is primarily characterized by the superior shelf life of the fruit and by the sweetness of the fruit.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: ‘Keepsake’ is a new strawberry plant that is Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier.

Variety denomination: The new strawberry plant claimed is of the variety denominated ‘Keepsake’ Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier.

BACKGROUND OF THE NEW PLANT

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry cultivar designated ‘Keepsake’ and botanically known as Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier. This new strawberry cultivar was discovered in Beltsville, Md., in Spring 2007 and originated from a cross between the female parent B1031 (unpatented) and the male parent B1181 (unpatented). The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated in Beltsville since 2007 by rooting daughter plants from stolons of a mother plant. The present invention has been found to be stable and reproduce true to type through successive asexual propagations rooting daughter plants from stolons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS

This new strawberry plant is illustrated by the accompanying photographs that show the flowers, fruit and entire plants; the colors shown are as true as can be reasonably obtained by conventional photographic procedures.

FIG. 1 shows shows ‘Keepsake’ plants, with 30.5 cm spacing, in annual plasticulture.

FIG. 2 shows a single ‘Keepsake’ plant.

FIG. 3 shows a single ‘Keepsake’ flowering truss.

FIG. 4 shows typical ‘Keepsake’ detached flowers.

FIG. 5 shows typical ‘Keepsake’ fruit at various ripening stages.

FIG. 6 shows a container of ‘Keepsake’ fruit.

FIG. 7 shows typical halved ‘Keepsake’ fruits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW CULTIVAR

The following description of ‘Keepsake’ is based on observations taken from the 2008 through 2018 growing seasons in evaluations in Beltsville, Md. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from the stated values and descriptions, depending on variation in environmental, seasonal, climatic, and cultural conditions. ‘Keepsake’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The botanical description of ‘Keepsake’ was taken from plants nine months after establishment in the field. Color terminology follows The Royal Horticultural Society Colour chart, London (RHS86).

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

Table 1 shows selected characteristics of the new cultivar compared with plant characteristics of ‘Flavorfest’, the closest comparable commercial cultivar. Characteristics include density of individual plant, anther count, pose of calyx segments, size of calyx in relation to fruit, difference in shape between primaries and secondaries, and sweetness.

TABLE 1
Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
Density of individual plant	Medium	Medium to dense
Anther count	19.2	24.6
Pose of calyx segments	Reflexed to	Spreading to
	spreading	clasping
Size of calyx in relation to fruit	Larger	Slightly smaller
Difference in shape between	Moderate	Significant;
primary and secondary fruits		depressed oblate
		primary fruits
Sweetness of fruit	Very sweet	Sweet

Table 2 shows plant characteristics of the new cultivar compared with plant characteristics of ‘Flavorfest’. Plant characteristics include plant height, diameter, number of crowns per plant, habit, and vigor.

TABLE 2
Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
Plant height (cm)	39.1	41.7
Plant diameter (cm)	45.7	61.5
Number of crowns plant	4.6, 4 to 5	4.6, 3 to 6
Habit	Upright open	Upright open
	globose	globose
Vigor	Medium to strong	Strong

Table 3 shows leaf characteristics of the new cultivar compared with leaf characteristics of ‘Flavorfest’. Leaf characteristics include leaf type, leaf shape. leaf length, leaf width, terminal leaflet length, terminal leaflet width, terminal leaflet length to width ratio, leaf margins, shape of teeth, leaf serrations per leaflet, upper and lower leaf surface color, number of leaflets, terminal leaflet apex shape, terminal leaflet base shape, glossiness upper side leaf surface, texture upper side leaf surface, texture underside leaf surface and leaf arrangement.

TABLE 3
Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
Leaf type	Semi-evergreen	Semi-evergreen
Leaf shape	Trifoliolate with	Trifoliolate with
	ovate leaflets	ovate leaflets
	touching to	overlapping
	overlapping
Leaf length (cm)	12.7	14.3
Leaf width (cm)	15.6	17.6
Terminal leaflet length (cm)	10.2	10.5
Terminal leaflet width (cm)	8.6	8.9
Terminal leaflet length	1.2	1.2
width ratio
Leaf margins	Serrate	Serrate
Shape of teeth	Apiculate	Apiculate
Leaf serrations per leaflet	27.2	24.6
Color mature leaves	Green Group 137C	Green Group 137C
lower surface
Color mature leaves	Green Group 137A	Green Group 137A
upper surface
Number of leaflets	3	3 to 4, mostly 3
Terminal leaflet apex shape	Obtuse	Obtuse
Terminal leaflet base shape	Acute cuneate	Acute cuneate
Glossiness upper side	Semi-gloss	Semi-gloss
leaf surface
Texture upper side	Very slightly rugose	Very slightly rugose
leaf surface
Texture underside	Very slightly	Very slightly
leaf surface
	reticulate	reticulate
Leaf arrangement	Individual trifoliate	Individual trifoliate
	leaves attached to	leaves attached to
	compressed stem	compressed stem
	(crown) a ground	(crown) at ground
	level	level

Table 4 shows information about the petiole, the petiolule, the bract and the stipule of the new cultivar compared to ‘Flavorfest’. This includes petiole length, petiole diameter, petiole pubescence, petiole color, petiolule color, petiolule length, bract frequency, texture petiole, stipule length, and stipule width.

	TABLE 4
	Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
	Leaf petiole length (cm)	27.3	31.9
	Petiole diameter (cm)	0.5	0.5
	Petiole pubescence	Very sparse	Sparse
	Petiole color	Yellow Green	Yellow Green
		Group 144B	Group 144A
	Petiolule color	Yellow Green	Yellow Green
		Group 144B	Group 144A
	Petiolule length (cm)	0.8	0.6
	Bract frequency	1 to 2 per	1 to 2 per
		florescence,	florescence,
		generally unifoliate	unifoliate and
			trifoliate
	Texture petiole	Smooth	Smooth
	Stipule length (cm)	2.0	1.9
	Stipule width (cm)	0.6	0.6

Table 5 shows stolon characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Flavorfest’. These characteristics include the number of stolons, the anthocyanin coloration of the stolons, the thickness of the stolons, and the pubescence of the stolons.

	TABLE 5
	Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
	Stolon production	10	8
	Stolon anthocyanin	Medium	Medium
	Stolon thickness (cm)	0.3	0.3
	Stolon pubescence	Sparse	Sparse

Table 6 shows inflorescence characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Flavorfest’. These characteristics include inflorescence position relative to foliage, flower type, flower size, petal shape, relative petal spacing, petal apex shape, petal margin, petal base shape, petal length, petal width, petal length/width ratio, number of petals, petal color, stigma color, style color, anther color, filament color, and flower truss type.

TABLE 6
Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
Inflorescence position	Slightly below	Slightly below
	canopy	canopy
Flower type	Complete simple	Complete simple
Flower diameter (cm)	2.14	2.58
Petal shape	Circular to obovate	Circular to obovate
Petal spacing	Overlapping	Separate to
overlapping
Petal apex shape	Circular	Circular
Petal margin	Entire	Entire
Petal base shape	Obovate	Obovate
Petal length (cm)	0.96	1.05
Petal width (cm)	1.05	0.99
Petal length/width ratio	0.92	1.07
Petal count	5.16	5.33
Petal color	White Group 155D	White Group 155D
Stigma color	Yellow-Green	Yellow-Green
	Group 150B	Group 153D
Style color	Yellow-Green	Yellow-Green
	Group 150A	Group 150B
Anther color	Yellow-Orange	Yellow-Orange
	Group 20A	Group 18A
Anther count	19.2	24.6
Filament color	Yellow-Green	Yellow-Green
	Group 150B	Group 154D
Blooming habit	Cyme	Cyme
Anther number	19.2	24.6

Table 7 shows fruit characteristics of the new cultivar compared to ‘Flavorfest’. These characteristics include number of berries per truss, fruiting truss attitude, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit length/width ratio, fruit weight, relative fruit size, predominant fruit shape, difference in shape between primary and secondary fruit, band without achenes, evenness of fruit surface, top color, non-blush side color, blush side color, internal color, achene color, achene count per fruit, insertion of calyx, pose of calyx segments, size of calyx in relation to fruit, ease of calyx removal, firmness of flesh, evenness of flesh color, distribution of flesh color, sweetness, acidity, brix, pH, titratable acidity, texture when tasted, time of flowering, harvest maturity (50% of plants with ripe fruit), type of bearing, and yield.

TABLE 7
Characteristic	‘Keepsake’	‘Flavorfest’
Number of berries per	7.0	10.6
fruiting truss
Fruiting truss attitude	Prostrate	Prostrate
Diameter fruit (cm)	4.6	4.3
Length fruit (cm)	4.0	3.6
Ratio fruit length/width	0.9 to 1.1	0.8 to 0.9
Weight fruit (g)	13.8	14.8
Relative fruit size	Medium to large	Medium to large
Predominant fruit shape	Conic to oblate	Conic to oblate
Difference in shape between	Moderate	Significant;
primary and secondary fruits		depressed oblate
		primary fruits
Band without achenes	Narrow	Absent to narrow
Evenness of fruit surface	Very even	Even
Color of top of fruit	Red Group 45A	Red Group 46A
Non-blush side color	Red Group 44A,	Red Group 45A,
	45A	46A
Blush side color	Red Group 44A,	Red Group 45A,
	45A, 46A	46A
Internal flesh color	Orange-Red Group	Orange-Red Group
	33A, White 155D	33A, White 155D
Achenecolor	Yellow-Green	Yellow-Green
	Group 151B, Red	Group 153C, Red
	Group 45A	Group 46A
Achene count	206	312
Insertion of calyx	Slight	Slight, more
		depressed on
		primaries
Pose of calyx segments	Reflexed to	Spreading to
	spreading	clasping
Size of calyx in relation to fruit	Larger	Slightly smaller
Ease of calyx removal	Difficult	Difficult
Firmness of flesh	Medium to firm	Medium to firm
Evenness of flesh color	Not even	Not even
Distribution of flesh color	Orange-red heart,	Orange-red heart,
	white ring, orange	white ring, orange
	red exterior	red exterior
Sweetness	Very sweet	Sweet
Acidity	Medium to mild	Medium
Brix (percent soluble solids)	9.0	8.0
pH	3.8	3.8
Texture when tasted	Fine and juicy	Fine and juicy
Time of flowering	April to May	April to May
Harvest maturity	Late May to early	Late May to early
(50% of plant with ripe fruit)	June	June
Type of bearing	Short Day/June	Short Day/June
	Bearing	Bearing
Yield (kg/plant)	0.57	0.90

COMPARISON WITH PARENTAL CULTIVARS

When ‘Keepsake’ is compared to female parent, B1031 (unpatented), a full sibling of ‘Flavorfest’ (unpatented), the fruits are more uniform in shape. When ‘Keepsake’ is compared to male parent, B1181 (unpatented), the plants are more resistant to foliar diseases.

Claims (1)

We claim:

1. A new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant, substantially as illustrated and described herein.

Images