USPP33253P3 - Strawberry plant named ‘Stata’ - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a new and distinct strawberry variety designated as ‘Stata’ (a.k.a. ‘109740’). The ‘Stata’ cultivar is primarily adapted to growing conditions of the central coast of California and produces strong vigorous plants that remain in fruit production from March through October.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species: Fragaria x ananassa.

Varietal denomination: ‘Stata’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety designated as ‘Stata’ (a.k.a. ‘109740’).

‘Stata’ (a.k.a. ‘109740’) is the result of a controlled-cross between a female parent cultivar designated ‘108999’ (a proprietary cultivar made by the inventor, and not been made available to the public) and a male parent cultivar designated ‘Preakness’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,966). Following selection and during testing, the plant was originally designated ‘109740’ and subsequently named ‘Stata’.

This new variety was asexually reproduced via runners (stolons) by the inventor at Watsonville, Calif. Asexual propagules from the original source have been tested in Watsonville growing fields and to a limited extent, grower fields in high elevation. The properties of this variety were found to be transmissible by such asexual reproduction. This cultivar is stable and reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying color photographs depict various characteristics of the cultivar as nearly true as possible to make color reproductions. The age of the plants in FIGS. 1-6 is six months old.

FIG. 1 shows ‘Stata’ plant with florescence and fruit.

FIG. 2 shows ‘Stata’ fruit.

FIG. 3 shows ‘Stata’ fruit interior.

FIG. 4 shows ‘Stata’ flowers.

FIG. 5 shows ‘Stata’ leaf.

FIG. 6 shows ‘Stata’ petiole.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new and distinctive strawberry cultivar designated as ‘Stata’ (a.k.a. ‘109740’). This cultivar is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the central coast of California. This region provides the necessary temperatures required for it to produce a strong vigorous plant and to remain in fruit production from March through October. The nearby Pacific Ocean provides the needed humidity and moderate day temperatures and evening chilling to maintain fruit quality for the production months.

The following traits and photographs in combination distinguish the strawberry variety ‘Stata’ from known strawberry varieties. Plants for the botanical measurements in the present application were grown as annuals. Any color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The age of the plants in Table 1 is seven months old.

TABLE 1
Characteristics of Stata

Characteristic
Type	Characteristic	Stata
General	Plant Habit	annual
	Plant Growth Habit	upright
	Day length	neutral
	Planting season	Fall
	Height	39.5 cm
	Width	41.0 cm
	Density of foliage	light to medium
	Plant vigor	high
	Freezing Quality	moderate
	Rain/weather tolerance	moderate
	Harvest Ease	moderate
Leaf	Leaf Shape	concave
	Leaflet texture	soft
	Leaf average width	127 mm
	Leaf average length	83 mm
	Terminal leaflet width	76 mm
	Terminal leaflet length	81 mm
	Terminal leaflet length/width ratio	1.07
	Teeth per terminal leaflet	18 to 25
	Shape of the terminal leaflet base	rounded to acute
	Shape of terminal leaflet in cross-	concave
	section
	Shape of the terminal leaflet margin	serrate to crenate
	Color of upper side of leaflet	RHS 137A
	Color of lower side of leaflet	RHS 139C
	Leaf blistering	weak
	Leaf glossiness	medium
	Leaf variegation	absent
	Number of leaflets per leaf	3
	Terminal Leaflet margin	flat
	Terminal Leaflet shape	orbicular
	Terminal Leaflet shape of apex	rounded
Limbs	Petiole length	25 cm
	Petiole diameter	3.65 mm
	Petiole pubescence	dense
	Petiole pose of hairs	horizontal
	Petiole color	RHS 145A
	Petiolule length	1.3 cm
	Petiolule diameter	2.60 mm
	Petiolule color	RHS 145A
	Stipule length	3.1 cm
	Stipule width	0.6 cm
	Stipule pubescence	medium
	Stipule anthocyanin	present
	Stipule color (color code)	RHS 145C
	Pedicel average length	19.8 cm
	Pedicel average diameter	3.12 mm
	Pedicel color (color code)	RHS 144A
	Attitude of hairs on peduncle and	horizontal
	pedicel
	Peduncle average length	25.8 mm
	Peduncle average diameter	3.4 mm
Inflore-	Inflorescence position relative to	above
scence	foliage
	Flower arrangement of petals	touching
	Flower size	medium to large
	Flower diameter	2.6 cm
	Petal shape	orbicular
	Petal apex	rounded
	Petal margin	entire
	Petal base shape	concave
	Petal length	1.6 cm
	Petal width	1.6 cm
	Petal length/width ratio	1
	Petal number per flower	5 to 7
	Number of flowers	41 to 61
	Upper Petal color	RHS 155C
	Lower Petal color	RHS 155C
	Peduncle size	medium
	Floral Calyx Diameter	3.0 cm
	Corolla diameter	2.6 cm
	Calyx diameter relative to corolla	equal to larger
	Inner calyx diameter relative to outer	equal
	Sepal shape	elliptical
	Sepal apex	convex
	Sepal margin	entire
	Sepal length	0.7 to 1.3 cm
	Sepal width	0.2 to 0.6 cm
	Sepal number per flower	10 to 14
	Sepal color (upper)	RHS 137C
	Sepal color (lower)	RHS 147C
	Receptacle color	RHS 145A
	Fertility	not-tested
	Time of flowering (50% of plants in	April to May
	bloom)
	Shape of stigma	capitate
	Color of stigma	RHS 163B
	Length of style	1.4 to 2.0 mm
	Color of style	RHS 4A
	Color of the ovary	150B
	Number of stamen	24 to 30
	Length of the stamens	2.0 to 6.0 mm
	Shape of anther	dorsifixed
	Size of anther	1.0 to 1.5 mm
	Color of anther	RHS 163B
	Amount of pollen	moderate
	Color of pollen	RHS 13B to
		RHS 163B
	Color of filament	RHS 2D
	Length of filament	1.0 to 5.0 mm
Stolon	Stolon number	1 to 3
	Stolon anthocyanin	RHS 183A
	Stolon thickness	medium
	Stolon pubescence	sparse
	Widest diameter of stolon at leaf	3.17 mm
	attachment
	Stolon average length	44.9 cm
	Stolon color	RHS 145A
Fruit	Fruiting truss length	11.5 to 17.0 cm
	Fruiting truss diameter	3.38 mm
	Number of fruit per truss	3 to 8
	Truss color	144A
	Fruit length	43 to 53 cm
	Fruit width	41.5 cm
	Fruit skin color	RHS 45A
	Fruit flesh color excluding core	RHS 44A
	Fruit core color	RHS 39B
	Fruit length/width ratio	1.04 to 1.28
	Fruit weight	25.6 g
	Relative fruit size	medium
	Predominant fruit shape	globose-conic
		to conic
	Shape difference between primary &	No shape
	second	difference
	Width of band without of achenes	narrow
	Fruit glossiness	medium to
		strong
	Position of achenes	even
	Achene color	RHS 135C
	Achenes per fruit	261
	Achene weight	0.157 g
	Position of calyx	below surface
	Fruit Calyx Diameter	4.5 cm
	level of adherence of calyx	strong
	Color of calyx	RHS 137A
	Pose of calyx segments	reflexed
	of calyx in relation to fruit	smaller
	Firmness of flesh	firm
	Evenness of flesh color	even
	Fruit hollow length	2.6 cm
	Fruit hollow width	1.0 cm
	Fruit hollow length/width ratio	2.6
	Hollow center	medium
	Sweetness	8 Brix
	Acidity	3.18
	Texture when tasted	fine
	Time of flowering	May
	Time of fruit ripening	May
	Harvest maturity (50% of plants with	June
	ripe fruit)
	Type of bearing	day neutral
	Grams of fruit per plant	698 g
	Yield (lb per acre)	30,777 lb/acre
	Firmness	firm to very firm
	Surface Texture	smooth
	Fruit Appearance (1-7 scale; 7 = best)	6
	Storage longevity	5 to 10 days
Horti-	Crop suitability	Fresh market
cultural	Temperature tolerance range	−1° C. to 36° C.
	USDA Hardiness Zone adaptability	6a,6b,7a,7b,8a,
	for annual transplanting of California	8b,9a,9b
	grown commercial rootstock
	Cull rate (% Usable)	13.6%

‘Seascape’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,614) is a commercial strawberry variety that is similar to, but distinguished from ‘Stata’. The plant of the new strawberry plant variety ‘Stata’ is smaller compared to ‘Seascape’. The florescence of ‘Stata’ extend beyond the canopy of the plant and the ripe fruit is visible making ‘Stata’ easier to harvest compared to the hand harvest of the fruit of ‘Seascape’, some of which ripens beneath the canopy of the plant. The full season Yield of fruit from the new strawberry plant variety ‘Stata’ is greater than the fruit Yield of comparison variety ‘Seascape’ and the percentage of marketable fruit from new variety ‘Stata’ is greater than the percent of marketable fruit of ‘Seascape’. The average weight of the fruit of ‘Stata’ is slightly less than the average weight of the fruit of ‘Seascape’. The fruit of ‘Stata’ is firmer than the fruit of ‘Seascape’. The color of the fruit of ‘Seascape’ is deeper red than the fruit color of ‘Stata’.

The florescence of ‘Stata’ extends beyond the plant canopy and is different compared to female parent ‘108999’ with florescence that is about even with the canopy. The overall volumetric plant shape of the ‘Stata’ plant is described as round and is different in comparison to the oblate spreading shape of the female parent plant ‘108999’. The fruit of ‘Stata’ is less firm compared to the fruit of female parent ‘108999’. The conical shape of the fruit of ‘Stata’ differs from female parent ‘108999’. The ratio of the height of the fruit of ‘Stata’ and the width of the fruit of ‘Stata’ is very near unity and the dimensional ratio of height to width of female parent ‘108999’ is greater than unity. The fruit Yield of ‘Stata’ is similar to its female parent ‘108999’, but the percentage of marketable fruit from ‘Stata’ is greater than the percentage of marketable fruit produced by female parent ‘108999’. Compared to its male parent the yield of marketable fruit Yield of ‘Stata’ is less than the marketable fruit yield of male parent ‘Preakness’. The fruit of ‘Stata’ is firmer than the fruit of male parent ‘Preakness’. The size of the ‘Stata’ plant is larger than size of its male parent plant ‘Preakness’.

Claims (1)

The invention claimed is:

1. A new and distinct cultivar of strawberry plant named ‘Stata’ substantially as shown and described herein.

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