Strawberry plant named ‘Driscoll Osceola’

[0001] Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The variety is botanically identified as Fragaria×ananassa.

[0002] The new variety originated as a result of a controlled cross between the strawberry plants ‘Marathon’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,817) and ‘Sonora’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,386) in an ongoing breeding program, and was discovered as a seedling in Monterey Country, Calif. in 1999. The original seedling of the new cultivar was asexually propagated by stolons in a Shasta County, Calif. Propagules were transplanted to a controlled breeding plot in Monterey Country, Calif., where the variety was identified and selected for further evaluation. ‘Driscoll Osceola’ was subsequently asexually propagated and underwent further testing in Hillsbourough County, Fla. for three years. This propagation and testing has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein which characterize the new variety are fixed and retained true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

[0003] The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry named ‘Driscoll Osceola’. The new variety is distinguished from other varieties by a number of characteristics as set forth in Tables 1 to 4.

[0004] The varieties which we believe to be similar to ‘Driscoll Osceola’ from those known to us are ‘Biscayne’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,186) and ‘Madeira’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,109). There are several characteristics of the new variety that are different from, or not possessed by ‘Biscayne’ and ‘Madeira’. The new variety is distinguished from ‘Biscayne’ and ‘Madeira’ by having, for example, an orange red internal color of the fruit, a fruiting truss length of about 16.6 cm, a flat terminal leaflet margin profile, an obtuse terminal leaflet teeth shape, a dense petiole pubescence, a cordate fruit shape, a very narrow band without achenes on the fruit, and average petiole diameter of about 4.05 mm. The average petiole diameter was calculated from measurements taken in August 2004.

[0011] The following detailed description of the new variety is based upon observations taken of plants and fruit grown in Hillsbourough County, Fla., U.S.A. This description is in accordance with UPOV terminology. Observations of ‘Driscoll Osceola’, ‘Biscayne’, and ‘Madeira’ were taken in side-by-side comparison in 2002-2003. Color designations, color descriptions, and other phenotypical descriptions may deviate from the stated values and descriptions depending upon variation in environmental, seasonal, climatic and cultural conditions. Colors are described and the most similar color designations are provided from The Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.) Colour Chart.

[0012] The new variety is principally propagated by way of stolons. Although propagation by stolons is presently preferred, other known methods of propagating strawberry plants may be employed.

[0013] Information on the new variety is presented in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4. In the tables, the flowers described are secondary flowers except where indicated. The fruit described is the secondary fruit on one-year-old plants. Flowers of ‘Driscoll Osceola’ are fully self-fertile and typical of the species. Plants of the parent plants of ‘Driscoll Osceloa’ were not available for side by side comparisons. ‘Driscoll Osceola’ differs from its maternal parent ‘Marathon’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,817) in having darker red fruit and superior shelf-life. ‘Driscoll Osceola’ differs from its paternal parent ‘Sonora’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,386) in that it is partially everbearing in comparison to ‘Sonora’ which is fully everbearing.

[0014] Table 1 provides information on the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety ‘Driscoll Osceola’ compared with characteristics of ‘Biscayne’ and ‘Madeira’. Table 2 provides additional information of the plant and fruit characteristics of the new variety ‘Driscoll Osceola’ compared with characteristics of the varieties ‘Biscayne’ and ‘Madeira’. Table 3 provides reactions of the new variety to pests and diseases compared with reactions of the varieties ‘Biscayne’ and ‘Madeira’. Table 4 provides isozyme characteristics of the new variety as compared to that of the varieties ‘Biscayne’ and ‘Madeira’.

[0015]

TABLE 1
QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF ‘DRISCOLL OSCEOLA’,
‘BISCAYNE’, AND ‘MADEIRA’
	‘DRISCOLL
	OSCEOLA’	‘BISCAYNE’	‘MADEIRA’
Plant Characteristics
Height of Plant (cm)	13.7	13.5	15.8
Spread of Plant (cm)	34.5	32.6	36.1
Number of Crowns	3.8	5.2	4.2
Leaf Characteristics
Terminal Leaflet Length	10.0	8.6	9.4
(cm)
Terminal Leaflet Width	10.1	8.8	8.4
(cm)
Terminal Leaflet	0.99	0.98	1.12
Length/Width Ratio
# Teeth/Terminal Leaflet	25.6	23.8	18.8
Color of upper side	135B	137A	147A
	medium green	light green	dark green
Color of under side	138B	139C	137B
	light gray	light gray	light gray
	green	green	green
Petiole Length (cm)	10.6	11.7	11.0
Petiole Color	141C	141D	144B
	yellow-green	yellow-green	yellow-green
Bract Frequency	30%	60%	80%
	typically	typically	typically
	double	double	double
Stipule Length (cm)	4.2	3.5	3.2
Stipule Width (cm)	2.4	1.9	2.2
Stolon Characteristics
Anthocyanin color	59D	59B	59C
	red purple	red purple	red purple
Diameter at bract (mm)	3.47	3.29	2.77
Avg. # of Daughter	38	59	59
plants/Mother
(2002 Nursery)
Flower Characteristics
Petal Length (cm)	1.5	1.4	1.4
Petal Width (cm)	1.7	1.6	1.5
Petal Length/Width Ratio	0.91	0.85	0.91
Flower Diameter (cm)	3.6	3.5	3.3
Calyx Diameter (cm)	5.0	4.6	4.1
Petal Color (cm)	155C	155C	155C
	white	white	white
Fruiting Truss Length	16.6	12.5	12.0
(cm)
Fruit Characteristics
Fruit Length (cm)	4.9	4.9	5.0
Fruit Width (cm)	3.7	4.1	4.3
Fruit Length/Width Ratio	1.34	1.20	1.18
Average Berry Weight	27.5	24.7	24.3
(g)
External Color	46A	46B	46A
	dark red	red	dark red
Internal Color	48D	44A	43A
	orange red	medium red	medium red
2002-2003 Yield	222	143	247
(g/plant)

[0016]

TABLE 2
QUALITATIVE COMPARISON OF ‘DRISCOLL OSCEOLA’,
‘BISCAYNE’, AND ‘MADEIRA’
	‘DRISCOLL
	OSCEOLA’	‘BISCAYNE’	‘MADEIRA’
Plant
Habit	flat globose	flat globose	flat globose
Density	open to	medium	medium
	medium
Vigor	medium	strong	strong
Leaf
Shape in cross section	concave to	concave	concave
	slightly
	concave
Interveinal blistering	medium	weak	medium
Glossiness	medium	medium	medium
Number of leaflets	three only	three only	three only
Terminal leaflet	flat	revolute	revolute
margin profile
Terminal leaflet shape	rounded	rounded	obtuse
of base
Terminal leaflet shape	obtuse	rounded	rounded
of teeth
Stipule pubescence	medium	medium	medium
Petiole pubescence	dense	medium	medium
Petiole pose of hairs	outwards to	outwards	downwards
	downwards
Stolon
Amount	medium	many	many
Anthocyanin	medium to	strong	strong to very
coloration	strong		strong
Thickness	medium to	medium	medium to
	thick		thick
Pubescence	dense	medium	medium
Inflorescence
Position relative to	level with to	level	beneath
foliage	above
Diameter of calyx	larger	larger	larger
relative to corolla on
secondary flowers
Diameter of inner	smaller to same	same size	same size
calyx relative to outer	size
on secondary flowers
Spacing of petals	overlapping	overlapping	overlapping
Fruiting Truss
Attitude at first	prostrate	prostrate	prostrate
picking
Fruit
Predominant shape	cordate	conical	conical
Difference in shapes	slight	slight	slight
between primary and
secondary fruits
Band without achenes	very narrow	narrow	narrow
Unevenness of surface	weak	weak	weak
Evenness of color	slightly uneven	even	even
uneven
Glossiness	strong	strong	strong
Insertion of achenes	below surface	level with	level with
		surface	surface
Insertion of calyx	level	level	level
Pose of the calyx	spreading to	spreading	reflexed
segments	reflexed
Size of calyx in	same size to	larger	smaller
relation to fruit on	larger
secondary fruit
Adherence of calyx	strong	strong	strong
Firmness of flesh	soft to medium	firm	medium
Evenness of flesh	slightly uneven	slightly uneven	slightly uneven
color
Distribution of flesh	marginal and	marginal and	marginal and
color	central	central	central
Hollow center size	medium	large	medium
Sweetness	medium	strong	weak to
			medium
Texture when tasted	fine	fine	fine
Acidity	medium	medium	weak to
			medium
Time of Flowering	very early	early	very early
Harvest Interval	late November	early December	late November
in 2002-2003	through late	through late	through late
	March	March	March
Type of Bearing	partially	partially	partially
	everbearing	everbearing	everbearing

[0017]

TABLE 3
REACTIONS TO PESTS AND DISEASES FOR ‘DRISCOLL
OSCEOLA’, ‘BISCAYNE’, AND ‘MADEIRA’
	‘DRISCOLL
	OSCEOLA’	‘BISCAYNE’	‘MADEIRA’
Reaction to Pests
Tetranychus urticae	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Lygus hesperus	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Reaction To Diseases
Botrytis fruit rot	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Powdery mildew	moderately	moderately	moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Verticillium wilt	susceptible	susceptible	moderately
			susceptible
Strawberry Mottle Virus	susceptible	susceptible	partially
			resistant
Xanthomonas fragariae	moderately	moderately	moderately
	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible

[0018] In addition to the morphological description above, the new cultivar ‘Driscoll Osceola’ has been analyzed to obtain an indication of its genetic makeup to provide further means for identifying the new variety and distinguishing it from other somewhat similar and/or related strawberry varieties. Specifically, leaf samples of ‘Driscoll Osceola’, ‘Biscayne’, and ‘Madeira’ were analyzed by electrophoresis for isozyme patterns of the enzymes phosphoglucoisomerase (“PGI”), leucine aminopeptidase (“LAP”) and phosphoglucomutase (“PGM”). See J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 106:684-687. Isozyme characterization of the three varieties is presented in Table 4, with the letters representing the banding patterns for each enzyme as designated in the above-identified article.

[0019]

TABLE 4
ISOZYME ANALYSIS FOR ‘DRISCOLL OSCEOLA’,
‘BISCAYNE’, AND ‘MADEIRA’
		‘Driscoll
	Locus	Osceola’	‘Biscayne’	‘Madeira’
	PGI	A1	A1	A1
	LAP	B3	B3	B1
	PGM	C4	C4	C2