Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Hercules’
A chyrsanthemum plant named ‘Hercules’ characterized by its medium sized blooms with red ray florets and prolific branching; natural season flower date August 18-23; blooming for a period of 5 weeks.
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‘Hercules’ 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 decorative type flower, a natural season flower date around August 18-23; blooming for a period of 5 weeks. The new plant of the present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant ‘Hercules’ is a seedling resulting from the open pollination among groups of chrysanthemum cultivars maintained under the control of the inventor for breeding purposes. The new and distinct cultivar was discovered and selected as one flowering plant by Mark Roland Boeder on a cultivated field in Rijsenhout Holland in August 2001. The seedling resulted from the crossing of the female parent, 22.0296, with a mixed population of chrysanthemum plants serving as male parents. The plant has been asexually reproduced by cuttings in greenhouses at Rijsenhout Holland. The new cultivar has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations.
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.
This new variety of chrysanthemum is of the botanical classification Chrysanthemum morifolium. The observations and measurements were gathered from plants grown out door in Rijsenhout, Holland under natural day length and temperature and planted in week 23 in 2002. The natural blooming date of this crop was August 18-23 (week 34). The average height of the plants was 30 cms. 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 red ray florets blooming for a period of 5 weeks.
From the cultivars known to inventor the most similar existing cultivar in comparison to ‘Hercules’ is ‘Dark Grenadine’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,632). When ‘Dark Grenadine’ and ‘Hercules’ are being compared the following differences are noticed: The differences of ‘Dark Grenadine’ and ‘Hercules’ are (1) Flower size. The flowers of ‘Dark Grenadine’ are larger in size than those of ‘Hercules’ (2) Color ray florets. The ray florets of ‘Dark Grenadine’ are less red than ‘Hercules’.
The following is a description of the plant and characteristics that distinguish ‘Hercules’ 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.
Claims
1. A new and distinct variety of chrysanthemum plant as described and illustrated.
Type: Grant
Filed: Jan 14, 2004
Date of Patent: Feb 15, 2005
Assignee: Chrysanthemum Breeders Association, N.v.
Inventor: Mark Roland Boeder (The Hague)
Primary Examiner: Bruce R. Campell
Assistant Examiner: S. B. McCormick-Ewoldt
Attorney: Parkhurst & Wendel, L.L.P.
Application Number: 10/756,300