Raspberry plant cv. `Wilhelm`
A new and distinct cultivar of red raspberry plant named `Wilhelm`, which is particularly characterized and distinguished by its very attractive fruit and its high yielding capacity on both primocane and floricane crops.
This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of raspberry plant that has been given the cultivar name or denomination `Wilhelm`. The new cultivar was developed from hybridization of the selection B175-3 (an unpatented proprietary cultivar) as the seed parent with the selection B8-4 (an unpatented proprietary cultivar) as the pollen parent. The parents were crossed by Stephen Wilhelm in 1986, whereafter fruit and seed were collected to produce seedlings for field planting in Watsonville, Calif. in 1988. The new cultivar was selected from these seedlings by Carlos Fear in 1989 for its ease of harvest and attractive, well-flavored fruit. Since its selection the `Wilhelm` plants have been evaluated in noncommercial experimental plantings in Oxnard and Watsonville, Calif. The cultivar has been asexually propagated by in vitro shoot tip culture, root sucker division and root cuttings, and has been shown to maintain the desired and distinguishing characteristics after propagation over several generations.
The `Wilhelm` raspberry plant produces a mid-season primocane crop which begins in mid August and continues until early-mid November. The floricane crop begins in mid-late May and continues until early July. Both the primocane and floricane yields (about 7.4 to 11.8 T/acre and about 4.7 to 8.8 T/acre, respectively) are high relative to other comparable cultivars. The fruit of the `Wilhelm` raspberry plant is very attractive, with small drupelets of a bright red color which darkens only slightly after harvest.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURESFIG. 1 is a photograph of a `Wilhelm` primocane mature leaf and fruiting shoot, showing various stages of fruit development.
FIG. 2 is a photograph of a `Wilhelm` primocane shoot.
FIG. 3 is an interpretative drawing showing the cultivar banding patterns for the enzymes, MDH (malate dehydrogenase), PGI (phosphoglucoisomerase) and PGM (phosphoglucomutase).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW CULTIVARThroughout this specification, color names beginning with a small letter signify that the name of the color, as used in common speech, is aptly descriptive. Color names beginning with a capital letter designate color values based on the R.H.S. Colour Chart published by The Royal Horticultural Society of London, England.
The following description is a detailed description of the `Wilhelm` raspberry cultivar and the fruit produced thereby, as grown in Watsonville, Calif. between 1991 and 1994, and is believed to apply to plants of the `Wilhelm` cultivar grown in similar conditions of soil and climate elsewhere.
The `Wilhelm` fruit size on the primocane crop starts out large and declines as the harvest season progresses. The fruit size of the floricane crop is smaller with only a slight decline as the harvest progresses seasonally. The fruit of the `Wilhelm` plant is light red, releases very easily from its receptacle, and is of moderate firmness at harvest. Post harvest fruit rot resistance is intermediate in comparison with many other selections and cultivars.
The `Wilhelm` cultivar has moderate susceptibility to late leaf rust and powdery mildew. Resistance to root rots is unknown and cold tolerance of the new cultivar has not been established.
The new cultivar is particularly characterized and distinguished from other cultivars by its very attractive fruit of excellent shape with small drupelets. It is further distinguished by its bright, light red fruit color and ease of harvest. The `Wilhelm` cultivar also yields more on both primocanes and floricanes than most other known cultivars.
`Wilhelm` is distinguished from its pollen parent, selection B8-4, by having larger fruit size and greater susceptibility to late leaf rust. The new cultivar is distinguished from its seed parent, selection B175-3, by having a higher yielding capacity with more uniform fruit shape, having greater resistance to late leaf rust and having less tendency to darken after harvest.
Tables 1 and 2 below present relevant morphological information about the new raspberry `Wilhelm` cultivar.
TABLE 1
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PLANT CHARACTERISTICS OF `Wilhelm`
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General
Plant size: medium
Growth habit: erect
Density of foliage: medium
Productivity: above average
Self fruitfulness: self fruitful
Primocane fruiting:
percent of cane length
about 20-25%
flowering as primocane:
percent of total yield
about 30-50%
from primocane crop:
Suckering tendency: low
Utility of fruit: various
Canes
Primocanes
Number of fruiting laterals/cane:
about 8-14
Number of canes/crown:
about 3-18
Young shoot pigmentation:
weak-medium
Length: about 67-72"
Diameter (end of 1st year):
cane base: about 0.34-0.53"
central 1/3 of cane:
about 0.31-0.47"
Depressions in cross section:
absent
Prickles:
pigmentation: unpigmented
density on young shoots:
very few
attitude of tip: horizontal
size: small
texture: soft
presence and irregularly
distribution on petioles:
distributed
Pubescence on canes:
present
Internodal distance about 1.4-2.2"
(at central 1/3 of cane):
Lenticels: not visually
detectable
Floricanes
Length: about 42-70"
Number nodes/lateral (at mid cane):
about 8-12
Number of flowers/node
about 1-3
(at 4th node from apex
on a mid cane lateral):
Leaves
Arrangement: compound
Relief between veins:
medium
Leaflet number: 3-5, usually 3
Terminal leaflet:
length: about 4.6-5.4"
width: about 2.9-3.8"
shape: ovate
tip: acute to acuminate
base: rounded to cordate
margin: doubly serrate
Lateral leaflets (basal pair):
overlap: touching to
slight overlap
orientation: opposite
shape: ovate
tip: acute to acuminate
base: rounded
margin: doubly serrate
length: about 3.5-4.9"
width: about 2.0-2.8"
Rachis length between
about 1.2-1.4"
terminal leaflet and
adjacent lateral leaflets:
Color:
face: Green 137B
underslide: Greyed-Green 191C
Petiole:
length: about 2.5-5.3"
pigmentation of upper surface:
pigmented
pigmentation of underside:
unpigmented
Stipule orientation:
erect
Flowers
Flowering period:
primocane: early June to
October
floricane: late March to early
June
Petal:
color: White 155D
length: about 0.22-0.28"
width: about 0.09-0.13"
number: 5
arrangement: free
Pedicel coloration: absent to very weak
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TABLE 2
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FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS OF `Wilhelm`
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Fruit
Harvest season:
primocane: mid-season; begins
mid August; ends
early to mid
November; ripens
uniformly over a
long period
(about 75-110 days)
floricane: early to mid-season;
normally begins
mid to late May;
ends early July;
ripens uniformly
over about a 45-55
day period
Color:
immature: Red 39A
maturing: Red 47A
mature: Red 53A-53B
Dimensions:
weight:
primocane harvest: about 2.2-5.0 g
(3.1 g mean)
floricane harvest: about 2.3-3.5 g
(2.7 g mean)
length (primocane): about 0.71-0.91"
width (primocane): about 0.62-0.72"
Soluble solids (%): about 8.1-10.6%
(9.5% mean)
Titratable acidity about 1.9%
(% as citric acid):
Seeds:
weight: about 1.0-1.6 mg
(1.3 mg mean)
Number drupelets/fruit:
about 83-146
(109 mean)
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In addition to the foregoing morphological description, and to provide further means for identifying the new cultivar and distinguishing it from some other somewhat similar and/or related raspberry cultivars, the new `Wilhelm` cultivar has been analyzed to obtain an indication of its genetic makeup. Specifically, leaves of the `Wilhelm`, `Hollins` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,027), `Summit` (unpatented), `Isabel` (U.S. Plant patent applied for), `Sweetbriar` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,486), `Joe Mello` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,493) and `Godiva` (U.S. plant patent applied for) cultivars were electrophoretically analyzed, the patterns designated and procedures utilized being per those described by J. C. Cousineau and D. J. Donnelly, "Use of Isoenzyme Analysis to Characterize Raspberry Cultivars and Detect Cultivar Mislabeling," HortScience, vol. 27 (9):1023-1025 (1992). The results of the electrophoresis analysis are presented in Table 3 below, the letters representing the cultivar banding patterns for each enzyme as shown in FIG. 3, taken from the above article.
TABLE 3
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ISOZYME BANDING
PATTERNS OF `Wilhelm` COMPARED WITH
`Hollins`, `Summit`, `Isabel`,
`Sweetbriar`, `Joe Mello` AND `Godiva`
Isozyme
Cultivar PGI MDH PGM
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`Wilhelm` D A C
`Hollins` D E D
`Summit` A C B
`Isabel` A E C
`Sweetbriar`
D D A
`Joe Mello` D E C
`Godiva` B A D
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Claims
1. A new and distinct cultivar of raspberry plant named
Type: Grant
Filed: Apr 25, 1995
Date of Patent: Oct 8, 1996
Assignee: Sweetbriar Development, Inc. (Watsonville, CA)
Inventors: Stephen Wilhelm (Alamo, CA), Carlos D. Fear (Aptos, CA)
Primary Examiner: James R. Feyrer
Law Firm: Synnestvedt & Lechner
Application Number: 8/428,644
