Earth and Space News: Thierry van Paemel Helleborus cultivar

Showing posts with label Thierry van Paemel Helleborus cultivar. Show all posts

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Helleborus Plant Named 'Snow Love' Has Light Green Flowers

Summary: A Helleborus plant named ‘Snow Love,’ a new cultivar by Belgian hellebore breeder Thierry van Paemel, has light green flowers.

A Helleborus plant named ‘Snow Love,’ a new variety of Helleborus x niger cultivar by Belgian hellebore breeder Thierry van Paemel, has light green flowers and leathery, smooth dark green leaves.

On Oct. 29, 2007, Thierry van Paemel filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his horticultural invention, a Helleborus plant named ‘Snow Love.’ He listed Compass Plants B.V. of Hillegom, South Holland province, western Netherlands, as assignee.

Primary examiner Kent L. Bell reviewed the application for patenting van Paemel’s new variety. On Dec. 9, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office assigned plant patent number 19,559 to a Helleborus plant named ‘Snow Love.’

The application describes plants that were grown outdoors during winter in containers at the inventor’s nursery, Kwekerij Het Wilgenbroek BVBA, in Oostkamp, West Flanders province, northwestern Belgium. Day temperatures during production ranged from about 4 degrees to about 15 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees to 59 degrees Fahrenheit). Night temperatures ranged from about minus 1 degree to about 8 degrees Celsius (30.2 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ has an upright, flattened globular, mounded shape. Plant height measures about 28.7 centimeters (11.29 inches). ‘Candy Love’ spreads to a diameter of about 32.8 centimeters (12.91 inches).

‘Candy Love’ puts forth leaves at the plant’s base in a circular arrangement known as a basal rosette. Each basal rosette comprises about 10 leaves.

The new variety’s palmately compound leaves comprise five serrated leaflets radiating from a common point. Leaflets have shapes that are narrowly elliptical to obovate (Latin: ob-, “against” + ovatus, “egg-shaped”).

Leaves have lengths of about 17.1 centimeters (6.73 inches) and widths of about 18.4 centimeters (7.24 inches). Lateral leaflets display lengths of about 9.7 centimeters (3.81 inches) and widths of about 4 centimeters (1.57 inches). Larger, terminal leaflets have lengths of about 11.7 centimeters (4.6 inches) and widths of about 4.8 centimeters (1.88 inches).

Upper surfaces of mature foliage are dark green (Royal Horticultural Society colors 139A to 147A), with dark green to light green (RHS 144A to 144B) venation. Lower surfaces of mature foliage are brown green (RHS 147B) with brown purple (RHS 183B) veins.

closeup of leaf (left) and 'Snow Love' in container (right): images included in patent application filed Monday, Oct. 29, 2007, as application number 11/978496, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP19,559; Date of Patent Dec. 9, 2008; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries

Nodding, outward facing flowers perch, with a free flowering habit, atop flower stems. A long flowering period ranges naturally from December through April. Each flower, which is not persistent, lasts for about 10 days.

Each flower consists of a single whorl of five sepals. Sepals have lengths of about 4.1 centimeters (1.61 inches) and widths of about 3.5 centimeters (1.37 inches).

The ovate to broadly elliptical shape of sepals becomes obtuse, or bluntly rounded, at the tips. Margins and surface textures are smooth.

Fully opened flowers have light green (Royal Horticultural Society color 145D) upper surfaces that become light green (RHS 144B) toward the base. With development, upper surface coloring is closer to dark green (RHS 143B to 143C), with light green (RHS N144A) margins.

Lower surfaces of fully opened flowers are light green (RHS 145B to 145C), becoming light green (RHS 145A) toward the base. With development, lower surface coloring is close to brown green (RHS 146C) with brown (RHS 176B) venation.

The Helleborus plant named ‘Snow Love’ is the product of a cross-pollination program conducted by Thierry van Paemel at his nursery. The single flowering plant that the inventor discovered and selected numbers among the progeny of a proprietary selection of seed and pollen parents designated as Wilgenbroek Selection. As seed parents, females belonged to Helleborus niger, known commonly as black hellebore or Christmas rose. Male, or pollen, parents belonged to Helleborus x sternii, known commonly as Stern's hellebore.

Helleborus ‘Snow Love’ is a good performer in bedded and container gardens. The hellebore’s lengthy blooming period, from winter into spring, is undaunted by elemental challenges from rain and wind. ‘Snow Love’ tolerates a wide temperature range of about minus 20 degrees to about 30 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit).

A Helleborus plant named 'Snow Love' sells commercially under the trade name 'Snow Love' in Thierry van Paemel's Winter Magic™ series. The series comprises hellebores that are deer proof, drought resistant and shade tolerant. All selections in the series feature a beautiful powder-gray veil over their leathery leaves.

‘Snow Love’ presents appealing contrasts of light green flowers and dark green foliage that stand out in winter and spring gardens.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of flower of Helleborus plant named ‘Snow Love’; image included in patent application filed Monday, Oct. 29, 2007, as application number 11/978496, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP19,559; Date of Patent Dec. 9, 2008: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019559;
color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries, @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP19559

closeup of 'Snow Love' leaf; images included in patent application filed Monday, Oct. 29, 2007, as application number 11/978496, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP19,559; Date of Patent Dec. 9, 2008; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries, @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP19559
full patent link @ https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/PP19559

closeup of 'Snow Love' in container; images included in patent application filed Monday, Oct. 29, 2007, as application number 11/978496, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP19,559; Date of Patent Dec. 9, 2008; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries, @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP19559
full patent link @ https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/PP19559

For further information:

Burrell, C. Colston; Judith Knott Tyler. Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2006.

De Weerdt, Nathalie. “Kweker Thierry Van Paemel is Creatiefste Ondernemer.” Economisch Nieuws > Archief 2010. Nov. 9, 2010.
Available @ http://www.oostendewerkt.be/economisch-nieuws-1/Archief-2010/archief-2008/amper-n-bezwaarschrift-tegen-heraanleg-zeedijk/archief-2009/kweker-thierry-van-paemel-is-creatiefste-ondernemer

"Hellebore (Helleborus Winter Magic™ Snow Love)." The National Gardening Association > Plants Database > Hellebores.
Available @ http://garden.org/plants/view/236926/Hellebore-Helleborus-Winter-Magic-Snow-Love/

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Alexia.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). July 6, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021149

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Candy Love.” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Nov. 4, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019413

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). June 29, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021126

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Snow Love.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW), Dec. 9, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019559

“Helleborus x nigercors ‘Snow Love.’” Perennials > Plants.
Available @ http://www.perennials.com/plants/helleborus-nigercors-snow-love.html

International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. “Document TGP/14: Glossary of Technical, Botanical and Statistical Terms Used in UPOV Documents.” UPOV (Union Internationale Pour la Protection des Obtentions Végétales). Dec. 9, 2006.
Available @ http://www.upov.org/edocs/mdocs/upov/en/tc_edc/2007/tgp_14_draft_1_section_2_3_2.pdf

“Lenteroos ‘Alexia.’” Mijn Tuin > Planten.
Available @ https://www.mijntuin.org/plants/5238-lenteroos-alexia

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus ‘Candy Love' Has Greenish White Flowers With Reddish Edges.” Earth and Space News. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/10/helleborus-candy-love-has-greenish.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus Plant Named ‘Alexia’ Has Light Green Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/10/helleborus-plant-named-alexia-has-light.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma' Has White to Greenish Purple Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/10/helleborus-plant-named-emma-has-white.html

“The Parts of a Flower.” The Robinson Library > Science > Botany > Plant Anatomy.
Available @ http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/botany/anatomy/flowerparts.htm

Rice, Graham; Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 2005.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ Has Greenish White Flowers With Reddish Edges

Summary: Belgian hellebore breeder Thierry van Paemel patents Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ as a new variety that has greenish white flowers with reddish edges.

closeup of flowers and foliage of Helleborus plant named 'Candy Love,' Brighton, East Sussex, South East England; Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, 12:49:20: The Greenery Nursery and Garden Shop (The Greenery Nursery), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Helleborus ‘Candy Love,’ cultivated by Belgian helleborist Thierry van Paemel, has greenish white flowers with reddish edges and dark green leaves.

On Oct. 29, 2007, Thierry van Paemel filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his invention, a distinctive, new cultivar, Helleborus ‘Candy Love.’ He named Compass Plants B.V. of Hillegom, South Holland province, western Netherlands, as assignee.

Kent L. Bell, primary examiner, reviewed the application for Helleborus ‘Candy Love.’ On Nov. 4, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office assigned plant patent number 19,413 to van Paemel’s Helleborus ‘Candy Love.’

‘Candy Love’ hellebore is a cultivated variety of the Helleborus x nigercors hybrid. Helleborus x nigercors results from crossing Helleborus niger, known commonly as black hellebore or Christmas rose, and Helleborus lividus, known commonly as Corsican hellebore.

Plants described in the patent application were grown during winter in containers outdoors at van Paemel’s nursery, Kwekerij Het Wilgenbroek BVBA, in Oostkamp, West Flanders province, northwestern Belgium. Day temperatures during production spanned about 4 degrees to about 15 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees to 59 degrees Fahrenheit). The night temperature range was from about minus 1 degree to about 8 degrees Celsius (30.2 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ presents an upright, flattened globular, mounded shape. ‘Candy Love’ measures a height of about 23.8 centimeters (9.37 inches), with an area of spread of about 52 centimeters (20.47 inches).

Leaves emerge at the plant’s base as basal rosettes. Each circular arrangement usually numbers about nine leaves.

The newly cultivated variety’s palmately compound leaves consist of five serrated leaflets that radiate from a common point. Leaflet shape is narrowly elliptical to obovate (Latin: ovatus, “egg-shaped”).

Leaves measure lengths of about 19.2 centimeters (7.55 inches) and widths of about 12.1 centimeters (4.76 inches). Terminal leaflets have lengths of about 14.4 centimeters (5.66 inches) and widths of about 5.6 centimeters (2.2 inches). Lateral leaflets are smaller, with lengths of about 11.4 centimeters (4.48 inches) and widths of about 4.2 centimeters (1.65 inches).

Leathery, smooth mature leaflets have dark green (Royal Horticultural Society color 147A) upper surfaces with dark green (RHS 144A) veins. Lower surfaces of mature leaflets are brown green (RHS 191A) with brown (RHS 165A) venation.

‘Candy Love’ flowers nod atop flower stems. A lengthy, natural flowering season lasts from December through April in Belgium. Each flower, which is not persistent, blooms for about 10 days.

Each flower comprises a single whorl of five sepals, with no detectable petals. Sepal length is about 3.8 centimeters (1.49 inches). Width measures about 2.9 centimeters (1.14 inches).

Smoothly edged and surfaced sepals are shaped ovately (Latin: ovatus, “egg-shaped”). Sepal tips have blunt, rounded tips described as obtuse.

Fully opened flowers have yellow green to white (RHS 150D to 155A) upper surfaces with light green coloring (RHS 144C) toward the base. With development, upper surfaces become brown green (RHS 146B, 146C), with brown purple coloring (RHS 178A, 178B) toward margins.

Lower surfaces of fully opened flowers are yellow green (RHS 150D), with brown red (RHS 182C) flushes. With development, lower surfaces become gray (RHS 197A), with brown purple (RHS 178A) margins and veins.

Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ originates from cross-pollination of a proprietary selection of female Helleborus niger plants and male Helleborus lividus plants. Thierry van Paemel designated the proprietary selection of unpatented seed and pollen hellebores as Wilgenbroek Selection. Cross-pollination occurred in a controlled environment at his nursery.

In 2005, the inventor discovered and selected a single flowering plant from the progeny of the cross-pollination program. Subsequent asexual reproduction by vegetative cuttings were conducted in a controlled environment in Zandvoort, North Holland province, northwestern Netherlands. Successive generations displayed stable and true reproduction of the selected hellebore cultivar’s distinctive characteristics.

With a desirable variety of attributes, Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ appears as a good garden performer. ‘Candy Love’ tolerates elemental forces, such as rain and wind, and thrives in temperatures ranging from about minus 20 degrees to about 30 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit). Attractive coloring, lengthy blooming period and appealing shape complete the distinctively desirable profile that ‘Candy Love’ hellebore maintains in bedded, border and container gardens.

Helleborus 'Candy Love' sells commercially under the trade name of 'Candy Love' in Thierry van Paemel's Winter Magic™ series. The series comprises floriferous potted hellebores that are deer resistant, drought tolerant and shade happy. Selections in the series all feature a beautiful powder-gray veil over their leathery leaves.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

image of Helleborus planted named ‘Candy Love’ included in patent application filed Monday, Oct. 29, 2007, as application number 11/978495, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP19,413; Date of Patent Nov. 4, 2008: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019413;
color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries, @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP19413

For further information:

Burrell, C. Colston; Judith Knott Tyler. Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2006.

"Hellebore (Helleborus x ballardiae Winter Magic™ Candy Love)." The National Gardening Association > Plants Database > Hellebores.
Available @ http://garden.org/plants/view/236708/Hellebore-Helleborus-x-ballardiae-Winter-Magic-Candy-Love/

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Alexia.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). July 6, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021149

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Candy Love.” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Nov. 4, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019413

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). June 29, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021126

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Silvermoon.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word(PIW). March 8, 2005.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP015639

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Snow Love.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Dec. 9, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019559

“Helleborus x ericsmithii ‘Pink Beauty.’” Perennials > Plants.
Available @ http://www.perennials.com/plants/helleborus-ericsmithii-pink-beauty.html

“Lenteroos ‘Alexia.’” Mijn Tuin > Planten.
Available @ https://www.mijntuin.org/plants/5238-lenteroos-alexia

Marriner, Derdriu. "Helleborus Plant Named 'Alexia' Has Light Green Flowers." Earth and Space News. Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/10/helleborus-plant-named-alexia-has-light.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma’ Has White to Greenish Purple Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/10/helleborus-plant-named-emma-has-white.html

“The Parts of a Flower.” The Robinson Library > Science > Botany > Plant Anatomy.
Available @ http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/botany/anatomy/flowerparts.htm

Rice, Graham. “A Hellebore for (Almost) Any Situation.” The Telegraph > Gardening. Feb. 25, 2014.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/10648349/A-hellebore-for-almost-any-situation.html

Rice, Graham; Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 2005.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma’ Has White to Greenish Purple Flowers

Summary: A Helleborus plant named ‘Emma’ has dark green leaves and a long flowering period of white flowers that become greenish purple.

closeup of flowers and foliage of Helleborus plant named 'Emma,' Brighton, East Sussex, South East England: peganum, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

A Helleborus plant named ‘Emma,’ invented by Belgian hellebore breeder Thierry van Paemel, has smooth, dark green leaves and a long, late-winter flowering period with white flowers that become greenish purple.

On March 27, 2009, a patent application for ‘Emma’ was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Beekenkamp Plants B.V., in Maasdijk, Netherlands, was listed as assignee. The patent was granted June 29, 2010, as PP21,126, after affirmative review by Annette H. Para as primary examiner.

Plant breeder Thierry van Paemel manages Kwekerij Het Wilgenbroek BVBA, a nursery specializing in hellebores, in Oostkamp, a municipality in the northwestern Belgian province of West Flanders. A Helleborus plant named ‘Emma’ emerges from the inventor’s program of planned breeding with the goal of creating new, early and freely flowering Helleborus cultivars.

In January 2003 Thierry van Paemel conducted a controlled cross-pollination of a proprietary selection of Helleborus x nigercors in the nursery’s greenhouse. The seed parents’ hybrid, Helleborus x nigercors, represents a cross between Helleborus niger, known commonly as black hellebore or Christmas rose, and Helleborus argutifolius, known commonly as Corsican hellebore, Corsican rose or holly-leaved hellebore.

In January 2005 the inventor discovered and selected, from the progeny of the 2003 cross-pollination program, a single flowering plant with desirable characteristics. Asexual reproduction by tissue culture, conducted since May 2005 in a laboratory in Lochristi, East Flanders province, northwestern Belgium, confirm the stability and true reproduction of desirable traits over successive generations.

The distinguishing characteristics of the Helleborus plant named ‘Emma’ emphasize growth and spread; dark green leaf color; early, free flowering over a lengthy blooming period; floral colors. The new cultivar exhibits outward and upright mounded spread. The natural flowering season for ‘Emma’ spans late winter in the Netherlands.

The description for the patent application is based upon plants grown in an outdoor nursery in Maasdijk, Netherlands throughout late winter. Plants were potted in 2-liter (2.11-quart) containers. Day temperatures spanned minus 2 degrees to 25 degrees Celsius (28.4 degrees to 77 degrees Fahrenheit). The night temperature range was from minus 5 degrees to 15 degrees Celsius (41 degrees to 59 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Helleborus plant named ‘Emma’ has white to brown fleshy roots. The sparse roots are moderately branched.

‘Emma’ measures a height of about 17.4 centimeters (6.85 inches). Plant diameter, known as area of spread, reaches about 41.6 centimeters (16.37 inches).

The new Helleborus cultivar’s dark green foliage presents a palmate compound leaf type. Leaves comprise five, serrated leaflets attached to a common point. Leaflets are shaped elliptically to ovately (Latin: ovatus, “egg-shaped”). Leaflet shape may also appear obovate (Latin: ob-, “opposite” + ovatus, “egg-shaped”), with the narrower end at the base.

The entire leaf measures a length of about 15.8 centimeters (6.22 inches) and a width of about 17.2 centimeters (6.77 inches). Each individual leaflet has a length of about 11.3 centimeters (4.44 inches) and a width of about 4 centimeters (1.57 inches).

Mature leaflets have upper surface blade colors of dark green to green gray (Royal Horticultural Society colors 139A, N189A), with brown green (RHS 148D) veins. Leaflet blade underside color is from dark green to brown green (RHS 147A, 189A). Underside venation is brown (RHS 177A, 177B).

Flowers are borne at stem tops as terminal panicles, or clusters. Flowers in the loosely branching clusters measure diameters of about 5.8 centimeters (2.28 inches) and depths of about 2.2 centimeters (0.86 inches). Each plant puts forth about 75 outward-facing, upright flowers. Each flower, which is not persistent, lasts about 10 days.

Floral arrangement consists of about five sepals in a single whorl. Each sepal is ovate to broadly ovate in shape, with a rounded apex, or tip. Smoothness characterizes sepal edges and upper and lower surface textures.

Fully opened flowers have yellow green to white (RHS 150D, 155A) uppersides that are tinged with green brown (RHS 153D) toward the center. With development, coloring becomes brown purple (RHS 178A) with dark green (RHS 147A) tinges. The undersides of fully opened flowers are close to light green (RHS 145C), with light green to brown green (RHS 145B, 147D) coloring toward bases and centers.

The Helleborus plant named ‘Emma’ is found to perform well in gardens. In addition to showy desirable traits of color, lengthy blooming period, growth and shape, ‘Emma’ is not discouraged by rain or wind. Also, ‘Emma’ tolerates a wide temperature range of about minus 20 degrees to about 35 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit).

image of Helleborus plant named 'Emma' included in patent application filed Friday, March 27, 2009, with United States Patent and Trademark Office: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of flowers and foliage of Helleborus plant named 'Emma,' Brighton, East Sussex, South East England: peganum, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/peganum/8506739924/

image of Helleborus plant named 'Emma' included in patent application filed Friday, March 27, 2009, as application number 12/383848 with United States Patent and Trademark Office: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021126;
via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP21126

For further information:

Burrell, C. Colston; Judith Knott Tyler. Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2006.

“Helleborus ericsmithii ‘HGC Silvermoon’ PP15639.” Perennial Resource > Perennial Encyclopedia.
Available @ http://www.perennialresource.com/encyclopedia/view/?plant=1984

"Helleborus Plant Named 'Alexia.'" United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). July 6, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021149

"Helleborus Plant Named 'Candy Love.'" United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Nov. 4, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019413

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). June 29, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021126

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Silvermoon.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). March 8, 2005.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP015639

"Helleborus Plant Named 'Snow Love.'" United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Dec. 9, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019559

Rice, Graham; Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 2005.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Helleborus Plant Named ‘Alexia’ Has Light Green Flowers

Summary: A Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ has dark green leaves and a long flowering period of light green flowers.

image of Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ included in patent application filed Friday, March 27, 2009, as application number 12/383848, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP21,126; Date of Patent June 29, 2010: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Invented by Belgian hellebore breeder Thierry van Paemel, a Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ has leathery, smooth, dark green leaves and light green flowers with a long, late-winter flowering period.

On March 27, 2009, Thierry van Paemel filed a patent application through the United States Patent and Trademark Office for ‘Alexia.’ He listed Beekenkamp Plants B.V. of Maasdijk, South Holland province, Midwestern Netherlands, as assignee. As primary examiner, Annette H. Para reviewed the application. On July 6, 2010, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent, as PP21,149, for the Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia.’

A Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ is the product of a cross-pollination conducted in February 2003 by Thierry van Paemel in a controlled greenhouse environment at his nursery, Kwekerij Het Wilgenbroek BVBA, in Oostkamp, West Flanders province, northwestern Belgium. The unpatented seed parents of ‘Alexia’ originate in the inventor’s proprietary selection of female and male Helleborus x nigercors plants.

In April 2005, Thierry van Paemel discovered and selected the new plant, now known as ‘Alexia,’ from the progeny of his 2003 controlled cross-pollination program. The stability and true reproduction of the new variety’s desirable characteristics over successive generations have been confirmed via asexual reproduction by tissue culture in a laboratory in Lochristi, East Flanders province, northwestern Belgium.

The Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ presents desirable characteristics regarding shape and spread; floral and leaf coloring; flowering habit and period. ‘Alexia’ exhibits outward, upright spreading in a flattened globular, mounded shape. Dark green leaves and light green flowers distinguish ‘Alexia.’ An early, freely flowering habit extends over a long flowering period.

‘Alexia’ hellebores were grown during late winter in 13-centimeter (5.11-inch) containers in an outdoor nursery in Maasdijk, Netherlands. Day temperatures during production ranged from minus 2 degrees to 25 degrees Celsius (28.4 degrees to 77 degrees Fahrenheit). Night temperatures ranged from minus 5 degrees to 15 degrees Celsius (41 degrees to 59 degrees Fahrenheit).

Stems emerge from fleshy, white- to brown-colored, moderately branching roots. Plant height measures about 19.6 centimeters (7.71 inches). Plant diameter, known as area of spread, measures about 40.8 centimeters (16.06 inches).

Palmate compound leaves feature five, serrated leaflets that radiate from a common point. Leaflet shape is elliptical to slightly obovate (Latin: ob-, “opposite” + ovatus, “egg-shaped”).

Leaf length measures about 14.4 centimeters (5.66 inches). Leaf width measures about 16.4 centimeters (6.45 inches). Leaflets have lengths of about 12 centimeters (4.72 inches) and widths of about 4.5 centimeters (1.77 inches).

Uppersides of fully developed leaves are dark green (Royal Horticultural Society colors 139A, 147A), with dark green or light green (RHS 144a, 144B) veins. Undersides of fully developed leaves are brown green (RHS 147B), with green brown (RHS 152A, 152B) venation.

Flowering occurs at stem tops, as terminal panicles. Flowers, which are upright in the loosely branching clusters, face outwardly. Each ‘Alexia’ plant puts forth about 31 flowers. Each flower, which does not persist, has a lifespan of about 10 days.

Panicles measure heights of about 19.6 centimeters (7.71 inches) and diameters of about 11.4 centimeters (4.48 inches). Each flower has a diameter of about 5.5 centimeters (2.16 inches) and a depth of about 2.3 centimeters (0.9 inches).

No petals are detected in the perianth (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “about, around” + ἄνθος, ánthos, “flower”), the outermost of a flower’s four whorls, or sets of parts. Each ‘Alexia’ flower has about five sepals, the lowermost part of the perianth. Sepal shape is broadly ovate (Latin: ovatus, “egg-shaped”) to orbicular, with a rounded tip. Sepal edges and surfaces are smooth.

Upper surfaces of fully opened flowers are light green (RHS 144B). Lower surfaces are light green (RHS 145C), with light green to brown green (145B, 147D) coloring toward bases and centers.

Thierry van Paemel notes that the Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ is a good garden performer. ‘Alexia’ is tolerant of temperatures ranging from about minus 20 degrees to about 35 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit). The new cultivar tolerates rain and wind.

The Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ complements tenacious survival of elemental forces with attractiveness in color and shape as well as with a desirably lengthy blooming period throughout late winter.

'Alexia' is similar to another variety, 'Emma,' from the same cross-pollination program, but the two hellebores differ primarily in floral coloring; closeup of flowers and foliage of Helleborus plant named 'Emma,' Brighton, East Sussex, South East England: peganum, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

image of Helleborus plant named ‘Alexia’ included in patent application filed Friday, March 27, 2009, as application number 12/383848, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP21,126; Date of Patent June 29, 2010: Thierry van Paemel, Public Domain, via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021126;
color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries, @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP21126

Burrell, C. Colston; Judith Knott Tyler. Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2006.

“Helleborus Plant Named 'Alexia.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). July 6, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021149

"Helleborus Plant Named 'Candy Love.'" United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Nov. 4, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019413

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘Emma.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). June 29, 2010.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP021126

"Helleborus Plant Named 'Snow Love.'" United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). Dec. 9, 2008.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP019559

“Helleborus x ericsmithii ‘Pink Beauty.’” Perennials > Plants.
Available @ http://www.perennials.com/plants/helleborus-ericsmithii-pink-beauty.html

“Lenteroos ‘Alexia.’” Mijn Tuin > Planten.
Available @ https://www.mijntuin.org/plants/5238-lenteroos-alexia

“The Parts of a Flower.” The Robinson Library > Science > Botany > Plant Anatomy.
Available @ http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/botany/anatomy/flowerparts.htm

Rice, Graham; Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hellebores. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 2005.