US Plant Patent PP14776
Robert Fleming
Hibiscus plant named ‘Robert Fleming’
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired April 3, 2022. This plant is in the public domain — anyone may propagate and sell it.
Twenty years from the filing date would end on September 10, 2021. This patent earned 205 days of term adjustment for delay at the Patent Office, which is why it runs longer.

The record
- Patent number
- PP14776
- Filed
- September 10, 2001
- Granted
- May 11, 2004
- Expires
- April 3, 2022
- Inventor
- FLEMING DAVID W; ZWETZIG GRETCHEN A
Abstract
A new and distinct cultivar of winter hardy hibiscus plant named ‘Robert Fleming’ is the result of a unique hybridization. This new and distinct cultivar is characterized primarily as to novelty by its extreme cold hardiness to Zone 4, its ovate “Hydrangea-like” green leaves, its rich, large, dark red flowers that are very overlapping and ruffled, its short stature and compactness with vigorous growth potential, total refinement, and its floriferous nature from midsummer until frost.
Show the legal claimThe single numbered claim as granted — the legal text that defines what this patent covers.
We claim: 1. A new and distinct cultivar of Hibiscus plant, as herein shown and described, characterized by its green, ovate “Hydrangea-type” crinkled foliage, its medium-sized and overlapping, bright red, ruffled flowers, its more compact size, its vigor and its hardiness.
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP14776 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.