US Plant Patent PP5195
Leucothoe plant-zeblid variety
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired February 28, 2001. This plant is in the public domain — anyone may propagate and sell it.
No term adjustment or disclaimer is recorded against this patent, so this is the full statutory term — twenty years from the filing date.
The record
- Patent number
- PP5195
- Filed
- June 23, 1980
- Granted
- February 28, 1984
- Expires
- February 28, 2001
- Assignee
- CONARD PYLE COMPANY
- Inventor
- ZEBEHAZY ALEX J
No cultivar name of record
This patent does not name the plant. Through the 1980s and early 1990s that was still common: naming every new cultivar only became standard practice as plants began to be marketed under brand names. The grant identifies this one by its number and by a written description instead.
Nothing here is missing from our records: the patent itself states no name. Where one exists we show it, and we do not invent one.
Abstract
A new and distinct variety of Leucothoe is provided. While the new variety is believed to have originated as a cross-pollination of Leucothoe fontanesiana with pollen from Leucothoe axillaris, this cross cannot be confirmed. The new variety exhibits a highly attractive leaf coloration as well as outstanding tolerance to shade, and is very hardy.
Show the legal claimThe single numbered claim as granted — the legal text that defines what this patent covers.
I claim: 1. A new and distinct variety of Leucothoe, substantially as herein shown and described, characterized particularly as to novelty by the unique combination of: (a) a dense, compact, and symmetrical habit of growth which is much more attractive and compact than the Leucothoe fontanesiana parent, (b) striking scarlet coloration of the new growth during the growing season, which is virtually never found in either parent, (c) highly unique winter coloration which ranges from a greenish bronze to scarlet, making the new variety an outstanding source of color in the landscape throughout the year, (d) outstanding tolerance to shade, making the variety an important addition to that small group of plants that do well in diminished sunlight, (e) substantial absence of dead branches, which are commonly found with Leucothoe fontanesiana, and (f) increased tolerance to cold when compared to Leucothoe axillaris, as is evidenced by the fact that the variety when established has survived temperatures of -15° F. with little to no damage, whereas Leucothoe axillaris is listed as hardy to 0° F.
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP5195 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.