US Plant Patent PP4177
Showboat
Lily plant: Lilium `Showboat`
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired January 3, 1995. This plant is in the public domain — anyone may propagate and sell it.
Twenty years from the filing date would end on January 21, 1997, but this patent ends 749 days earlier — a terminal disclaimer gives term back. A source that calculates twenty years from filing would tell you this plant is still protected when it is already free.
The record
- Patent number
- PP4177
- Filed
- January 21, 1977
- Granted
- January 3, 1978
- Expires
- January 3, 1995
- Assignee
- MELRIDGE INC
- Inventor
- MCRAE EDWARD A
Abstract
A new variety of Asiatic hybrid lily plant bearing large clusters of medium-sized flowers of excellent form, strong color, and long persistence, both on the plant and as a cut flower; the flowers of the new plant being particularly characterized by their deep blood red color which is unique in the division of hybrid lilies to which the plant belongs. The plant is a good propagator, highly resistant to disease, and tolerant to virus. It is a good grower and excellent when precooled bulbs are forced out of season.
Show the legal claimThe single numbered claim as granted — the legal text that defines what this patent covers.
I claim: 1. A new and distinctive variety of Asiatic hybrid lily plant substantially as herein shown and described, characterized by its high resistance to disease, its tolerance to virus, the vigorous growth and propagation characteristics of its clone; its versatility both as a garden plant and a plant produced from precooled bulbs forced for cut flower and pot plant; its erect and stately form; the excellence of its flower form; and particularly by the intense blood red color of its flowers.
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP4177 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.