US Plant Patent PP4383
Mutation of Summerland Red McIntosh apple tree
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired March 24, 1998. 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
- PP4383
- Filed
- March 24, 1978
- Granted
- February 20, 1979
- Expires
- March 24, 1998
- Assignee
- STARK BROTHERS NURSERIES & ORC
- Inventor
- DEWAR MAC F
No cultivar name of record
This patent does not name the plant, and for its era that is ordinary rather than an omission. Before about 1980, breeders frequently patented a plant without giving it a cultivar name at all — the grant identified it by its number, its parentage and a written description of the flower and foliage. Most plant patents from the 1930s to the 1970s have no name in them.
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
The new variety is a whole tree bud mutation of the Summerland Red McIntosh apple tree (non-patented) which was discovered in my orchard at Oyama, British Columbia, Canada. This variety is of the spur-type, possesses a vigorous compact more upright growth habit, and heavily bears fruit on a consistent basis which is of a more intense solid red color. It possesses more fruiting spurs per linear foot than the McIntosh apple tree -- Gatzke strain (non-patented) and less fruiting spurs per linear foot than the McIntosh apple tree -- Greenslade strain (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 2,982) and the McIntosh apple tree -- Raikes strain (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,390). Additionally, its propensity to form shoots (i.e. vegetative growth) is different (as described) than that of the McIntosh apple tree -- Gatzke strain, the McIntosh apple tree -- Greenslade strain and the McIntosh apple tree -- Raikes strain.
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 apple tree of the spur-type which is a whole tree mutation of the Summerland Red McIntosh apple tree (non-patented) substantially as shown and described, characterized by a vigorous compact more upright growth habit with only a slightly spreading tendency, the ability to heavily bear fruit which is of a more intense red color, large dark green leaves, more fruiting spurs per linear foot than the McIntosh apple tree -- Gatzke strain (non-patented), less fruiting spurs per linear foot than the McIntosh apple tree -- Greenslade strain (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 2,982) and the McIntosh apple tree -- Raikes strain (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,390), the propensity to form when three years of age significantly less shoots on two year old branches than the McIntosh apple tree -- Gatzke strain (non-patented) and the McIntosh apple tree -- Greenslade strain (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 2,982), the propensity to form when three years of age more shoots on two year old branches than the McIntosh apple tree -- Raikes strain (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,390), and the propensity to form after three years of age generally less shoots than the McIntosh apple tree -- Gatzke strain (non-patented).
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP4383 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.