US Plant Patent PP4641
Poinsettia plant
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired May 29, 1999. 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
- PP4641
- Filed
- May 29, 1979
- Granted
- February 3, 1981
- Expires
- May 29, 1999
- Assignee
- ECKE JR PAUL
- Inventor
- SUPTITZ DIETER
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 poinsettia cultivar originating as a sport of the Hegg variety disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 2,962 and distinguished by the bright red color of its relatively large bracts which have stronger stems and by its early blooming characteristic, especially when grown in the northern latitudes under the poor growing conditions of reduced light intensity and duration. This plant is medium to short in height, compared to currently produced varieties, is self-branching with many side shoots whether pinched or unpinched, and its rooting habit is uniform and fast. When grown for blooming at the same time as most other Hegg varieties, this plant may be grown at a lower temperature than usually required.
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 red poinsettia substantially as herein shown and described, characterized by the striking red color of its larger than average bracts, its early blooming habit, its medium to short height, its vigorous upright growth habit, and its uniform and fast rooting habit.
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP4641 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.