RELATED CULTIVARS

‘Cefortuna’ is developed from a breeding program for pot asters that has so far yielded the commercial varieties ‘Dynaster’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,262), ‘Diamaster’ (U.S. Plant Patent Application Ser. No. 10/426,847) and Dukaster (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 15,100).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

‘Cefortuna’ is a product of a breeding-program that had the objective of creating new Aster cultivars, that can be grown as pot plants and propagated by means of cuttings from cuttings, similar to the cultivation and propagation of all year round chrysanthemum. The new plant of the present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of an Aster plant. ‘Cefortuna’ is a seedling from a cross of a breeding program maintained at Chrysanthemum Breeders Association Research BV, Rijsenhout, Holland. The female parent is 97.6128, a non-commercialized aster variety; the male parent is unknown, being a mixed population of a group of male parents. A comparison with parent aster 97.6128 is also given in this application. The new and distinct cultivar was discovered and selected as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross by Harry W. M. van Straalen in a controlled environment (greenhouse) in Rijsenhout, Holland in 2000. The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Cefortuna’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in 2000 in a controlled environment in Rigsenhout, Holland.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention ‘Cefortuna’ is a new and distinct variety of Aster bearing medium sized blooms with purple ray-florets and yellow disc florets, which can be propagated by a cutting from a cutting and produced as pot plants in 8 weeks time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention ‘Cefortuna’ of a new and distinct variety of Aster is shown in the accompanying drawings, the color being as nearly true as possible with color photographs of this type.

FIG. 1 shows a plant of the cultivar in full bloom.

FIG. 2 shows the various stages of bloom of the new cultivar.

FIG. 3 shows the foliage of the new cultivar.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This new variety of Aster is of the botanical classification Aster novi-belgii L. The observations and measurements were gathered from plants grown in a greenhouse in Rijsenhout Holland in a photo-periodic controlled crop under conditions generally used in commercial practice. The greenhouse temperatures during this crop were at day-time between 18° C. and 25° C. and at night 20° C. The photo-periodic response time in this crop was 39 days, after an average of 16 long days after sticking of the unrooted cuttings. Plants are pinched 10 days after sticking. Growth retardants were applied in an average dose of 1.5 gram/liter water, starting one week after pinching. The plants were observed (directly) during the flowering of this crop. The plant is susceptible to Powdery Mildew. No tests were done on cold or drought tolerance. This new variety produces medium sized blooms with purple ray-florets andyellow disc-florets blooming on the plant for 4 weeks. This new variety of Aster has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics throughout successive propagations, however the phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as light intensity and temperature. ‘Cefortuna’ can be planted with assimilation lightning (high pressure sodium lamps) between week 5 and week 35 under greenhouse conditions in Holland.

From the cultivars known to inventor the most similar existing cultivar in comparison to ‘Cefortuna’ are its female parent 97.6128 and the varieties ‘Dukaster’ and ‘Dynaster’. When these varieties are being compared with ‘Cefortuna’ the following differences are noticed: The differences between ‘Cefortuna’, 97.6128, ‘Dukaster’ and ‘Dynaster’ are (1) Flower color. (2) Growth habit. (3) Leaf width. (1) The color of the ray-florets of ‘Cefortuna’ is purple, while it is pink in ‘Dukaster’ and violet in 97.6128 and ‘Dynaster’. (2) The growth habit is upright and partially spreading in ‘Cefortuna’, while this is upright in 97.6128, ‘Dukaster’ and ‘Dynaster’ (3) The leaves of ‘Cefortuna’ and ‘Dynaster’ are of intermediate width, while those of 97.6128 are smaller, and those of ‘Dukaster’ are broader.

The following is a description of the plant and characteristics that distinguish ‘Cefortuna’ as a new and distinct variety. The color designations are taken from the plant itself. Accordingly, any discrepancies between the color designations and the colors depicted in the photographs are due to photographic tolerances. The color chart used in this description is: The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, edition 1995.