| PP17823 | Cuphea plant named ‘FLAMENCO SAMBA’ | June, 2007 | Keogh | PLT/420 |
| PP17285 | Cuphea plant named ‘FLAMENCO TANGO’ | December, 2006 | Keogh | PLT/420 |
| PP17213 | Cuphea plant named ‘FLAMENCO RUMBA’ | November, 2006 | Keogh | PLT/425 |
| PP13595 | Cuphea plant named ‘Firecracker’ | February, 2003 | Unger | PLT/226 |
| PP12953 | Cuphea plant named ‘Light Lavender II’ | September, 2002 | Rother | PLT/226 |
| PP05214 | Cuphea plant table top bonsai | April, 1984 | Pottberg | PLT/226 |
Latin name of the genus and species: Cuphea ignea.
Variety denomination: ‘TRIPLE C’.
The new cultivar was discovered in October of 2002 by the inventor as a single plant growing in an outdoor garden of unnamed Cuphea cultivars in a cultivated area of Rheinfelden, Germany.
A sexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘TRIPLE C’ by vegetative cuttings was performed in Oxnard, Calif. and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.
The cultivar ‘TRIPLE C’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, day length, and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘TRIPLE C’. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘TRIPLE C’ as a new and distinct Cuphea cultivar:
Plants of the new cultivar ‘TRIPLE C’ differ from the unnamed Cuphea cultivars in the outdoor garden where ‘TRIPLE C’ was discovered primarily in flower color and branching habit. The unnamed Cuphea cultivars were orange with a broad branching habit.
In comparison to the commercially available variety ‘Firecracker’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,595), ‘TRIPLE C’ is taller and has a wider plant spread. Additionally, the new variety has darker foliage. Also, the flowers of ‘TRIPLE C’ stay in tubular form while the flowers of ‘Firecracker’ bloom further into an opened flower with obovate-shaped petals. Finally, the new variety ‘TRIPLE C’ has pink and yellow tubular flowers compared to the red and purple flowers of ‘Firecracker.’
The accompanying photograph in FIG. 1 illustrates in close up view the flowers of ‘TRIPLE C’.
FIG. 2 is an overall photograph of the new cultivar in an outdoor garden. The colors are as nearly true as is reasonably possible in a color representative of this type.
In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The following observations and measurements describe ‘TRIPLE C’ plants grown in Oxnard, Calif. during the months of January through June in an outdoor garden. The growing temperature ranged from 12° C. to 15° C. at night to 12° C. to 20° C. during the day. Measurements and numerical values represent averages of typical flowering types.