Yojamestown

Chrysanthemum

Variety Description

Variety used for comparison: 'Dark Pomona'

Summary: 'Yojamestown' is a spray chrysanthemum variety which has wider leaves with a deeper lower lobe sinus than the reference variety 'Dark Pomona'. The margins of the sinus between lateral leaf lobes of 'Yojamestown' are overlapping, whereas they are diverging in 'Dark Pomona'. 'Yojamestown' has a smaller flower head and the ray florets have a longer corolla tube than 'Dark Pomona'.

Description:

'Yojamestown' is spray type chrysanthemum variety which has plants that are medium in height with few to a medium number of primary lateral shoots. There is no anthocyanin on the stems. The leaves are medium in length and medium to wide in width. The base of the leaf is truncate. The lower lobe of the leaf is short to medium, with a moderately deep sinus. The margins of the sinus between the lateral lobes are overlapping.

'Yojamestown' has double, decorative flower heads, which are medium purple in colour. The flower heads are small in diameter. There are no bracts among the florets. The ray florets are straight to slightly reflexing and short to medium in length, with a medium to long corolla tube. In cross section the ray florets are flat, with an emarginate or mamillate tip. 'Yojamestown' has no visible disc.

Origin & Breeding History: 'Yojamestown' is the product of a planned breeding program conducted by the breeder, an employee of Yoder Brothers, Inc. The variety originated from a cross made in March 1998, in Salinas, California. The female parent was a proprietary Chrysanthemum seedling identified as YB-5908. The proprietary seedling YB-4779 was the male parent. A single flowering plant was selected from within the progeny of the cross in March 1999, in a controlled environment in Fort Myers, Florida. The selection of this plant, which became the variety 'Yojamestown', was based on uniform plant growth habit, desirable inflorescence form and floret colours, fast response time and excellent postproduction longevity. Asexual reproduction of 'Yojamestown' was first conducted in Fort Myers, Florida, in July 1999.

Tests & Trials: Tests and trials for 'Yojamestown' were conducted at Yoder Canada Ltd., Leamington, Ontario, in the fall of 2005. Flowering trials were performed under greenhouse conditions similar to those used in commercial production. On August 1, 2005, unrooted cuttings of the candidate and reference varieties were directly stuck into 15cm pots, with 4 cuttings per pot and 10 pots per variety. Plants were pinched once prior to short day treatment. All plants had the centre bud removed. Pots were spaced 12 inches apart. Observations and measurements were taken from 10 plants of each variety on November 3, 2005. All colour measurements were made using the RHS Colour Chart 2001.

Comparison tables for 'Yojamestown' with reference variety 'Dark Pomona'

Flower head diameter (cm)

Length of corolla tube (cm)

Length of ray floret (cm)

Colour of outer ray floret (RHS)

Click on image for larger view

Chrysanthemum: 'Yojamestown' (left) with reference variety 'Dark Pomona' (right)