Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Phormium tenax cultivar Merlot.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Phormium plant, botanically known as Phormium tenax, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Merlotxe2x80x99.
The new Phormium is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Phormium tenax cultivar Burgundy, not patented. The new Phormium was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a plant within a population of plants of the parent cultivar in a controlled environment in Auckland, New Zealand in 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by divisions taken at Auckland, New Zealand since November, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Phormium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Merlotxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Merlotxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Phormium cultivar:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Stiff, leathery, tough and durable foliage.
3. Upper leaf surfaces, dark grayed purple in color with distinct black leaf margin and midrib; lower leaf surfaces, silvery gray in color.
Plants of the new Phormium differ from plants of the parent, the cultivar Burgundy, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Phormium have narrower leaves than plants of the cultivar Burgundy.
2. Leaves of plants of the new Phormium are slightly folded upright whereas leaves of plants of the cultivar Burgundy are flat.
3. Leaves of plants of the new Phormium are darker in color than leaves of plants of the cultivar Burgundy.
Plants of the new Phormium can be compared to plants of the Phormium cultivar Platts Black, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Auckland, New Zealand, plants of the new Phormium differed from plants of the cultivar Platts Black in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Phormium were larger, more upright and not as outwardly weeping as plants of the cultivar Platts Black.
2. Plants of the new Phormium had broader leaves than plants of the cultivar Platts Black.
3. Leaves of plants of the new Phormium were slightly folded upright whereas leaves of plants of the cultivar Platts Black were flat.
4. Upper leaf surfaces of plants of the new Phormium were dark grayed purple in color whereas upper leaf surfaces of plants of the cultivar Platts Black were grayish black in color.
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