Poinsettia plant `4-91`

#This new poinsettia cultivar, "4-91," originated as a natural pink blushed bracted sport of poinsettia "135" (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,234) in my greenhouse in Encinitas, Calif. It was selected because of its unusual flower bract color and self branching characteristics; traits which distinguish it from other poinsettia cultivars, and seem to make it a desirable plant for commercial greenhouse production. The bract color of "4-91" is distinctively different from the patent plant, poinsettia "135," which has a predominant white background with red splotches of various sizes and shapes randomly scattered over the bracts. "4-91" has a more uniform blush of red over the entire bract surface. After selection, "4-91" was vegetatively reproduced from stem cuttings for test purposes in Encinitas, Calif. By subjecting clones of this plant to successive generations of vegetative propagation, it was demonstrated that the distinctive characteristics of "4-91" held true from generation to generation.

#Poinsettia "4-91" is illustrated in the accompanying color photographs. The upper photo is a side view of 3 single stem plants per pot in full flower. Evidence of self-branching can be seen in the flowering axillary branches beneath the upper canopy of bracts. The lower photo is a top view of the same plants showing flower and bract formation.

#The following is a detailed description of this new poinsettia as observed in Encinitas, Calif., U.S.A. during December 1992. Observations were recorded from flowering plants, grown as 3 single stem plants per pot. The pot was 14 cm in diameter and 11 cm in height. Color designations are compared to the 1986 edition of R.H.S. Colour Chart, first published in 1966 by the Royal Horticultural Society, London, England.

#Origin: Naturally occurring sport of Poinsettia "135" (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,234).

#Classification: