Discovering and Patenting a New Plant - Sarita
TM
by Sarah Celestian
D
presentation. Aside from its exceptional Discovering and patenting a plant has been an interesting experience. Luckily growth habit, SaritaTM maintains all other characteristics of its parent plant, for me, the “discovering” part came making it an interesting alternative to easily. My name is Sarah Celestian. an already widely used staple in the I have been the propagator at Desert southwestern landscape. Tree Farm in Phoenix, Arizona for With SaritaTM gaining interest from the past five years. Owned by John other nursery professionals, we decided and Christine Augustine, Desert Tree to apply for a plant patent. Patenting Farm grows over 200 different taxa of landscape plants for the desert southwest, and has been doing so for more than 36 years. After 36 years of growing plants, you would think that there would be no more surprises, that we had seen and grown it all. However, as soon as you get comfortable in your routine, the unexpected happens - you discover a new plant, a plant that is truly unique and has the potential to be a great addition to the urban landscape. Many new plants are actively discovered or created by subjecting seeds and plant parts to various experimental conditions, such as radiation, with the hope that a desirable mutation will occur. My path to plant discovery was much more passive; I was fortunate to find one of nature’s mutations. While collecting Calliandra californica seed from a block of containergrown plants, my keen eye noticed an interesting variation with the growth habit of one of the plants. Desert Tree Farm’s newly patented Sarita™ plant Normally, C. californica is a large upright shrub that can grow to six feet tall and as wide. However, intellectual property has been done this particular specimen was not in the United States since 1790, growing upright; it was prostrate, when the first patent was issued to and trailing out of its container. With Samuel Hopkins for a soap production an appreciation for odd plants and technique. Not until 1892 did recognizing that this form may have Congress consider including plants as great potential in the landscape, I intellectual property capable of being pulled it out of the block and began patented. Noted plant breeders such propagating it asexually. After two years as Luther Burbank, who developed of propagation and landscape trials, over 800 different strains and varieties this prostrate form of C. californica of plants throughout his career, and became known at Desert Tree Farm as inventors such as Thomas Edison, SaritaTM. This new variety has proven advocated to Congress to expand patent to be an excellent choice for use as a protection to include plants. They xeric ground cover or in a container argued that new plant varieties, which www.azna.org
have been developed in a breeding program and would not normally survive in nature, are in existence due to human intervention, and thus are the property of the inventor. After nearly 40 years of consideration, Congress enacted The Plant Patent Act of 1930 (PPA), the first legislation of this kind anywhere in the world. The PPA states that a plant patent is granted to an inventor who has discovered and is able to asexually reproduce a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state. The first plant patent was granted to Henry Bosenberg for a climbing rose, and subsequently Luther Burbank, who died in 1926, received 16 plant patents posthumously. Even today, applying for a plant patent requires thoroughness and patience. Detailed descriptions of all aspects of the unique discovery are needed to substantiate the discoverers’ exclusive rights to the new plant. In May 2009, a year after we submitted our application, Desert Tree Farm was granted a patent for SaritaTM, under the full name Calliandra californica ‘cascada desiertica,’ with the patent number PP20039. Along my own path of obtaining a new plant patent, I have not only discovered a new and unique variety of Calliandra, but have also gained a new appreciation for the process, as well as the hard work and dedication of those who made it all possible. I am honored and privileged to be able to count myself in the ranks along with pioneers like Luther Burbank and other celebrated horticulturists. Desert Tree Farm also holds a plant patent for Caesalpinia pulcherrima Phoenix Bird and for Salvia greggii variegate Desert Blaze.
November/December 2009 | 11