University News
WIU Professor Patents Royal Discovery
February 5, 2001
This spring as the green thumbs starts itching to plant new flowers they should take a look at geraniums; but not just the tried and true red ones. New purple geraniums, courtesy of Marietta Loehrlein, assistant professor of horticulture at Western Illinois University, are now on the market.
The Camelot Regal Geranium, with its rich, deep purple flowers, has been patented as part of Oglevee Ltd.s royalty series. The Regal Geranium is a relative of the well-known garden, or zonal geranium.
"What makes it a royal is that the plants are easy to breed and grow, and they have attractive, long-lasting flowers," Loehrlein explained.
Camelot is a cross between large-flowered American plants and smaller-flowered English cultivars with many flowers. Camelots English background allows it to set seed better than its American counterparts.
"One of my objectives was to create a Regal that could be propagated (started) by seed. Currently, they are only propagated commercially by vegetative cuttings," added Loehrlein.
Camelot is the first plant that Loehrlein has patented and according to her, the process is not an easy one. With the help of Richard Craig at Penn State University, world-renowned for his work in geraniums, they were able to develop a royal plant that withstood several years of trials. Then, Oglevee Ltd. made the decision to market the new cultivar. Penn State lawyers handled the patent process, beginning with a disclosure to make sure that no one else had the same creation.
"When I first visited Penn State, two years before attending school there, I saw the Regal Geraniums in Dr. Craigs greenhouse and was immediately drawn to them. I guess serendipity had its way, and I ended up going to Penn State in 1993 to earn my Ph.D. in genetics in horticulture," Loehrlein said. Now, eight years later, Loehrleins research, which began at Penn State, has led to a new Regal Geranium.
"Its always exciting to see your invention make it to the commercial stage," she added. "But its more than that. Ive always been told that if you find something you really like to do in life, stick with it. For me, breeding flowers is one of those things."
For more information on Camelot, contact Loehrlein at 309/298-1089 or visit www.oglevee.com.
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing
Connect with us: