plant named ‘BeeOne’

Genus and species:Mill.

Variety denomination: ‘BeeOne’.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of avocado tree (Mill.) and hereinafter referred to by its variety denomination ‘BeeOne’.

The variety was first cultivated in the applicant's nursery at Great Brak Avos, Great Brak River, Western Cape, South Africa and originated by means of a chance seedling unknown cross by the inventor during reconnaissance at the premises of the applicant's owned farm in Leeukloof, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa.

Asexual reproduction of the ‘BeeOne’ plant at the company commercial nursery in Great Brak River has shown that the unique features thereof are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction by means of grafting.

The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety ofMill. which originated from a chance seedling as detailed herein below.

Dr Guy Witney, a consultant of the applicant was alerted to a chance seedling growing on the premises of one of the farm homes on the applicant's Leeukloof Farm. This tree had typical seedling characteristics including a long branch-less trunk, terminating in a high branched crown with a moderate crop of fruit in the canopy. Although the parentage of the new variety is not known, it was determined that the fruit had typical Mexican X Guatemalan avocado race characteristics and good commercial qualities including an excellent pulp to seed ratio, excellent organoleptic qualities, with late maturity and a thick green skin.

Budwood was collected from the tree before it was removed for orchard development and the budwood used to propagate 5 trees. Four trees were propagated on the clonal avocado rootstock Dusa™ in the nursery; and one was topworked to Dusa™ rootstock in the field. The tree and fruit horticultural characteristics have been recorded from 2018 to date.

All colors are described according to The Royal Horticultural Society (R.H.S.) Colour Chart, 1st edition, 1966, except where general color terms of ordinary significance are used or indicated otherwise.

The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics, under the local evaluation conditions, of the ‘BeeOne’ plant. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘BeeOne’ as a new and distinctMill. variety.

‘BeeOne’ has a very late ripening obovate fruit shape with a very thick skin and highly pebbled skin texture. The variety has a fruit of dark green color with a flattened fruit base. The fruit has a long shelf-life with a good creamy/nutty taste and has a very favorable pulp to seed ratio. The typical tree shape of ‘BeeOne’ is upright to moderately spreading with one 1-3 central leaders. This shape lends itself to high density planting and interplanting as a B-flower type with demonstrated strong/cross pollination of A-flower types.

Fruit of the newMill. variety ‘BeeOne’ is readily distinguishable from the most closely related, known variety ‘Reed’ (described under U.S. Plant Pat. No. 1,967). In this regard, ‘BeeOne’ has fruit of a obovate shape with a very thick, highly pebbled skin and pronounced lenticels with a dark glossy green skin having prominent yellow flecks. This can be compared to the round fruit of ‘Reed’ having a thick, lightly pebbled skin of dark glossy color with slight yellow flecks. The pedicel of ‘BeeOne’ is attached centrally on the highest point or may be slightly offset to one side, whereas the pedicel attachment is generally centered at the highest point of the fruit of ‘Reed’. The distal end of the fruit of ‘BeeOne’ has a slightly flattened 30° offset plane, 3-5 centimeters (cm) in diameter on the distal end of the fruit which is sometimes moderately russeted; whereas the fruit of ‘Reed’ has a small circular dimple on the distal end of the fruit. The pulp to seed ratio of ‘BeeOne’ is excellent (average 4.6:1 by weight) with a dark brown seed coat at maturity and a fleshy colored seed. In comparison, ‘Reed’ has a moderate pulp to seed ratio with a dark brown seed coat at maturity but with a large fleshy colored seed. The fruit of ‘BeeOne’ has a creamy and nutty taste with a long shelf-life as compared to the creamy taste of ‘Reed’ with a moderate shelf-life.

‘BeeOne’ has dark green leaves (near group 139A) with undulate leaf margins. The upper epidermis is slightly glossy. This can be distinguished from the highly glossy upper epidermis of ‘Reed’. In addition, ‘BeeOne’ has dark reddish purple new flush growth with dull to slight gloss as compared to the bronze to light green new flush leaves with highly glossy upper leaf surfaces of ‘Reed’.

‘BeeOne’ is a B-flower type with demonstrated strong/cross pollination of A-flower types, whereas ‘Reed’ is of the A-flower type.

The aforementioned drawings, following observations and measurements describe ‘BeeOne’ grown by the inventor at the premises of the applicant's farm in Leeukloof, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa during December 2023 to September 2024.