The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Mahonia sp. as the specific epithet could not be determined. The new cultivar will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Soft Caress’. ‘Soft Caress’ is an evergreen shrub grown for use as a landscape plant.
The inventor discovered ‘Soft Caress’ as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in summer of 2001 in a nursery in Chamblee, Ga. The new cultivar was derived from sown seeds of unnamed plants of Mahonia sp. ‘Soft Caress’ was selected primarily for its unique thread-like foliage, a characteristic that is not known to exist in species and cultivars of Mahonia known to the inventor.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by the inventor using softwood stem cuttings in summer of 2002 in Chamblee, Ga. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.