Raspberry plant named ‘Sapphire’

Abstract

The present invention is a new and distinct floricane fruiting red raspberry cultivar named ‘Sapphire’, which is capable of producing large, attractive, flavorful and firm fruit which has exceptional consumer appeal characteristics. The cultivar is characterized by its thorniness throughout the plant, as described herein, lack of fall or primocane fruiting, its strong and distinctive flavor and firmness and its very large fruit size, weight and morphology, specifically its truncated conic, very uniform, fruit shape with minimal bulginess in its basal region or on its receptacle. ‘Sapphire’ plants are very productive in regions having sufficient chilling to produce sufficient spring bud break. Its high yield, firmness, storage ability and large size make ‘Sapphire’ economical to pick mid to mid late season floricane variety for shipping.

What is claimed: 
     
       1. A new and distinct spring bearing red raspberry plant known as ‘Sapphire’ as described herein, illustrated and identified by the characteristics set forth above.