Louis Schubert and August Rosenberg

It was on this day in 1931 that newspapers were reporting that Louis Schubert and August Rosenberg had the distinction of being the first recipients of a patent for a plant.

The patent was conferred for the first ever-blooming rose, which they named "The New Dawn."
The patentable feature was for its ever-blooming aspect. The new rose was described as identical with the Dr. Van Fleet climbing rose, except that instead of blooming once each year, it bloomed successively like the ever-blooming tea roses.
President Hoover signed the plant patent act on May 23, 1930. The patent for New Dawn was assigned shortly after President Herbert Hoover signed the bill. A plant patent gives the exclusive right to reproduce, use, or sell an invention or discovery throughout the United States for 17 years.