Thank you Thor!! What a wonderful resource on the diversity of Alba roses. I think pollen diameter is a nice tool to estimate the ploidy contribution of the male parent. ‘Alba Semiplena’ and ‘Maiden’s Blush’ had pollen in the range of what would be expected from 2x pollen in the low 40’s for uM.
http://globalsciencebooks.info/Online/GSBOnline/images/0906/FOB_3(SI1)/FOB_3(SI1)53-70o.pdf
It would be interesting to follow pollen diameter over generations using Albas in crosses (both as female and male parents) to see when and how things change for Caninae meiosis.
The great grandfather of Petite Pink is an open-pollinated seedling of ‘Applejack’. It is a seedling of a friend and she suspects the male parent was ‘Alba Semiplena’ since it was growing next to it and the seedling has some features that look like ‘Alba Semiplena’. I wonder how much of the wonderful health and nice foliage may have been contributed to that breeding line from Albas.