This does smack of the Addams Family, but does anyone know of Wingthorn being used in attempts to produce new varieties that also have showy thorns? I have visions of a plant as thorny as, say, Mermaid, but with individual thorns of more beauty.
Im almost scared to think how big the thorns would be if it were crossed with Pristine =) Ouch! Seriously though, Im sure it could be done with the right pollen or seed parent. One would know when it blooms since it is a once-bloomer and line it up with possible canidates. Not sure which ploidy it is but Id take and uneducated guess towards diploid. Wonder if any polyanthas would work?
R. serciea ptericantha is a reluctant parent at best, and almost never accepts any pollen. In fact, it rarely sets self seed, and if it does, they rarely germinate. However, it does function as a pollen parent if you happen to hit in on the right plant. I suspect if you can match it with another inherently thorny rose that you may end up with something. Of course, you are looking at a minimum of two generations before you have something that repeats. Sterility in the first generatrion may block your progress to that goal, but its worth making the attempt.
Paul
PS Ignore ploidy and just work with anything that will take its pollen.
Interesting. So, pollen from Wingthorn to a seed parent that is thorny and usually makes hips, and a couple generations before I can hope for a repeater. Well, if circumstances allow, I’ll give it a shot. I have various Austins and a few OGRs and rugosas, and the Wingthorn is tiny (just bought a cutting-grown one this spring), but I’ll see whether I can do anything next year.
Propagators of Wingthorn say that it’s the hardest rose to root, and now you tell me it’s a poor parent as well. Clearly it’s the result of human intervention, and not a wild species but bred or selected from a chance individual.
Thanks very much!
Mark.
Mark
You should try Hulthemosa persica. It is certainly a lot more difficult and a pure wild species, not the result of human intervention. 
I was able to obtain some op hips off of it last summer. It is one of the first roses to bloom in spring here in MN (that is if enough wood overwinters for it to bloom). THe only other roses in bloom near it were its relatively close species relatives R. primula, R. hugonis, and R. catabridgiensis. I think these seedlings are crosses with some or all of these species. I suspect some are crosses with R. primula because of the incense fragrance in the foliage coming through. All plants have narrow small thorns like these other species, but some at least have red thorns which is nice. Perhaps some of these diploid hybrids would make good bridges to repeat flowering diploids or good candidates for chromosome doubling. I’m hoping the larger red thorns will develop as the seedlings mature.
David
My wee Wingthorn, from ForestFarm in Oregon, is so far putting out good new growth, but although the leaves are very much what I’ve seen in pictures, the thorns don’t strike me as anything special – yet. David, I do hope that your seedlings will become showier with age. Here in North Florida the survival of old wood is pretty likely, but we get weird late frosts that can destroy early growth and blossom buds. Fortunately most of the once-bloomers wait a while before putting on their yearly show, at least in my limited experience.