Tetraploid Rosa palustris

Hi All,

When I visited my parents in central WI this weekend I collected some op seed off of a tetraploid R. palustris to share. This is a seedling off of the R. palustris at the MN Landscape arboretum. The rose at the arb. has flowers that are medium pink and I confirmed it to be tetraploid. This tetraploid seedling of it (I confirmed this seedling too) has a softer, more translucent light pink color. Flowers are about 2-2.5 inches across and come in clusters of ~5 or so. It is vigorous and healthy.

If you are interested please E-mail me your name and address.

Sincerely,

David Zlesak

zlesak@rocketmail.com

I have now germinated 19 of these seeds. Since I am interested in using it for breeding with other tetraploids, I do not need (i.e. have room for) any more. If anyone is interested in the remaining seeds, please e-mail me.

Today I looked at the pollen of one of these tetraploid R. palustris seedlings (my #640). Surprisingly, the pollen diameters observed are not what I would of expected for a tetraploid. It appears that #640 is a diploid. However, this appears to be one of those cases where 2 sizes of pollen are observed (the larger size is still smaller than what I would of expected for a tetraploid). Average diameter 30.5 microms, Standard Deviation is 2.2 microns. See the pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/HAKuska/MicroscopePictures02/photo#5212935307718556674

Use the forward arrow at the first picture to see the rest of the pictures.

Link: picasaweb.google.com/HAKuska/MicroscopePictures02/photo#5212935307718556674

Very interesting Henry. I look forward to your findings of other seedlings from that batch. The parent plant had a pollen diameter of 35.4 microns. It is on the low end of pollen diameter for tetraploids, as are my R. virginiana and other tetraploid species roses in the R. carolina complex.

Perhaps you can do a chromosome count on this seedling.

Sincerely,

David