"A phylogenetic analysis showed that the sampled species of the genus Rosa formed a monophyletic clade and that R. chinensis var. spontanea shared a more recent ancestor with R. lichiangensis of the section Synstylae than with R. odorata var. gigantea of the section Chinenses. This information will be useful for the conservation genetics of R. chinensis var. spontanea and for the phylogenetic study of the genus Rosa, and it might also facilitate the genetics and breeding of modern roses. "
See:
Molecular evidence for the hybrid origin of Rosa lichiangensis (Rosaceae)
Zhangming Zhu, Xinfen Gao
Abstract
Natural hybridization was assumed to play a significant role in the diversification of Rosa. Rosa lichiangensis was suspected to be of hybrid origin based on its intermediate morphological characters between R. soulieana and R. multiflora var. cathayensis. In this study, four chloroplast regions (ndhC-trnV, ndhF-rpl32, ndhJ-trnF, and psbJ-petA) and a single copy nuclear marker (GAPDH) were used to test the hybrid origin of R. lichiangensis. The results from molecular data supported the hybrid origin of R. lichiangensis and further identified R. soulieana as its maternal progenitor and R. multiflora var. cathayensis as the paternal progenitor.
FIGURE 1. Photographic images of R. multiflora var. cathayensis (A, D), R. lichiangensis (B, E) and R. soulieana (C, F).
I have to confess that I am not at all familiar with the species R. lichiangensis, and have no idea as to how it might tie into the genotype of modern roses. I am, however, a little intrigued to think that china roses might have some linkage to the Synstylae. David Zlesak had observed that in working with R. setigera, his successes generally came from crosses within that same section of roses. I had done a cross with my R. setigera serena pollinated with mutabilis, and obtained seeds. I wonder, based on this study, if the purported lineage of chinensis came into play in the surprisingly successful setting of hips from this cross. I do seem to recall reading somewhere that mutabilis pollen often succeeded with otherwise difficult seed parents, and it might have nothing to do with lineage. (No recollection where I read that, and I could be wrong. My memory leaves lots to be desired!)
Meng et al. (2011) also found evidence of Rosa multiflora in the ancestry of ‘Slater’s Crimson China’
Plant Syst Evol (2011) 297:157–170
Untangling the hybrid origin of the Chinese tea roses: Evidence from DNA sequences of single-copy nuclear and chloroplast genes
Meng, et al.
The possible hybrid origin of R. chinensis ‘Yue yuehong’ [Slater’s Crimson China]
Moreover, the chloroplast haplotype of this cultivar is close to the R. chinensis var. spontanea haplotype. Molecular data thus support a possible hybrid origin of this cultivar. Rosa chinensis var. spontanea is probably the maternal parent of the first hybrid product because all the nuclear markers do not support the same paternal parent. This cultivar probably results from multiple hybridization events involving R. multiflora and R. luciae var. luciae.
According to one of the charts in this report, R. soulieana and R. setigera are not too far apart.
Zhu and Gao cite a paper I didn’t know exists,
“Phylogenetic relationships of wild roses in China based on nrDNA and matK data”, Scientia Horticulturae Volume 140, 1 June 2012, Pages 45-51
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2012.03.014
Does anyone have a subscription to Scientia Horticulturae ?
They also acknowledge funding from something named “Project of Platform Construction for Plant Resources of Sichuan Province” which Google seems to think is either a natural gas consortium or else this something related to this paper (perhaps having to do with step 3)?:
Don, I have a copy of the article.
Don, I have a copy of the article.Don, I have a copy of the article.
Thanks, Dr. Kuska, do you need my email address?
Don, did my email reach you?
Apparently it did not. I’ll email you with my email address.
Don,
Strange to say, this paper has Multiflora and Soulieana more closely allied to each other than either is to their supposed “love child”, Lichiangensis
However, Multiflora var. Carnea is on a different branch than the other three.
Karl