Rhododendron 'Lem's Monarch', which is a Halfdan Lem hybrid documented as 'Anna' x 'Marinus Koster', has been determined to be a tetraploid using flow cytometry by
Dr. João Loureiro, Dr. Silvia Castro, José Cerca, and Mariana Castro
Plant Ecology and Evolution Group,
Centre for Functional Ecology,
Department of Life Sciences,
Faculty of Science and Technology,
University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Rhododendron 'Lem's Monarch' has as a descendants 'Rwain'.
In the case of the tetraploid 'Lem's Monarch', a diploid crossed with a tetraploid produced a tetraploid indicating that unreduced meiosis may have occurred for the diploid parent. In other words, 'Lem's Monarch' having 52 chromosomes received something similar to 26 chromosomes from the diploid 'Anna' and 26 chromosomes from the tetraploid 'Marinus Koster'.
Rhododendron 'Lem's Monarch' was also determined to be a tetraploid using flow cytometry by Dr. Thomas Ranney, J.R. Jones, and Nathan Lynch.
Summary of Ploidy Levels
Diploid 'Anna',
Diploid 'Norman Gill',
Diploid 'The Honourable Jean Marie de Montague',
Triploid 'El Camino',
Triploid 'Rwain',
Tetraploid 'Lem's Monarch',
Tetraploid 'Marinus Koster',
Tetraploid 'Pink Walloper',
Tetraploid 'Point Defiance',
Tetraploid 'Walloper No. 10'
Source Marc Colombel
John and Sally Perkins
