Two seedlings of Rhododendron 'Phyllis Korn' x 'Trude Webster', which is a Jim Barlup hybrid, have been determined to be a pentaploid 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.
In the case of the pentaploid seedlings of 'Phyllis Korn' (3X) x 'Trude Webster' (4X), a triploid by a tetraploid produced a pentaploid indicating that the triploid seed parent 'Phyllis Korn' was most likely unreduced. In other words, the pentaploid seedlings of 'Phyllis Korn' x 'Trude Webster' having 65 chromosomes most likely received 39 chromosomes from the triploid 'Phyllis Korn' and 26 chromosomes from the tetraploid 'Trude Webster'. Considering the parents are a triploid and a neotetraploid, meiosis may not be normal for either parent.
Summary of Ploidy Levels
Triploid 'Phyllis Korn'
Tetraploid 'Trude Webster',
Pentaploid 2 Seedlings of 'Phyllis Korn' x 'Trude Webster'
Source: Jim Barlap
John and Sally Perkins
