Article (magazine)  (1987)  
 
In the spring of 1955, I made the cross, R. abyssinica x R. rugosa. This is the story of how the union of these two diploids, each with 14 somatic chromosomes, yielded in the next generation a probable amphidiploid; that is, a tetraploid, each of whose cells contain 14 abyssinica chromosomes and 14 rugosa chromosomes.
R. abyssinica is a musk rose which, by a report that I cannot verify, Rev. George Schoener received as a personal gift from Emperor Haile Selassie. He had it growing in Santa Barbara, then took it with him when he moved to Santa Clara. I first saw it there in 1952, growing just a short distance from the quadrangle of the old Spanish mission on the grounds of the University of Santa Clara. I saw it again in 1979. A large supporting trellis had been built around the giant bush. In full bloom it is indeed a thing of beauty.
The rugosa parent is, more precisely, R. rugosa rubra, which I imported in 1950 from B. R. Cant & Sons in England.