Miniature rose plant named &#8216;POULra024&#8217;

A new miniature rose plant which has abundant, pink flowers and attractive foliage. The variety successfully propagates from softwood cuttings and is suitable for year round production in commercial glasshouses. This new and distinct variety has shown to be uniform and stable in the resulting generations from asexual propagation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present discovery constitutes a new and distinct variety of a miniature pot rose plant which was discovered in a cultivated area. The mutation resulted from POULra002 , a miniature pot rose hybridized by the same inventors. POULra002 is described and illustrated in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,275, and issued on Nov. 26, 2002. The new rose variety resulted from a naturally occurring mutation of unknown causation on a branch of POULra002 .

The rose plant of the present discovery has a unique combination of charateristics which are outstanding in the new variety and which distinguish it from the original rose POULra002 as well as all other varieties which we are aware of. For example, the new variety has:

1. Uniform and abundant pink flowers;

2. Vigorous and compact growth;

4. Suitability for production from softwood cuttings in pots;

5. Durable flowers and foliage which make a variety suitable for distribution in the floral industry.

This combination of qualities is not present in previously available commercial cultivars of this type and distinguish POULra024 from all other varieties of which we are aware.

The resulting mutation was selected and evaluations were conducted on the resulting rose plants in a controlled environment.

Asexual reproduction of POULra024 by cuttings and traditional budding was first done by L. Pernille and Mogens N. Olesen in their nursery in Fredensborg, Denmark in 1998. This initial and other subsequent propagations conducted in controlled environments have demonstrated that the characteristics of POULra024 are true to type and are transmitted from one generation to the next.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

The following is a description of POULra024 , as observed in its growth in glasshouses in Burlington, Ontario. Plants were grown in 10.5 cm pots, for a duration of 10 weeks. Color references are made using The Royal Horticultural Society (London, England) Colour Chart, 1995, except where common terms of color are used.

For a comparison, several physical characteristics of the rose variety POULra002 , a rose variety from the same inventors described and illustrated in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,275 issued on Nov. 26, 2002, are compared to POULra024 in Chart 1.

CHART 1 POULra024 POULra002 Flower Diameter 45-50 mm. 35-45 mm. when open. Petal Count 31 under normal 35-45 under normal conditions. conditions. Flower Bud Color Red Group 53C. Red Group 47B. as Sepals Red Group 53C to Red Group 50A at unfold. 52B at opening. opening. FLOWER AND FLOWER BUD

Size. Upon opening, 29 mm in length from base of receptacle to end of bud by 11 mm in width.

Bud color. As sepals unfold, petals are Red Group 53C. Red Group 53C to 52B at opening.

Sepals. Color: Upper Surface is Green Group 137A. Anthocyanin observed in medium amount. Greyed-Purple Group 183A at sepal apex. Lower Surface is Yellow-Green Group 146B. Observations: Medium foliaceous appendages on three of the five sepals. Surfaces of sepals slightly pubescent. Stipitate glands are scant. Shape: Sepal apex is cirrhose. Base is flat at union with receptacle. Size: 22 mm long 7 mm wide.

Borne. Multiples of 1 to 2 buds per flowering stem.

Duration. The blooms have a duration on the plant of approximately 10 to 14 days. Petals fall cleanly away from plant.

Size. Medium for a 10.5 cm pot rose. Average flower diameter is 45 mm to 50 mm when open. Average flower depth is 20 mm when open.

Petalage. Double 20 to 40. Average range: 31 petals under normal conditions with 3 to 4 petaloids.

General tonality: On open flower Red Group 52C. No change in the general tonality at the end of the 7 th day. Afterwards, general tonality is Red Group 52C.

Shape. Base shape is round, to somewhat accute. Apex shape is round, with point in center of margin.

PLANT

Plant growth: Moderate, compact, upright to bushy. When grown as a 10.5 cm pot plant, the average height of the plant itself is 25 cm and the average width is 18 cm.

Size. Average length: 15 cm from flower to first branch. Stem diameter is 3 mm.

Plant foliage: Normal number of leaflets on normal leaves in middle of the stem: 5 to 7 leaflets.

Plant leaves and leaflets:

Disease resistance: Average resistance to mildew, black spot, and Botrytis under normal growing conditions in Burlington, Canada.