LONDON — After years of patient research, scientists at Interfloras plant
cultivation facility have succeeded in creating polka dot roses.
The development is a triumph in complex plant breeding and the result of a
decade-long development project.
The flower cultivation team headed by Professor Winston Davies, a renowned
authority on micro-propagation and plant biochemistry has, in effect,
developed a new plant variety, the worlds first white rose with pink spots.
Professor Davies said: The polka dot rose which looks both beautiful and, one
might say, at the same time strangely unnatural is the result of more than 10
years of research by the team at the Interflora plant cultivation facility.
The key to unlocking this puzzle how to engineer the plants DNA to produce
highly regular colouration patterns in a uniform fashion we simply dont
normally see in nature lay in using recombinant technology, in which DNA
molecules from different sources were combined into one molecule to create a new
set of genes.
The result is our polka dot rose, which I think is rather pretty. My wife Annie
loves it!
The Interflora polka dot roses have been created to satisfy consumer demand.
Over the years, Interflora has been contacted by a number of customers asking if
it would ever be possible to buy flowers with artificial patterns, often
because of the desire to send flowers to someone intrigued by a particular
design.
The requests did not go unnoticed and the team were happy to take up the
challenge. Until now the company has kept the project under wraps, but it is now
ready to unveil the bizarre but beautiful creation.
The polka dot pattern reached the height of its popularity during the 1950s and
60s and was even immortalised in song, when Brain Hyland released as a single
his Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.
The polka dot pattern has been seen in a wide variety of contexts, from clothing
through to homeware, and has seen designers such as Emma Bridgewater and Cath
Kidston using the pattern extensively in their collections.
At the time of writing, no release date has been finalised for the launch on to
the market of the Interflora polka dot rose, but you can expect to see specimens
in florist shops before the end of summer. Look out first for the polka dot rose
used within Interfloras popular Six Stolen Kisses bouquet.
The polka dot rose which is sure to cause a stir in the fields of botany and
plant cultivation was developed amid tight security at Interfloras
Lincolnshire plant cultivation facility.
Along with the launch in the UK you’ll also be able to get these flowers in
Ireland.
Source:
Interflora