In 1900 when Monsieur J. Pernet-Ducher introduced a new yellow rose, a seedling of Persian Yellow pollinated by Antoine Ducher, and named it Soleil d'Or, he little realized the magical color combinations that this one variety was destined to transmit to the succeeding generations of hybrid tea roses. From the introduction of La France in 1867 until 1900, there were no true yellow hybrid teas. During this period the Noisette Marechal Niel fulfilled the need for a yellow rose. Needless to say, Soleil d'Or soon became very popular both as a garden subject and as a source of new blood in hybridization. The popularity of this one rose in breeding work is attested by the fact that the Pernetiana class was erected to include this group, but as the number of hybrids increased, the line of demarcation between hybrid teas and pernetianas disappeared until there is now a tendency to designate all of them hybrid teas.
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science
©1944 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.
Paris, Clark D. and Maney, T. J.
"Soleil D'or, The Progenitor of Golden Colored Roses,"
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 51(1), 247-263.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol51/iss1/24