As an aside, it's worth mentioning that many flowering plants, perhaps
as many as 50% or so of all species, are polyploid. That is, they
carry more than two copies of each chromosome and therefore more than
two alleles of each gene.

Polyploidy is often a good thing in that it may confer larger size and
more robustness. It is sought in some orchid breeding by using agents
such as colchicine that inhibit proper chromosome behavior during cell
division.

Jim