International Carnivorous Plant Society
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter Archive
Drosera hybrida, the next generation
John Brittnacher
Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 46(4):139-147
Published December 2017
Abstract
Plants are generally known for being promiscuous and Drosera is no exception. Many Drosera hybrids occur in nature and many more can be made artificially (see Ziemer 2017 and Brittnacher 2010 for examples). Natural hybrids between species that are very closely related and have fertile offspring can be a pain for hobbyists, botanists, and taxonomists because the plants pass characters back and forth and it is hard to know exactly what you are studying or growing. Natural hybrids between species with sterile offspring are more easily studied and are interesting because if the sterility is due to chromosomal pairing issues, the sterility can be resolved via polyploidy. The resulting fertile allopolyploid plants are essentially instant species in the evolutionary sense. Allopolyploid speciation is the most common form of hybrid speciation (Mallet 2007; Soltis et al. 2003) and changes in ploidy may represent about 2% to 4% of speciation events in flowering plants (Otto & Whitton 2000).
Keywords: hybrids, Drosera hybrida
Article Citation
John Brittnacher. 2017. Drosera hybrida, the next generation. Carniv. Pl. Newslett. 46(4):139-147.
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