P. lusitanica x pumila

[FrankenSnyder]

Looks like my cross pollination of P. lusitanica and pumila has proved successful. Hard to believe. Hybrid plants are most like the P. lusitanica mother. The flowers have a bit more color, and are not producing seed.

 

[adnedarn]

Very cool, are you trying to cross them with eachother or something else?

 

[hcarlton]

Any closer-up shots of the flowers? I wouldn't expect those two to be compatible, since none of their relatives are.

 

[jeff 2]

Indeed, a macro photo of the flowers would perhaps be more informative.

 

[FrankenSnyder]

Thanks for the replies. I crossed the two to test relationship. Both are tiny annuals separated by the Atlantic. I figured lusitanica might be ancestral to pumila and could have crossed the ocean via the Columbus Route Current as so many other plants have done. Attached is a closeup flower photo of the possible hybrid, for your valued opinion.

 

[hcarlton]

Their genetic relationship is already pretty well established, lusitanica is *more* allied with the crystallina section (Cardiophyllum, however it's placed in its own monophyletic section) and pumila with the other southeastern temperates (Isoloba), and species can't be outcrossed between sections even within the same subgenus though many have tried (and I've yet to hear of any success even crossing within Isoloba so pumila may not even be compatible with its own section). They have similar habits through convergent evolution, not because they're directly related (similar to the annual Mexican and Japanese species with also similar morphology, ramosa/spathulata/pygmaea etc.). I'm not seeing anything in the flower there, or within the leaf rosettes, that suggests any pumila influence, so I would far more strongly suspect a selfing, and maybe just not yet fed enough for them to start setting seed. Slightly more color in the flower could just be due to a slightly different lighting.