Just the same as you, but I sure want to expand that list.
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Oh I was hoping there was others known. Since phylogenetic analyses indicate medlar is a either a sister group to hawthorns or basically is a hawthorn its not as exciting when they hybridize
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A medlar hawthorn hybrid would be nice to me fir breeding a disease resistant Medlar.
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I think there could be some really interesting possibilities from crossing the two. Both Burbank and Michurin were enthusiastic about crossing distantly related plants within the same genus to see what novel combinations might emerge. A medlar × hawthorn hybrid could potentially produce a red-fruited medlar the size of a small apple that doesn’t require bletting, or combine other useful traits from both parents.
Hopefully I’ll find out soon enough. I have several multi-graft trees loaded with medlar and various hawthorns that I’m using in hybridization experiments.
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I’m actually interested in producing medlar hawthorn hybrids myself for their potential fruit and disease resistance ever since I read about the naturally occurring hybrid having tasty fruit
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Great to know that Stern’s Medlar has good-tasting fruit. I’d never read anything about its palatability, and there isn’t much information available on the fruit quality of the hawthorn species that have been suggested as the parent. Hopefully other hawthorns cross just as readily.
Richard Fahey has a few interesting hawthorns that I’d like to add to my collection. I plan to write to him this year. He’s one of the few people who sends out summer budwood, so maybe I’ll give budding a try this season.
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Yeah it is apparently sweet according to the people getting a plant for Arnold Arboretum
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Good catch. I’ve read that article and must have missed that detail. Now I’m going to have to double my efforts to acquire one.
I know there was at least one nursery—somewhere in Arkansas, I think—that was selling it last year. They either didn’t have an easy way to order online or didn’t ship, so I never placed an order. I should have written to inquire, or at least saved their information somewhere, because now I can’t seem to find them.
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Note that there’s supplementary material in https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3732/ajb.1500330 that includes the locations of tested trees, not sure if any are in locations where taking cuttings is permitted (I haven’t looked into the particular laws and regulations that might govern such things) but gathering fruit is certainly allowed many places (I have looked into looked into that)
I’ve got seeds from diploid Amelanchier canadensis, tetraploid A. nantucketensis, and maybe tetraploid A. arbolia if I’m not mistaken (I might be since IDing serviceberry species isn’t very easy) and will be getting some seeds from other species reported
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That’s a great resource! I’d looked at that article before but completely missed that they included GPS coordinates in the supplemental material—that makes things much easier.
I need to start growing out diploid Amelanchier seedlings, since they seem to have a much higher likelihood of successfully crossing with more distantly related species or genera. At the moment, I only have a diploid ‘Jennybelle’ and some tetraploid Amelanchier seedlings, neither of which would be ideal for wide hybridization. Michurin believed that named cultivars were essentially “fixed” and generally less capable of wide hybridization.
It sounds like you’re building an impressive collection of Amelanchier. It’ll be interesting to see how they all turn out. Please keep us updated. I’ve never seen some of those serviceberries, and I’m very curious to learn more about them.
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I should be getting seeds of diploid Amelanchier pallida and A. utahensis from a contact on the west coast, could probably arrange to send you some too if you want
I wonder if tetraploid Amelanchier cultivars are more common because they can be grown from seed or if it’s just that tetraploid trees are just more common so cultivars tend to originate from them
Given the studies I’ve read regarding hybridization, it seems that it’s highly genotype dependent, so while cultivars can potentially work, I prefer wild plants (at least nonapomictic ones) since they tend to have more genetic diversity so I figure growing a bunch of wild ones (preferably from multiple locations) will give better odds of finding one that happens to be compatible than growing cultivars
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If you end up with extra seeds after accounting for germination and seedling loss, I’d be grateful if you sent some my way. Alternatively, a scion from one of your superior seedlings down the line would be just as great. Either way, I’d love to return the favor however I can.
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The improved saskatoon/serviceberry varieties from the breeding program in Canada, like JB30, are they tetraploids that have nucellar seeds like Michurin’s aronia?
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I should note I don’t think any serviceberries produce nucellar embryos, instead tetraploids tend to produce unreduced female gametophytes and have seeds develop without the egg being fertilized but require the central cell to be fertilized to produce endosperm.
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So, they basically are still clonal seeds?
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I think that most of the commercially grown cultivars are facultative apomicts that are capable of reproducing sexually but primarily produce apomictic seeds. I believe the type of apomixis Amelanchier undergoes (apospory) is different from either Aronia (diplospory) or Citrus (nucellar embryony). Not sure on specific cultivars though.
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When produced that way yes, they can potentially produce seeds sexually too
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My interest in diploid lines at least is due to them tending to primarily reproduce sexually. I have fairly limited room to grow seeds so I can’t grow more than maybe a couple hundred seeds at once. And without a setup for testing for the parentage of seedlings I’d prefer to have most of my seeds be the results of the crosses I make
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Okay, so the tetraploids will still produce a percentage of zygotic seedlings?
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I believe so, or at least they’re capable of producing them. I remember seeing a chart that listed the percentage of sexually produced seeds for some of the commercially grown cultivars.
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