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Name: Keith West Babylon, NY (Zone 7a)              keithp2012 Mar 28, 2018 10:23 AM CST |
| Can anyone tell me if garlic and onion will hybridize? I'm planting them next to each other. Also if food onion will hybridize with ornamental allium. |
Name: Daisy I Reno, Nv (Zone 6b) Not all who wander are lost    DaisyI Mar 28, 2018 10:27 AM CST |
| Only if they are in the same species. So No. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming...."WOW What a Ride!!" -Mark Frost Webmaster: osnnv.org |
Name: Keith West Babylon, NY (Zone 7a) keithp2012 Mar 28, 2018 12:48 PM CST |
DaisyI said:Only if they are in the same species. So No. But they are all Allium family. I did find this information on attempts https://patents.google.com/pat... |
Name: Sally central Maryland Seriously addicted to kettle chips.         sallyg Mar 28, 2018 2:07 PM CST |
| Family or genus is not species level sameness. I have not read of any concern in Alliums interbreeding in home vegetable gardens.. One example where you may have interbreeding in the vegetable garden is between various pumpkin and squashy things that happen to all be same species bred to different colors and shapes. ..come into the peace of wild things..-Wendell Berry Life is a buffet (anon) |
Minnesota (Zone 3b) RpR Mar 28, 2018 2:12 PM CST |
keithp2012 said:Can anyone tell me if garlic and onion will hybridize? I'm planting them next to each other. In a random manner, I would not split a dime bet on it. |
Name: Charlie Aurora, Ontario (Zone 5b) Maintenance of Perennial Beds.  SunnyBorders Mar 28, 2018 3:31 PM CST |
| Very interesting, Keith! Appreciate being forced to think. I guess the answer is: not naturally, but hybrids can be produced by means of tissue culture (e.g. the"gonion"). I'm assuming, however, that the gonion is sterile. Apparently, interspecific hybridization, typically associated with polyploidy (viz with an increase in the number of sets of chromosomes) has been an important mechanism in the (natural) evolution of plant species. |
Name: Rick R. Minneapolis, MN, USA zone 4      Leftwood Mar 28, 2018 3:37 PM CST |
| The link describes how the hybrid(s) is made, through non-natural circumstances, and not just by a human simply dabbing pollen where it doesn't usually go. One of the basic tenets (but often inaccurate) of a species is "breeding within its own kind". But you are right to be suspicious. In some genera (Aquilegia, for instance) species within the genus cross very easily. On the other hand, there are genera where the species NEVER cross (Impatiens, for instance). As you might guess, most plants fall somewhere in between. Within the Allium genus, there are hundreds of species, and whether a hybrid between any of them is even possible, depends on how closely they are related. Desert alliums are distantly related to Allium cernuum, that is native to New York. They would never cross naturally. But Allum cernuum and A. stellatum are closely related, and grown in proximity, there is a strong chance that they could hybridize. Our Perennial Plant of the Year, Allium 'Millenium' is a chance hybrid, perhaps even between mulitple allium species. Both onions and garlics have been bred by humans out of the wild for millenia, which would distance their relationship even more. Their morphology suggests they are far apart: -- onions have round, hollow leaves. garlic has flat, solid leaves. -- bulbs are completely different, too. Garlic rarely produces seed anyway. What you see are actually baby bulbs. I don't think they would ever cross. I don't think garlic and onion would ever cross. |
Name: greene Savannah, GA (Sunset 28) (Zone 8b) My dogs love me; some people don't.          greene Mar 28, 2018 3:52 PM CST |
| It happens naturally sometimes but not very often. One is xFatshedera lizei is a naturally occurring cross between Fatsia japonica and Hedera helix 'Hibernica', but both plants are in the Aralia family. It's an inter-generic hybrid, a cross between plants from different genera. Sunset Zone 28, AHS Heat Zone 9, USDA zone 8b~"Leaf of Faith" |
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