I find that when I use native plants, that I often have to order them = from distant locations. Is there any basis for concerns that using = "cultivars (of native plants) selected to highlight vigorous and hardy = traits" or hybrids, might impact the genetic structure of local = population of that species? =20 Has this ever been observed? =20 Dan=20 =20 Daniel A. Soluk, Assoc. Prof. Dept. of Biology University of South Dakota 414 East Clark St. Vermillion, SD 57069 ph. 605 677-6172 =20
________________________________ From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on behalf of = Micheal Davis Sent: Mon 12/17/2007 1:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: native plants Steve, Unfortunately it's not always easy to tell if something has been hybridized. Sometimes it will be indicated on the tag, but often one must do some research to discover the true genetic lineage of a plant.=20 For instance, /Rhododendron /'Red Whisk' is an Aromi hybrid azalea with /R. arborescens /and /R. cumberlandense. Rhododendron/ 'June Jubilee' is a hybrid of /R. serrulatum/ and /R. prunifolium/ that was then crossed with /R. arborescens/. Each of these has native parents, but neither of these hybrids are naturally occurring because of temporal and spatial separation. Thus, neither hybrid would be considered "native", even though all of the parental genetic material is naturally occurring. I don't think that there is a standard rule to determine whether a cultivar should be considered native. Often garden centers will designate some thing as native, even if only one parent of the hybrid is native. Generally speaking if a nursery can provide a specific epithet with a "native" cultivar, most people will consider it native. Using the azaleas as an example: /Rhododemdron canescens/ 'Varnadoe's Pink' would be considered native, whereas /Rhododendron/ 'June Jubilee' would not (although many garden centers designate all deciduous azaleas as "native"). With respect to using cultivars of native plants, I think that is often a wise choice. Most cultivars are selected to highlight vigorous and hardy traits. Unfortunately, other than Google, there is not an easily accessible reference for lay people to determine the genetic parentage of plants. Mike
