Friday, October 3, 2014

True to type Hoya seeds, pure breeds and hybrids

I was given a Hoya cut from the wild and I have propagated it, always by cuttings. If I get seeds from the plants propagagated this way, will they be true to type ?

 
If this first Hoya from the wild was initially a seed resulting from self pollination and was of a pure line ( many Hoya with the same traits growing in the area ) your propagation gave you a breed with an homozygous genotype and the seeds from your cuttings will be true to type.
If the initial seed was produced by self pollination but the population of Hoya was genetically diverse then the seed could have been produced by a natural hybrid.
As long as a Hoya plant has not produced true to type seeds we can't say for sure if it is a species or an hybrid.
Fortunately Hoya in the trade are propagated by cuttings, not by sexual reproduction so preserving the integrity of a Hoya breed ( species or hybrid ) is not an issue : there is no reason why a grower would mix true to type seeds with hybrids as they don't use seeds for the propagation of a breed.
However seeds are very useful : whether they result from cross pollination or from self pollinated hybrids, originally all breeds are hybrids.

Herbs and Spices, Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

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