Evidence for the presence of an intercontinental genome in the Australian hexaploid alliance of Hibiscus Sect. Furcaria

Abstract

Genomes of the G group in Hibiscus sect. Furcaria have been found previously in one African diploid species and in various ailoploid combinations in Africa, India and Sri Lanka, North and South America and the Hawaiian Islands. Study of 11 interspecific hybrids between the Australian species H. heterophyllus and H. splendens and G-genome testers indicates that genomes somewhat related to the G group are present in the Australian allohexaploid alliance. These genomes are designated G′. Several of the intercontinental hybrids studied were weak, inviable or morphologically abnormal. The data support the interpretation that the genomes of the Australian alliance have diverged more from African and New World genomes than the latter two have from each other.