Hi Diver_Doug,

Everything is not a hybrid. Some species of plants have their floral parts designed so that their pollen automatically gets fertilized on their stigmas. I think Sweet Peas are an example, but there are many such.

If a bee transfers pollen from one plant to another plant of the same variety, and both plants are essentially identical, the result is not a hybrid, since both parents are of the same variety. Normally, a "hybrid" is thought of as a cross between two plants that differ in one or more ways.

Sometimes the seed companies will refer to the progeny of a hybrid as "hybrid" because it was derived from a hybrid cross. That practice borders on false advertising, because some customers may think they are getting F1 hybrid seed when, in fact, they are not.

ZM