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mikulas_gw

tacsonia x non-tacsonia hybrids: why so few?

mikulas
16 years ago

Would anyone happen to know why there seem to be so few hybrids between Tacsonias and non-Tacsonias? The only one I've seen so far is P. exoniensis x P. umbilicata. Is it just an aesthetic reason, or do Tacsonias not hybridize well with the other sections of Passiflora? (or maybe I've been careless and overlooked them?)

Comments (5)

  • kiwinut
    16 years ago

    People have tried to hybridize them. A few hybrids have been produced, but as far as I know, the cross you mentioned is the only one to have ever bloomed.

  • MissSherry
    16 years ago

    It does seem strange. As I recall, my books say that, although decalobas have fewer chromosomes than those in the passiflora or tacsonia groups, the last two mentioned subgroups have the same number - seems like there'd be more hybrids.
    Sherry

  • Ethane Zizyphus
    16 years ago

    The problem is that tacsonia group and passiflora group are generally incompatible. Like you said look at all the hybrids that there are... or aren't. P. Umbilicata is in a different group--tacsonioides I believe--and as such could be used as a bridge species to make hybrids between the groups, as has been done with the one hybrid. You also see hybrids of umbilicata with grop passiflora, so in theory you could cross the tacs-umb hybrid with a pass-umb hybrid and get an entirely new mix of genes. Supposedly p. manicata could be used similarly, but I haven't seen many hybrids of that either. At least no one has registered any hybrids. By the way, I'm looking for some manicata--if someone has some let me know!
    -Ethan

  • LCOP
    8 years ago

    We have created a few tacsonia x passiflora hybrids this year, the seedlings are growing well, and should flower in 2016, also the pod parent can cope with warmer temperatures, and hopefully the cross with passiflora species/hybrids will also help.

    They have all been with Wilgen K Verhoeff with the following, aff pallens, subpeltata, edmundoi, and caerulea.

  • Ethane Zizyphus
    8 years ago

    Nice! This is a pretty old topic, and a few other tacsonia x Passiflora hybrids have been made since it was first posted, like P. 'Vanessa' which is available in the US, and I know there are a few others in Europe. I've been trying to make some with P. parritae, unsuccessfully so far. Someone who has made some Tacsonia x Passiflora hybrids told me that tacsonia hybrids (I.e. P. mollisima x P. exoniensis) are easier to use to make those crosses, as opposed to using pure species. I'm excited to see if what those crosses LCOP had made look like. I have a seedling P. parritae x P. umbilicata I have high hopes for.

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