BREEDING SYSTEM OF A HYBRID BETWEEN A SEXUAL AND AN APOMICTIC SPECIES OF AMELANCHIER, SHADBUSH (ROSACEAE, MALOIDEAE)

Amelanchier bartramiana, which has been shown to be sexual and self-incompatible, and A. laevis, in which apospory and self-compatibility occur, grow in a mixed population in western Maine. Also present there is the putative interspecific hybrid, A. x neglecta. Principal components and canonical discriminant analyses of seven morphological characters from 96 parental and putative hybrid individuals substantiate morphological intermediacy of the hybrids. A Nomarski differential interference microscopy study of megasporogenesis and megagametogenesis in five hybrid plants shows a predominantly aposporous mode of reproduction, and controlled pollinations indicate that seed formation between A. bartramiana and A. laevis is possible and that the hybrids are self-compatible. The hybrids, which are tetraploids (n = ca. 34) like both parents in Maine, produce viable pollen and seed, but there is little evidence for backcrossing with either parent.