New Zealand’s plants have a bit of a reputation for pronounced
promiscuity. There is supposedly a high rate of hybridisation,
or individuals of one species breeding with individuals of a
different species. I’m not entirely sure that this reputation is
nationally deserved. Nevertheless, a striking example of
hybridisation occurs in Pseudopanax, which is one of the groups
I am researching; indeed, their hybridisation is what attracted
me to them! Two of the species – Pseudopanax crassifolius,
horoeka, lancewood, and Pseudopanax lessonii, houpara, coastal
five-finger – hybridise wherever they occur together, be this in
the wild or in cultivation. More images of leaves from hybrids
are here. There are several other five-finger and lancewood
Pseudopanax species in New Zealand. However, despite their very
different appearance, most of the hybridisation I have seen
appears to be between lancewood and coastal five-finger, and we
are using genetic analyses to determine just how much gene-flow
occurs between them. Some