A Fertile Tetraploid Anigozanthos Hybrid Produced by in Vitro Colchicine Treatment

Abstract

Kangaroo paw is a new cut flower crop native to Australia. There are several interspecific hybrids with improved flower colors, heat tolerance, and growth habit. These hybrids are sterile due to divergent evolution of the parent species. Colchicine was used to double the chromosome number of one important sterile hybrid. This hybrid is everblooming. dwarf. and heat tolerant. The resulting allodiploid was fertile, and progeny are now being evaluated.