Interspecific and intergeneric hybrids in herbage grasses

Summary

• 1. Festuca heterophylla (2n = 28?) has given fully establishedF ₁ hybrid progeny from crosses with:F. capillata (2n = 14),F. rubra (2n = 42?),Lolium perenne (2n = 14).

• 2. Embryos were produced whenL. loliaceum (2n = 14) was pollinated byF. heterophylla but the seeds failed to germinate.

• 3. Caryopses were produced but embryos could not be identified whenF. heterophylla was intercrossed with:F. pratensis (2n = 14),F. vaginata (?),F. arundinacea (2n = 42), but the seeds failed to germinate.

• 4. F. heterophylla, therefore, has some degree of breeding affinity with at least seven other district types in the generaFestuca andLolium, including both fine-leaved and broad-leaved fescues, and therefore provides another link between the fine-leaved fescue types and one another, between these types and the broad-leaved fescues, and between the generaFestuca andLolium.