Interspecific hybrids of Cyclamen persicum Mill. and C. purpurascens Mill. produced by ovule culture

Summary Interspecific crosses were made to introduce the scent of flowers of C. purpurascens into C. persicum cultivars and ovule culture was used to rescue the abortive hybrid embryos. Cultivars of C. persicum diploid (CPD, 2n=2×=48) and C. persicum tetraploid (CPT, 2n=4×=96) were the pistillate parents and wild species of C. purpurascens (CP, 2n=34) were staminate parents. After pollination, crossed ovaries were collected periodically and examined using paraffin sections. Histological observations suggested that both hybrid ovules of CPD x CP and CPT x CP should be transferred to culture medium 35 days after pollination. Based up on this observation, crossed ovaries were collected 28 days after pollination and ovules with placenta were transferred to MS (1962) medium containing 3% sucrose. These ovules were cultured in the dark at 25° C. The hybrids (2n=41) derived from CPD x CP had the scent of C. purpurascens, whereas the hybrids (2n=65) derived from CPT x CP had the scent of C. persicum. Although both hybrids had complete genomes from the parents and produced a few viable pollen grains, they failed to yield viable seeds by self- and cross-pollination with fertile pollen grains of C. persicum cultivars.Abbreviations CPD C. persicum diploid - CPT C. persicum tetraploid - CP C. purpurascens