SYNTHETIC AGROPYRON-ELYMUS HYBRIDS: II. ELYMUS CANADENSIS X AGROPYRON DASYSTACHYUM

Pollination of 40 emasculated E. canadensis florets with A. dasystachyum pollen gave rise to 12 shriveled seeds, one of which was viable. The hybrid seedling developed into a vigorous plant whose vegetative and spike characteristics were for the most part intermediate between those of the parents. Both parents behaved cytologically as allotetraploids, 2n = 28, and formed 14 bivalents regularly at metaphase I. Chromosome associations in the hybrid, 2n = 28, averaged 0.42 I, 13.70 II, 0.02 III, and 0.03 IV in 142 metaphase-I cells interpreted. The hybrid produced 165 seeds under open-pollination during its second year in the field. E. canadensis and A. dasystachyum apparently contain closely homologous genomes whose major structural differences consist of several inverted segments and possibly a small reciprocal translocation. The close homology between the E. canadensis and A. dasystachyum genomes was unexpected in view of the wide morphological, ecological, and reproductive differences that separate the two species.