Cytogenetic Studies on the Origin of Camellia vernalis

Abstract

In Hirado island, which is situated at the north-western part of Kyushu in Japan, both species of C. japonica and C. sasanqua are distributed together. Recently, certain new forms were found there by Kumazawa and Oda (21), suggesting that some of them could be regarded as varieties of C. vernalis originating in Hirado as natural hybrids between C. sasanqua and C. japonica. In order to approve such a consideration, the authors carried out morphological and cytological surveys in C. vernalis comparing it with C. sasanqua and with C. japonica.As a result, the authors could recognize one tetraploid and two triploid forms originating in Hirado. The tetraploid form was considered to be the primary hybrid between C. sasanqua (hexaploid) and C. japonica (diploid). One triploid form was considered to be the secondary hybrid between the tetraploid variety and C. japonica, and the other triploid one was supposed to be an auto-triploid form of C. japonica.