Hybrids and their Parents

Hybrids between plants of different genetic make up occur naturally in the wild and also when plants from different habitats and localities are brought together in cultivation. Hybrid plants are usually initially infertile. Fertility may be conferred by duplication of the hybrid chromosome complement.

Latin Name	Location	Flowering season	Description
+Crataegomespilus batesonii	Hybrid	May flowering, fruits in September	A sterile hybrid. Small broad headed tree with hairy lobed leaves. Brown fruits like large haws.
+Crataegomespilus dardarii Bronvaux medlar	Chimeras	May	A deciduous tree with a pendulous habit which grows to up to 5m in height. Its oblong leaves are very finely toothed and downy on both sides. White flowers are borne in corymbs. Its small fruit forms in clusters.
+Laburnocytisus adamii Adam's laburnum	Chimeras	Late spring to early summer	A deciduous hybrid tree that bears flowers of each parent separately and also intermediate ones. Some branches have long racemes of yellow laburnum flowers, while others produce dense clusters of purple broom flowers. Branches may also produce pink flowers on short racemes, which are a combination of the two parents’ styles.
Crategus laevigata Midland hawthorn	Hybrids	Spring	A small thorny deciduous tree with a dense crown. The leaves have forward-pointing lobes. Flowers are produced in corymbs of 6–12 and each flower has five white or pale pink petals. The fruit is a dark red pome.
Fatsia japonica Japanese aralia	Variegated	Autumn	An evergreen shrub with stout, sparsely branched stems. The large leathery leaves have a petiole of up to 50cm long and 7-9 lobes that are edged with coarse teeth. The small white flowers are borne in dense umbels and are followed by small black fruit.
Hedera Atlantic ivy	Hibernica	September to October	A large, fast-growing evergreen climber with 5-lobed dark green leaves and small green flowers in umbels. These are followed by black berries.
Mespilus germanica Common medlar	Hybrids	Late spring	A small spreading deciduous tree or large shrub with large oblong leaves which turn yellow-brown in autumn. White flowers are followed by brown fruits.
Osmanthus decorus	Hybrids	Spring	A hardy evergreen shrub which becomes large and rounded. It has glossy dark green leaves and produces clusters of small white flowers which are followed by purple-black fruits.
Osmanthus delavayi Delavay osmanthus	Hybrids	Late winter to spring	A dense, slow-growing medium-sized evergreen shrub with rounded dark green leaves. Small white flowers are produced in clusters and are followed by small, oval blue-black berries.
Osmanthus x burkwoodii Burkwood osmanthus	Hybrids	Spring	A large, dense, slow-growing, evergreen shrub with a rounded habit and ovate dark-green leaves. Small white flowers form in clusters and are occasionally followed by black fruits.
Philadelphus x lemoinei Mock orange	Hybrids	Summer	A compact, upright, deciduous shrub. Its arching branches bear ovate dark-green leaves and cup-shaped white flowers.
Ribes hybrid Jostaberry	Heterostyly	May to June	A deciduous hybrid shrub that typically grows to 90-120cm in height and has green-yellow flowers. Its growth habit resembles its blackcurrant parent, but its gooseberry heritage is apparent in its reddish-purple fruit.
Rubus fruticosus 'Thornfree' Thornless blackberry	Evolution	Summer	A compact, upright, arching and thorn-less deciduous shrub. Its dark green leaves are lobed and pinnate. Its white and pink flowers are followed by black berries in late summer to autumn.
Rubus hybrid	Evolution		Rubus is a large genus of flowering plants whose fruit is an aggregate of drupelets. Most of these plants have woody stems with rose-like prickles. Rubus species readily interbreed resulting in a large number of hybrid varieties with complex parentage.
Rubus hybrid 'Boysenberry' Boysenberry	Evolution	Summer	A deciduous perennial that grows to 2-2.5m in height. It produces pink or white flowers which are followed by large, oblong purple fruits.
Rubus hybrid 'Loganberry' Loganberry	Evolution	Summer	A spreading, thorny and deciduous hybrid between a raspberry and a blackberry. Its flowers are pink and white. Long dark red berries then ripen mid-July to August.
Rubus idaeus var. albus White fruiting raspberry	Evolution	Summer	A mutant form of the ordinary raspberry
Syringa meyeri Variegated		Late spring	A broad, rounded shrub with clusters of pale purple flowers. Its glossy summer foliage features wavy edges.
Syringa x laciniata Cut-leaf lilac	Variegated	Spring	A spreading deciduous shrub that can reach a height of 2m. The leaves are cut deeply into 3-9 leaflets. The pale lilac flowers are produced in loose panicles up to 7cm long.
Syringa x prestoniae Preston lilac	Variegated	Late spring to mid-summer	A deciduous, upright and rounded shrub or small tree, growing to 2.5-3.5m tall. Its dark green leaves are simple, opposite and oval. Flowers form in large, upright pyramidal panicles and are often reddish-purple, pink or white.
x Crataemespilus grandiflora	Graft hybrids	Spring	A small, broad, bushy, deciduous tree with white spring flowers and orange autumnal fruit. Its hairy leaves are occasionally lobed.
x Fatshedera lizei	Variegated	Late autumn to early winter	A shrub which can grow up to 1.2m tall, at which point its branches begin to droop. With support, it can grow into a vine up to 3–4m tall. The five-lobed leaves are 7–25cm long with a 5–20cm petiole. The yellowish-white flowers are produced dense umbels.
x Mahoberberis Hybrid mahonia	Variegated	Late spring to early summer	An evergreen hybrid shrub. Leaves may be spiny, simple or pinnate. Small yellow flowers form in compact clusters.
x Sorbopyrus auricularis Bollwyller pear	Graft hybrids	May	A deciduous tree growing to 12m with a rounded, bushy habit. Its green, simple, alternate leaves are coarsely and sometimes doubly toothed. It produces 5-8cm long corymbs of white flowers followed by yellow pear-shaped pomes.