MEIOTIC INVESTIGATIONS IN A PRUNUS AVIUM X P. CANESCENS HYBRID

The wild cherry species Prunus canescens is classified by Rehder (1962) in the subgenus Cerasus, section Pseudocerasus. After analyzing crosses between P. avium and P. cansecens, Schmidt (1973) concluded that P. canescens should be integrated in the section Eucerasus together with P. avium, P. cerasus and P. fruticosa. To confirm this hypothesis, meiotic investigations of pollen mother cells were made from a hybrid of P. avium x P. canescens. All of the 25 analyzed pollen mother cells showed homologous chromosome pairing. These results confirm Schmidt’s (1973) assertion that P. canescens belongs to the section Eucerasus.