Stefan Buczacki solves your plot problems
Gill Murphy, Bristol
Stefan says: This is a most important question because there has been much concern among botanists and environmentalists about garden plants hybridising with native species and so corrupting the genetic purity of the latter. It’s called genetic pollution and one of the most important examples does involve our beautiful native bluebell, which has the scientific name Hyacinthoides non-scripta. The cultivated hyacinth has the scientific name Hyacinthus orientalis, the name orientalis meaning eastern (they are derived from various Asian species).
Given that the name Hyacinthoides does mean hyacinth-like, it’s reasonable to assume the two are closely related. But not closely related enough. The flower structure in the two types of plant is, in fact, rather different although they are superficially similar. That is why they are placed botanically in different genera and, by and large, inter-generic hybridisation – crosses between plants in two genera – is unusual. Even in the rare cases where it does occur, the hybrids are almost invariably infertile, so cannot produce seed.
So, I’m unaware of any hybrids occurring between garden hyacinths and native bluebells; hence I see no threat from that source to our beautiful woods.
However, the story does not end there, because there is another, quite different threat to the purity of our bluebell woodlands that we,