Interspecific Hybridization Between Hypericum graveolens and H. mitchellianum

Hypericum graveolens and H. mitchellianum are sympatric in the high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. In this region three areas were found where few to many individuals were judged to be morphologically intermediate between the putative parents. These three populations as well as five populations of each of the putative parents were studied through morphological analysis. Breeding experiments conducted in the field as well as in the Botanical Garden showed that the hybrids produced experimentally were morphologically similar to the natural populations of intermediate plants. Hybridization must be occurring naturally to form the observed intermediates.