Orchids breed to form Britain's first hybrid
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Two rare orchid species have interbred for the first time in Britain to produce a new hybrid.
Monkey orchids and lady orchids, which are closely related, produced the new flower at Hartslock Nature Reserve in south Oxfordshire. Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London conducted a morphological analysis and confirmed the two species had interbred to produce the intermediate variety. Genetic analysis, carried out by Dr Mike Fay and colleagues at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, proved the plant was a new hybrid. It is the first time that this particular interbreeding has been recorded in the UK.
Martyn Lane, a reserves manager for the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, which runs Hartslock, said: "The monkey orchid has always been on this site as far as we know. It's only found on two native sites in England. The lady orchid became established here for the first time in 1998, although we do not know if this occurred naturally or as a result of deliberate planting."
Both species are named because of the shape of their flowers, which resemble a tiny monkey and a crinoline-skirted woman. The hybrid closely resembles another similar species, the military orchid. Professor Richard Bateman, the Natural History Museum's orchid specialist, said: "This raises the possibility that the military orchid could have originated long ago as a result of hybridisation between parents that resembled the monkey and lady orchids."
Dr Fay said: "We should be moving away from the idea of protecting individual species in this case and instead be thinking about 'conservation of process', that is to say, maintaining the capacity of species to evolve and disperse. If hybridisation between closely related species is part of that, then so be it."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments