N. x tuckeri

 

During my trip to Spain in March I saw  N. x tuckeri for the first time. Leslie Tucker told me the site near Navas de S. Juan. Many N. x tuckeri grow there in meadows. It is a natural cross of N. hedraeanthus and N. fernandesii with strong fragrance from the jonquilla. The parents are not to be found near the cross, but N. fernandesii and N. hedraeanthus luteolentus live in a distance of 20 to 50 km. Normally  you find few plants only of species crosses when the two parents grow in the same area. Each of these plants is very different, whereus N. tuckeri seems to exist in only very few clones and grows in form of clumps. Very seldom I saw a plant consisting of one bulb. The pollen grains of six different plants were found to be infertile and seeds were not obseved.

I have one explanation only for the existence of so many N. tuckeri near Navas de S. Juan: Long time ago crosses of N. fernandesii and N. hedraeanthus luteolentus developed at this place. As usual almost all were infertile. Few of them only with good vitality produced many bulbs and were spread out by ploughing the fields and perhaps by planting in the gardens of farmers. N. fernandesii and N. hedraeanthus luteolentus died out at these places because the ecological conditions changed.

N. tuckeri 2 N. x  tuckeri 3 N. x tuckeri 1   N. x tuckeri 5

PS: I found no pictures in DaffSeek for N. x tuckeri. Perhaps the fotos above should be introduced.

Theo