Between sexual and apomictic: unexpectedly variable sporogenesis and production of viable polyhaploids in the pentaploid fern of theDryopteris affinisagg. (Dryopteridaceae)

Abstract

In ferns, apomixis is an important mode of asexual reproduction. Although the mechanisms of fern reproduction have been studied thoroughly, most previous work has focused on cases in which ferns reproduce either exclusively sexually or exclusively asexually. Reproduction of ferns with potentially mixed systems and inheritance of apomixis remains largely unknown. This study addresses reproduction of the pentaploid Dryopteris × critica, a hybrid of triploid apomictic D. borreri and tetraploid sexual D. filix-mas.