The California poppy is a beloved flower, and the state flower of California, but as this thread discussed, the cultivated forms are thought to interbreed with wild populations, potentially wiping out their local genetic adaptations.
What was not discussed in that thread was that, whereas the wild-type California poppy consistently has orange or yellow-orange flowers, there are cultivars with flower colors ranging from white to salmon and even purple. If such cultivars are grown within the wild-typeâs native range, one would expect â if interbreeding is a real risk â to see those cultivar colors beginning to show up in wild populations, at least in the F2 generation.
Letâs expand it beyond the poppies, but keep it limited to same-species cultivars vs wild-type, i.e. leaving aside the related issue of interspecific hybridization. How prevalent are documented cases of this kind of genetic âcontaminationâ? Do we see wild populations taking on the visible phenotypes of same-species cultivars grown in their range?