A hybrid is a plant produced by crossing two different parent plants to combine traits from both. The parents may be different species, varieties, cultivars, or occasionally genera. Hybrids are common in ornamental gardening, houseplants, vegetables, and fruit crops because they can improve vigor, flower production, color, disease resistance, growth habit, or environmental tolerance.
Hybrid names are often marked with an “×” symbol in botanical naming, such as Begonia × semperflorens-cultorum. Many hybrids do not grow true from seed, meaning seedlings may not resemble the parent plant. To preserve specific hybrid characteristics, growers commonly propagate them through cuttings, division, grafting, or tissue culture.
Some hybrids occur naturally where related plants grow together, while others are intentionally created through controlled pollination. Hybridization differs from selection within a species because it combines genetic material from distinct parent lines rather than choosing traits from a single population.
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