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Horticulturae
Volume 12
Issue 5
10.3390/horticulturae12050587
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Pollen Tube Growth and Embryo Development in Interspecific Crosses Among Hydrangea macrophylla, H. paniculata, and H. arborescens

by
Hengdan Liu
1,†,
Siru Chen
1,†,
Mengqi Si
1,
Hao Dou
1,
Liwen Tian
1,
Yuyong Yang
2,
Zenghua Yang
2 and
Ming Cai
1,*
1
National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture, School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
2
Kunming Yangyueji Horticulture Co., Ltd., Kunming 650500, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Horticulturae 2026, 12(5), 587; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12050587 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 16 March 2026 / Revised: 3 May 2026 / Accepted: 7 May 2026 / Published: 9 May 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Innovation and Breeding in Ornamental Plants)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Reproductive barriers severely limit interspecific hybridization success among Hydrangea macrophylla, H. paniculata, and H. arborescens, thereby restricting the combination of ornamental traits and cold hardiness. We evaluated cross-compatibility, pollen tube growth, and embryo development in both direct and reciprocal crosses involving H. macrophylla with H. paniculata and H. arborescens. Both species pairs exhibited pronounced unilateral incompatibilities. When H. macrophylla served as the maternal parent, the percentages of seedling emergence were higher, whereas reciprocal crosses produced >84% ovary swelling but resulted in almost no seedlings. Fluorescence microscopy revealed mild prezygotic barriers in direct crosses but strong inhibition of pollen germination and pollen tube growth in reciprocal crosses. Paraffin section observations showed that postzygotic barriers were the primary cause of hybrid failure, with endosperm-type abortion predominating in direct crosses and embryo-type or complete abortion in reciprocal crosses. Consistent with these abortion patterns, direct crosses maintained higher proportions of normal embryos, whereas reciprocal crosses dropped below 10% at the globular stage and approached 0% at later stages. These findings support the use of timely embryo rescue for direct crosses and targeted mitigation of prezygotic barriers in reciprocal crosses to improve Hydrangea interspecific hybridization efficiency.
Keywords: cross-compatibility; embryo abortion; prezygotic barriers; reproductive isolation cross-compatibility; embryo abortion; prezygotic barriers; reproductive isolation

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Liu, H.; Chen, S.; Si, M.; Dou, H.; Tian, L.; Yang, Y.; Yang, Z.; Cai, M. Pollen Tube Growth and Embryo Development in Interspecific Crosses Among Hydrangea macrophylla, H. paniculata, and H. arborescens. Horticulturae 2026, 12, 587. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12050587

AMA Style

Liu H, Chen S, Si M, Dou H, Tian L, Yang Y, Yang Z, Cai M. Pollen Tube Growth and Embryo Development in Interspecific Crosses Among Hydrangea macrophylla, H. paniculata, and H. arborescens. Horticulturae. 2026; 12(5):587. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12050587

Chicago/Turabian Style

Liu, Hengdan, Siru Chen, Mengqi Si, Hao Dou, Liwen Tian, Yuyong Yang, Zenghua Yang, and Ming Cai. 2026. "Pollen Tube Growth and Embryo Development in Interspecific Crosses Among Hydrangea macrophylla, H. paniculata, and H. arborescens" Horticulturae 12, no. 5: 587. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12050587

APA Style

Liu, H., Chen, S., Si, M., Dou, H., Tian, L., Yang, Y., Yang, Z., & Cai, M. (2026). Pollen Tube Growth and Embryo Development in Interspecific Crosses Among Hydrangea macrophylla, H. paniculata, and H. arborescens. Horticulturae, 12(5), 587. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12050587

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