This brings us to another important category in horticulture, 

hybrids

•

Technically, hybrids are genetic crosses between two different individuals, 
sometimes within the same species, but most often between two closely 
related species

•

Many hybrids may have “hybrid vigor” but fail to produce viable seed

•

The more distantly related the two parents, the less likely a hybrid will 
succeed

•

There are a few cases in which two genera have been hybridized, as in      

X 

Chiranthofremontia lenzii

. This hybrid is between the Mexican monkey 

hand tree (

Chiranthodendron pentadactylon

and the flannel bush or 

fremontia, 

Fremontodendron

. 

•

The orchids also have been widely hybridized between genera because in 
the wild, the parents are isolated by using different pollinators