A morphological study of Narcissus serotinus L. s.l. was carried out in 40 populations, mainly located in the southwest Iberian Peninsula, by the application of ordination and classification analysis to 42 vegetative and flower characters. Wide morphological variability was found in the species. A total of 19 characters clearly differentiated two groups as distinct species, but intraspecific variation, associated with geographical distribution, was found. One of the species aligned with N. serotinus L. s.s. , having a six-lobed yellow corona and one flower per scape, with a distribution restricted to the south-west Iberian Peninsula and north-west Morocco. The other species, distributed widely throughout the circum-Mediterranean region, and characterized by a three-lobed, orange-brownish corona and one to three flowers per scape, matched the description of N. obsoletus (Haw.) Steud. The historical application of this pre-Linnean name, given to a Spanish plant by Parkinson in 1629, and used subsequently by various authors, is doubtful, and thus its typification was necessary. Two other populations identified as N. elegans (Haw.) Spach were included in this study as a reference, and allowed characters in N. obsoletus , intermediate between those of N. serotinus and N. elegans , to be found, suggesting a hybridization process occurring in its area of origin.

Karyological and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) approaches provided evidence of the parentage and origin of the hybrid species Narcissus obsoletus. Here, we demonstrate that the putative parental species, N. serotinus L. and N. elegans (Haw.) Spach, recently proposed because of their intermediate morphological traits, have participated in the hybridization process forming this taxon. Karyotype characterization of parental genomes in populations from S Spain and N Morocco has revealed differences in chromosome length and karyotype asymmetry, highlighting their diploid nature. Multicolour GISH on metaphase plates of N. obsoletus, with N. serotinus and N. elegans DNA used as probes, showed differential fluorescent staining of 10 and 20 chromosomes from parental genomes, respectively. Both parental genomes were detected in the allopolyploid, albeit in a duplicated manner. Secondary hybridization between N. obsoletus and N. serotinus was also detected karyologically. Little karyological differentiation between different geographic regions was found in either N. serotinus or N. obsoletus.

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Within a blueberry research program in SW Spain, five rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei Reade) and nine southern highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) commercial cultivars along with 38 hybrid plants, produced by crossing highbush and rabbiteye cultivars, were used. The differences in the fruit size and the picking scar size among the plants, and the annual differences within each plant were studied. No significant differences were found in the fruit length, width, weight and the picking scar size between the rabbiteye and the southern highbush cultivars, and neither between the cultivars and the hybrid progeny. However, significant differences were found among the cultivars and among the hybrid plants. The picking scar size correlates better with fruit width and weight than with fruit length, although correlation values are not high. Thus, outliers were observed, some of them interesting to be selected for having large fruits and narrow scars. The ratio between the picking scar and fruit width shows significant differences among subsequent years in many hybrid plants.

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