Mitteleuropäische Wiesenpflanzen als hybridogene Abkömmlinge von mittel‐ und südeuropäischen Gebirgssippen und submediterranen Sippen

Meadow plants of Central Europe resulting from hybridizations between mountain plants of the Alps and submediterranean plants. Various meadow plants growing in Switzerland north of the Alps are intermediate in their morphological and ecological characterstics between an alpine species and a submediterranean species. They cannot be recognised by a single independant character nor can they be distinguished from hybrids between the alpine and the submediterranean species. It is postulated that during the postglacial warming period while the areas north of the Alps were still free of forests, various alpine and submediterranean species could have come together. In the contact zone, hybridizations and gene transgressions took place. From these hybrid swarms resulted the intermediate meadow plants, which were favoured by the influence of farming man. The clearing of forests made possible further hybridizations. Therefore, the morphological and ecological limits between the original species became obscured.