Meetings of the Royal Botanical Society of The Netherlands

The genus Alstroemeria belongs to the family of Alstroemeriaceae together with the genera Bomarea, Leontochir and Schickendantsia. It comprises more than 60 species, which all originate from South America. Nearly all present cultivars are the result of interspecific hybridization. Most of them are triploid or tetraploid, whereas species are diploid (2n=2x= 16). The production of cultivars is often hindered by interspecific crossing barriers.