Imported weed diversification supports macro-evolution

The original Tragopogons were from 2 areas in Europe which never came into contact with eachother. This contact only happened in the Palouse region after immigrants brought them with them to the area, they then then interbred with the other species to produce allopolyploid hybrid offspring. These tetraploid offsping have characteristics that are better suited to the environment here and also produced fertile seeds that continued the line.A common mistake that is made when discussing these plants is that they mutated from the parent lines...they did not. Rather, the diploid parents gave rise to the tetraploid lines using the existing genetic information. This is an example of sexual reproduction mixing genes in novel combinations. T. mirus for example has purple flowers unlike either of the parents and this is perhaps the most striking difference that can be observed in this new species and the parent lineages.Poloyploidy is one way that plants can produce new species while animals seem unable to produce fertile offspring in this manner. Another commonly seen plant that has appeared recently is the Triticum aestivum which is also a polyploid species.

I stand corrected. I took my botany classes from one of the researchers on the goatsbeard species. The paper on the clawed frogs came out in 2004 and I guess it's time I got up to speed on this. Thanks...The Triticum I mentioned is commonly known as "wheat" and it's consumed in large quantities in Western diets. It's also closely tied to the rise of civilization. People eat polyploid organisms all the time and don't know it.