From nursery into nature: A study on performance of cultivated varieties of native plants used in re-vegetation, their wild relatives and evolving wild × cultivar hybrids

The cultivated varieties of both species grew very vigorously and showed a more erect growth pattern than their wild relatives. The cultivated varieties seem to be selected toward high vegetative and generative yield. However, if exposed to local climatic conditions, cultivated varieties suffered a fitness loss with a complete mortality for the L. corniculatus cultivar and a reduced vegetative biomass production for P. lanceolata cultivars. On the other hand, we detected heterosis effects in hybrids for survival and generative biomass production in L. corniculatus and number of leaves in P. lanceolata. As it remains possible that the use of cultivated varieties may result in strongly competitive genotypes or reduced local adaptation of wild plant populations (via hybridization), large-scale use of cultivated varieties of native plants should be avoided in re-vegetation and restoration.