So, I bought a bag of Meyer Lemons at the store a few months back. It isn't beyond me being a citrus and hardy subtropical fruit enthusiast all of these years (which is the main reason I started the original "Hardy & Subtropical Board" in the summer of '97) to plant some seeds of store bought fruit and see what results I get.

So I planted some Meyer seeds to get a few Meyer seedlings. I only got two to germinate, but to my surprise one of the seedlings has trifoliate leaves!

Here is the pic:



As you can see, the seedling on the right looks like a normal Meyer seedling, but the one on the left appears to have trifoliate leaves. I wonder if I am going to get some kind of Meyer-Trifoliata hybrid from that little guy?

Meyer does not come true & yes it hybridizes quite easy.

Just would have thought there probably wouldn't be any Poncirus flowering anywhere near a grove of Meyer lemon trees in California or wherever the store bought fruit originated from. So that surprised me that there could have been a random hybrid seedling in it's offspring and makes me wonder if there was some Poncirus somewhere in the lineage of the particular fruit I planted the seed from.

Quite possible that it was pollinated from a rootstock that managed to send up a branch that flowered. Also possible that both of your seedlings could be pollinated from that rootstock if the rootstock was itself a Poncirus hybrid such as a citrange (in which case half of resulting plants would be trifoliate, half monofoliate).

Very cool, by the way.

Nice

Also possible that the genes of rootstock and scion mixed ...

Anyways ... maybe you have a hardy lemon now .. and hopefully it tastes well ...

Sunmicroman do a google search for Citremon.

Very nice find.
I am always puzzled that although Meyer is zygotic, there are not so many hybrids with it.
I know only eremolemon and possibly sunquat.
Last year I obtained several hybrid seedlings by pollination of my Swingle5* citrumelo with pollen of Meyer. About quarter of them are monofoliates.

If in your case the chance pollination was by some poncirus hybrid, I suggest that you keep all the seedlings, not only the trifoliate one.

Quite sure that it is "a new undiscovered Poncirus hybrid"

sunmicroman, where do you live in the state? I have 2 - 8' Meyer lemon bushes/ trees growing in my front garden. I have just made 5 batches of Meyer lemon Marmalade and not one usable seed was found. I was hoping to find a few and germinate them as you did - but no luck.

Very interesting find.

Greg

I have handpolinated a meyer flower wiith a poncirus but got a replica of a meyer tree from the seed , no trifoliate leaves...just monofoliate...does this mean that is going to be a Meyer lemon ? Meyer was also grafted on trifoliata

No, it won't be a Meyer, but could produce a tree and fruit similar to a Meyer, or fairly different than the parent tree. - Millet.