Hybridized Citrus?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,

I have a Eureka Lemon tree and a Persian Lime tree about 6 feet away from eachother. I know they are getting cross pollinated cause I see bees going back and forth on them. I noticed some new growth coming out of my lemon tree and it looks like it has features of the lime tree. What I mean is, I noticed thorns on the stems, the lemon is thornless but the lime has thorns. Is is possible for something like this to happen, what does it mean?

I was under the impression that during a hybridization the fruits would still be true but if you collected seeds they would be hybrid seeds.

[!potatoes!]

what you're seeing isn't a result of hybridization - you're right about how that works. spontaneous mutations (especially returning to more ancestral forms, like the thorns on your lemon) don't happen all the time, but they're not really that uncommon. that's how some new varieties appear, actually. bud sports.

that's assuming that thorny growth you're talking about isn't coming from below a graft union or something.

[PunkRotten]

No it is above the graft. Pretty interesting.

[JONA878]

I suspect that what you are seeing PunkR is a reversion on part of your tree.
Hybrids can and often do partly revert back to one the parent plants in its ancestry.
Think of the way that some varigated plants occasionaly throw up green shoots that are a reversion.