The Bauhinia Genome Project

Bauhinia blakeana Dunn commonly known as the Hong Kong Orchid Tree, was adopted as the city flower of Hong Kong in 1965 and became the official emblem of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 1997. It was first discovered in the 1880s and is now planted all over the territory. It has long been suspected that Bauhinia blakeana is the sterile hybrid of two related species, B. purpurea and B. variegata, although limited genetic information of this plant has been available to confirm this. In this study, we employed genomic and transcriptomic sequencing to unravel the hybrid origin and explore the genetic basis of the flower heterosis of this popular ornamental tree species.