The state or condition of being an allopolyploid, or the process by which organisms develop multiple chromosome sets from different species.
From Greek 'allo-' (other, different) + 'polyploidy' (having many chromosome sets). Developed as scientific terminology in the 1920s-1930s to explain sudden speciation events in plants.
Allopolyploidy is nature's shortcut to instant speciation—a plant hybrid that would normally be sterile can suddenly become fertile and reproductive when its chromosomes duplicate, allowing it to breed true and become a new species in a single generation.
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