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Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia) Provide A 21st-Century Perspective On Infraspecific Ranks And Interspecific Hybrids: A Modest Proposal* For Appropriate Recognition And Usage, Aaron M. Ellison, Charles C. Davis, Pat Calie, Robert F. C. Naczi
Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia) Provide A 21st-Century Perspective On Infraspecific Ranks And Interspecific Hybrids: A Modest Proposal* For Appropriate Recognition And Usage, Aaron M. Ellison, Charles C. Davis, Pat Calie, Robert F. C. Naczi
Biological Sciences Faculty and Staff Research
The taxonomic use of infraspecific ranks (subspecies, variety, subvariety, form, and subform), and the formal recognition of interspecific hybrid taxa, is permitted by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. However, considerable confusion regarding the biological and systematic merits is caused by current practice in the use of infraspecific ranks, which obscures the meaningful variability on which natural selection operates, and by the formal recognition of those interspecific hybrids that lack the potential for inter-lineage gene flow. These issues also may have pragmatic and legal consequences, especially regarding the legal delimitation and management of threatened and endangered …