Primula 2010

[Maggi Young]

I wasn't going to mention that................

[TheOnionMan]

I hate to be the bearer of bad (taxonomic) tidings ...   
but it seems P ellisiae (note spelling!) has been absorbed into P rusbyi.  It's been there before, as a subspecies and a synonym, but it's now there again

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PRRU

Aha, the ol' missing "i" trick.  Diane, I find the USDA links incredibly useful for North America flora, even having info pages on invasives that exist here.  At the bottom of each USDA Plant profile page, there is typically an ITIS link (Integrated Taxonomic Information System) for that species, useful to find out what the latest taxonomic standing is, as sometimes the USDA is slower on the uptake.  There is also typically a link to CalPhotos, with a good selection of photos, many in situ, although for P. rusbyi, only one photo.  And the last thing I check, is to see what the genus-species standing is in the new online Flora of North America... sometimes there's a link on the USDA page for it, sometimes not.  As an example, you can check by googling Flora of North America Primula to get to the Primula classification IF IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN YET, large parts of FONA are still not published.  For issues of synonymy, the FONA often gives some good insight:

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250092248

excerpt on P. rusbyi:  Some individuals from the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico have a shorter corolla tube more or less equal to the calyx; these plants have been described as P. ellisiae. A single population can include individuals of both types, and the difference probably represents only a developmental stage of the flowers or minor morphological variation in some localized populations; preliminary genetic analyses (S. Kelso and P. Beardsley, unpubl.) reveal no substantive genetic distinction between these individuals and those from elsewhere in the range

I have grown both "species", find then amenable in clutivation (this was years ago), and glad to see some consolidation as I agree they are not sufficiently distinct.  Wish they'd do the same for little red-and-yellow Aquilegia species in Western USA, as it seems every slight different characteristic has resulted in a new "species", yielding dozens of lookalikes.

[Diane Clement]

Diane, I find the USDA links incredibly useful for North America flora, even having info pages on invasives that exist here.  At the bottom of each USDA Plant profile page, there is typically an ITIS link (Integrated Taxonomic Information System) for that species, useful to find out what the latest taxonomic standing is, as sometimes the USDA is slower on the uptake. 

The USDA site is extremely helpful, and I actually find it more up to date than most sites.  For examply, it's now quite a few years ago that North American asters changed to Symphyotrichum and other genera, but the RHS database has not yet caught up.  Maybe the UK taxonomists didn't agree, but they did actually print the changes in the RHS Garden magazine, they just never changed their database.     

Every year when I am checking the names on the AGS seedlist database (just started). I download the whole USDA database as I find it is the most up to date, easily accessible resource for N American plants (and, as Mark says, some invasives)
http://plants.usda.gov/dl_all.html  Warning - it's too big a file to be practically maneagable for searching - so I download it in alphabetical chunks.  I also use the list to create my own list of cross references as they are now listed the wrong way round for me with the old names alphabetically in the order of their new names (they used to do it the other way, with the "old" names listed alphabetically which is more useful for my needs, often easier just to scroll down an alphabetical list then use a search)

There is also typically a link to CalPhotos, with a good selection of photos, many in situ, although for P. rusbyi, only one photo. 

Agreed, CalPhotos is a brilliant resource, I use it a lot. 

[TheOnionMan]

The USDA site is extremely helpful, and I actually find it more up to date than most sites.  For examply, it's now quite a few years ago that North American asters changed to Symphyotrichum and other genera, but the RHS database has not yet caught up.  Maybe the UK taxonomists didn't agree, but they did actually print the changes in the RHS Garden magazine, they just never changed their database.    
  

Thanks Diane, interesting to learn how you are using these resources.

How do you handle areas where the North American Flora and those outside of North America don't necessarily agree, specifically where there is not universal agreement and adoption of Dodecatheon and Douglasia as being Primula & Androsace.  One thing I like about the Flora of North America treatments, is that they spend a lot of time summarizing the genus, particularly on controversial ones.  On Douglasia, the 2nd paragraph makes a strong detailed argument for Douglasia as a valid genus, as the body of current evidence and science is, as of yet, inconclusive. It states: "This treatment follows the current, conventional view in North America of a segregate generic status for Douglasia".  So, does the RHS follow the FONA decision to maintain Douglasia as a separate genus?

Douglasia in Flora of North America
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=110869

Similarly with Dodecatheon, but here they took a "have it both ways, while sitting on the fence" approach, stating: "These observations have resulted in the transfer of all species of Dodecatheon to Primula (A. R. Mast and J. L. Reveal 2007). For those wishing to adopt this concept, the appropriate names are provided here in synonymy".

Dodecatheon in Flora of North America:
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=110733

[arisaema]

Anyone know what this is? Received as P. bella, but that doesn't look right...

[Giles]

P.florida ?

[arisaema]

Thank you Giles, that looks correct!

[Darren]

A lovely hybrid between Primula vialii and P. flacida occurring in a bed of Vaillii. Not sure if there is a name for this particular hybrid, I know it is a fairly common occurrence. Picture alongside one of its parents.
Susan

This is a lovely plant Susan - I was wondering if it has the same wonderful scent as flaccida?  Given that both parents tend to be pretty much biennials with us I won't ask if it is any longer-lived! We currently have neither. Not too bothered about vialii but I'd like to grow flaccida again.