Kartesz Checklist

[Adolf Ceska]

Kartesz' Synonymized checklist is a monumental achievement.

In some instances botanists from western parts of North America have a
hard time to accept taxonomic decisions of botanists in eastern North
America.

Vaccinium alaskense was put in synonymy of Vaccinium ovalifolium by Dr.
Sam van der Kloet, although there are many characters that distinguish
those two taxa. You can tell them apart with your eyes closed (V.
ovalifolium has tasty fruit and V. alaskense is tasteless, or even tarty).

Apomictic species are difficult to handle and you always find many
different views. (I enjoyed reading Dr. Ornduff's review in the recent
issue of Systematic Botany that dealt with this problem.) I think that the
treatment of Poa secunda in Kartesz is extremely broad. Even Dr. Kellogg,
who suggested this treatment, wrote (Journal of Range Management 38[1985]:
521):  "It may still be useful for range managers [& plant ecologists as
well - AC] to have a name for some of the groups formerly called species."

These are two cases when I would not follow Kartesz as a "standard."
But this is a small fraction among two or three thousand species that grow
in my area of interest.

Regards,

Adolf Ceska
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Adolf Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 3S2
e-mail: aceska at victoria.tc.ca
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