I am not familiar at all with O. stacyi, but Guido made a very important
point about stable natural hybrids and species....I feel that hybridization
is a very definite factor in speciation...not frequently, but probably more
often than is acknowledged...on the non-scientist, textbook level, isolation
is always stressed as a factor in speciation...but, if, for whatever
reasons, species come into contact and interbreed, creating stable hybrids,
why shouldn't this lead to formation of a new species? The southern US is
full of natural hybrid swarms of deciduous azaleas (Rhododendron). If a
population of hybrids is in a position to interbreed with themselves, to the
point where the traits become stable, why shouldn't they be then considered
a species? Not that the species concept is clear cut anymore...I think that
probably most scientists would agree that the concept of "species" must be
far more flexible than used to be believed.....and is really more a term of
convenience in many cases. By the way, even in animals, there are species
that are clearly due to hybridization...in lizards, many species of
Cnemidophorous are of hybrid origin (triploid and parthenogenic too!), as
are several salamander species....Take care, Eric Muehlbauer in dry Queens
NY...P. lowii in bloom, bellatulum album in bud.......


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