A swarm of controversy surrounds the nomenclature of this species discussions have been going on for decades about this plant's parentage and species status. According to Swink & Wilhelm, Steyermark & Steyermark classified H. acutiloba DC. as H. nobilis Mill. var. acuta (Pursh) Steyerm. in 1960. Correspondingly, H. americana DC. was considered to be H. nobilis Mill. var obtusa (Pursh) Steyerm.
The basis for this reclassification was grounded in studies throughout Barrington in Lake County, Illinois, in which the two scientists discovered that H. americana tended to be present on more acid, leached soils at the tops of ravines and slopes, while H. acutiloba was found in more neutral and richer creek bottoms. The boundaries between the two species often crossed, and this intergradation prompted a proposed name change that taxonomists still debate to this day.
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