zuzu said:Z. marylandica is a colchicine-induced hybrid and does not occur in the wild. It therefore is not included in the main taxonomic databases as an accepted species name.
I repeat, Profusion zinnias
are not Z. peruviana. Nor was
Z. peruviana involved in their creation. The
Z. marylandicas were derived from
Z. violacea (elegans) and
Z. angustifolia.
It is possibly true that Profusions do not "occur in the wild", but neither do the thousands of extensively hybridized ornamental plants. And it is possible that by now Profusions have escaped cultivation and are growing in the wild in environments that are favorable to them. Taxonomy is not excluded from cultivated plants.
Incidentally, colchicine is not the only substance used to double chromosome numbers. And
academic authorities do accept Z. marylandica as a species name. No credible source would claim that Profusions are
Z. peruviana .
ZM
