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Stewart Robert Hinsley · 31-01-2011, 10:14 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In message , writes
In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:

English bluebells are a big responsibility: the Brit Isles have most
of the world population, and they are vulnerable to hybridisation.

Well, yes and no. They are merely a subspecies, with only 11,000
years of difference from the Spanish.

Personally I would give serious consideration to lumping English and
Spanish (and Italian) bluebells into a single species (but I'd want to
read the recentish paper in Taxon), but the consensus classification
gives them species rank.

In terms of importance,
that is negligible on a global scale - it's primarily a concern to
parochial English botanists.

The same applies to several other endemic British species, like
the red grouse. I agree that we should avoid destroying them, but
we shouldn't start confusing molehills with mountains.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley