7417 Orthilia Raf.
- Raf., Autik. Bot.: 103 (1840).
- Ramischia Opiz ex Garcke, Fl. N. Mitt.Deutschland, ed. 4: 32 (1858).
Notes: Elven and Murray: Yurtsev (PAF proposal, comments) accepted two species: Orthilia secunda and O. obtusata. This is established usage in Russian treatments (e.g., Khokhrjakov and Mazurenko 1991; Malyschev 1997), whereas North American authors mostly have accepted subspecies (if races at all). Freeman (2009b) implied the variation to be ecological, i.e., that plants in open, alpine and arctic habitats attained the diagnostic features of O. obtusata. This is not the case in northwestern Europe where Orthilia is common both in forests and in such alpine and arctic habitats without any of the features of O. obtusata. The variation does not seem to be ecotypical, not in Alaska either where the two taxa often occur in the same general types of habitats. The two taxa are sympatric throughout much of their ranges, probably one reason for Yurtsev's acceptance of them as species. A reason for the different treatments may be that O. obtusata is morphologically quite different from O. secunda s. str. in Eurasian material, whereas the two are more difficult to keep apart in northwestern North American material. More than a third of investigated specimens (ALA) from Alaska and the Yukon Territory studied by Elven and Murray are difficult to assign to taxon. Recognition of taxa is appropriate and we now go for two species but keep the option of two races (subspecies) open.
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Source: Wsiegmund at Wikispecies
