>In response to your comment on Pinguicula leptoceras you might be
>interested to know that last June I saw it flowering in the east
>Pyrennes - Southern France - at approximately 2300m.
I am certainly very interested to hear (i.e. read) this!
The plants you have seen were supposedly either _P.vulgaris_ (2300m is
rather high for this species but not yet impossible) or _P.grandiflora_.
_P.longifolia_ is until now only known from the central Pyrenees (but still
not *completely* impossible in the eastern parts). I suppose you think you
have seen _P.leptoceras_ (and not _P.grandiflora_ or _P.longifolia_)
because the plant was small, but remember the altitude (I have seen dwarfed
individuals, not yet flowering in June, of
_P.longifolia_ssp.reichenbachiana_ in the Abruzzo Mts., Italy, at 2500 m
alt.). No really reliable records of _P.leptoceras_ do exist from outside
the Alps. Even the populations from the N Appennines are somewhat dubious
(sympatric with _P.l.reichenbachiana_), and it is *very* unlikely that this
species should occur as far to the west as the Pyrenees.
However, one must never say "never". Do you have any form of preserved (or
even living) material of the plants you have seen? Where did you see the
plants, exactly? Did (or can) you count the chromosomes?
The idea of hybridization between European species of _Pinguicula_ is not
very popular (CASPER does not like it), but I do know plants which could
very well be hybrids from the Pyrenees (even involving _P.alpina_ which
belongs to another subgenus!). The possibility of hybrid origin of your
plants should at least be considered. I am rather convinced that in the
Pyrenees introgression between _P.grandiflora_ and _P.longifolia_ does play
some role, and hybrids or "intermediate individuals" are quite abundant.
These do not always show "hybrid vigour". _P.vulgaris_ is the only species
with 2n=64, hybrids with species with 2n=32 should (but need not
necessarily to) be aneuploic.
Dear Hermann (Dr.Wistuba),
I am very pleased to welcome you here.
> Jan, I mean the correct name is not "Pilztal" but "Pitztal", a
>valley
> in Austria near the famous "Oetztal" (Oetzti !!)
Dear Joe (N.),
>it's not Pilztal, but Pitztal, and it is a nice valley in the silicat-alps
>of Austria. Here you can find good populations of P. leptoceras and if
>you are happy, you can find sometimes 'alba'-forms, plants with white
>flowers, but these are quite rare (I've seen 3 plants of it).
I do not like these (homozygous violet- mutants) too much, but they are
without doubt funny.
>Besides that, you can find here also P. vulgaris
^^^^^^^^^^^
Dear Barry,
Do you read this? Keep on keying!
>, D. anglica and Utric's., so, worth to visit :-).
Thank you all for this information. Now the location can be mapped very
much more precisely. It lies in the heart of the natural range of
_P.leptoceras_. This location certainly does exclude _P.grandiflora_ and
_P.balcanica_.
BTW: Some readers may be irritated by the fact that I rely on Geography for
"keying" _Pinguicula_ so heavily, but as the European species (especially
the "tetraploids" with 2n=32) frequently look *very* similar, some taxa can
be separated better on a geographic than on a morphological basis. E.g. the
sspp. of _P.longifolia_ are almost inseparable morphologically (keys
contain the word "mostly" far too frequently for satisfactory
delimitation), but they occupy clearly isolated ranges.
Kind regards
Jan