Defining individual taxa as species, subspecies or varieties is frequently confounded by ongoing evolutionary processes, including local adaptation, hybridization, polyploidy and apomixis. These processes are especially frequent in certain families, including the Asteraceae, Rosaceae and Poaceae, often leading to extreme taxonomic complexity. Prof. Hiscock will discuss the evolutionary processes that generate taxonomic complexity in the notoriously ‘difficult’ genera Sorbus (Rosaceae), Senecio (Asteraceae), and Orobanche (Orobanchaceae), paying particular attention to examples from the British Flora.
Prof. Hiscock is Director of the Oxford Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum.