Flag for Taxon: Variety Rhus copallinum leucantha
| Flagger | Content Author | Content | Reason | Flag Created | Resolved by | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mftasp | Variety Rhus copallinum leucantha |
POWO lists all infraspecies as synonyms of the species |
Jun. 25, 2020 01:50:09 +0000 | austinrkelly |
All 3 infraspecific taxa have been merged with the main species |
Comments
@conboy you seem to have identified a significant number of the Rhus capallinum varieties. Can you assist or suggest someone to assist here?
POWO often suck at capturing infraspeces, so I wouldn't have put much weight on this except in this case they are explicitly listed as synonyms. In their usual obscurity, no justification is given for their use of a particular taxonomic opinion.
What I've learned about infraspecies for R. copallinum is mostly from others here on iNat. I'm not extremely familiar with what POWO and other taxonomic sources say about these infraspecies. Sorry about this.
R. copallinum var copallinum - "Flameleaf sumac" on iNat has narrower, more lanceolate leaflets. It looks very similar to Prairie flameleaf sumac (R. lanceolata), but is not in the endemic range of R. lanceolata. Here's a good example - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/47200659
R. copallinum var latifolia - "Eastern winged sumac" - I know less about this one, but I think the variety typically has less leaflets per leaf on average. 5-9 instead of consistent 10+ leaflets. I usually try to ID to species level with this one, but I'm sure I've left some infraspecies IDs for those I felt confident about.
R. copallinum var leucantha - I don't know anything about this one. Sorry!
Hope this helps.
@austinrkelly any particular reason why you made the taxonomic changes before we'd resolved the discussion as to whether they merit deviating from POWO, and without contributing to the conversation? It seems rather rude to the observers of the (if I recall correctly) hundreds of observations affected.
I was curious as well - I think it may have been worth sticking with at least the two more popular infraspecies.
2/3 of the infraspecies were added from NatureServe records. Where conservation concerns may exist for at least one of these varieties, should a deviation be created for to allow the infraspecies, ignoring POWO?