Abstract
THE Hooker lecture of the Linnean Society delivered on February 16 last, by Sir William Wright Smith (Proc. Linn. Soc, Part II, 1932-33), dealt with this subject, with specific reference to the genus Primula. Sir William examined the taxonomic value of the criteria submitted by the cytologist. This genus is particularly suitable for such a comparison as morphologically it is divisible into some thirty reasonably definite sections. Cytologically the same is true and, on the whole, the analysis from this point of view agrees with the morphology very well. Sir Williams general conclusion appears to be that chromosomic divergence would certainly indicate usually that a line can be drawn between two groups, but it would not follow that even a marked difference would justify generic separation. Such separation would require to be based on the morphological evidence at the final arbitrament.
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Taxonomy and Cytology. Nature 132, 237–238 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132237d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132237d0