That's interesting. But it wasn't extinct if there were viable seeds.

Cool story!

:)

Dee

It looks like something I would pull up and then put in the trash so it wouldn't start spreading in my garden. ;) - Is the rare York Groundsel a food plant for an endangered butterfly or moth? The article says that it might be important to pollinators in the future but has anything suffered during its hiatus? The article also says that it produces flowers every month of the year? Have you heard about the Cane Toad?? Has mankind isolated a chemical contained in the plant that would be used for the betterment of anyone or anything? I get that nature is very interconnected, in ways we will never fully know or understand but if this plant were to go extinct it isn't exactly going to change the course of the universe.

Guess I am feeling sassy today. But yeah, cool article!

Senecio eboracensis is the product of two very similar species which arose naturally where it now grows. Hence it is very unlikely to be any kind of environmental threat. It is not comparable to the cane toad which was imported from a different continent. Flowering all year round is not unusual here. Both of its parents do the same and are not a problem. No, it isn't going to change the course of the universe by itself. But it is scientifically interesting being one of only six new plant species to be discovered in either the UK or North America in the last 100 years. And we need all the wild plants we can get.

Does this Senecio hybrid always grow true from seed? I don't really understand how a hybrid can be elevated to species rank? Rediscovery of extinct hybrid, not extinct species. There will be new species of North American Packera in the future. Their are populations that don't key into any known species and they are being studied currently. Some are varietals and others so new that they were lumped into other Packera species in the past. Some are so new that they haven't been included into any past treatments. Light speed communication and many botanists scouring every inch of the continent makes this possible.