Summer field in Belgium (Hamois). The blue flower is Centaurea cyanus and the red one a Papaver rhoeas.
Ref.1 Robert Ulanowicz stated that "The emerging picture of ecosystem behavior does not resemble the worldview imparted by an extrapolation of conceptual trends established in other sciences."
The Cornflower Centaurea cyanusis a typical plant species where ecologists differ from botanists and those involved in Nomenclature in there views about its exact name and provenance.
If a plant is a native species, then it must be growing in an area before its introduction by mankind in a region. The Cornflower is sold commercially worldwide and is therefore rarely named correctly, instead varieties are sold under the generic name; The Cornflower Centaurea cyanus. It is suggested by floral locale when its true local genotype Centaurea cyanus provenance and local genotype is given. it should it be considered as the true name of the plant. An example is in Ireland, where the Cornflower became extinct in the 1950's. In the first instance, the plant species was probably introduced by neolithic peoples many thousands of years ago, so was it ever a native? as early settlers arrived in Ireland, there brought it as a weed seed or herb from central Europe. However it persisted up to modern times, and then due to changes in agriculture became extinct. in the past 400 years, Cornflower was re-introduced by gardeners often as an improved ornamental species and often without its variety name. Since the 18th century, Pink, white and improved strains of Blue flowering cornflowers would have been re-imported into Ireland for horticulture.
Botanical and ecological writings, suggested that it was extinct by the 1980's. But in 1992 a wild strain was found on the Aran Islands and in Bray, Co Wicklow and again in 2008 on the M7/N7 road construction site in Urlingford, Co Tipperary. An Irish conservation wildflower seed supplier (ref.2) claims to have saved 11 seed in 1992 and 102 seeds in 2008 from these plants and have bred 'back' this species for conservation and commercial trade of native wildflowers. It the species different than the imported species?. Only genetic testing will solve the mystery if they are all the same plant or different sub species, varieties or genotypes, and hence deserving different names. Question, Is it all the same plant, with the same name?. And thus the ecology portal should be correctly viewed not as science as we know it, but science as we think we know it.
ref.1 R. Ulanowicz, Ecology: The Ascendent Perspective, Columbia (1997)
ref.2 http://www.wildflowers.ie
