Re: Pulmonaria

On most of the plants I deliberately did not try to list them under a species
if I was not sure they should go there.

As I stated Pulmonaria interbreed freely when their populations over lap.
So my personal belief is that many of the older cultivars placed under one
name or another are probably hybrids of P. saccharata and P. officinalis.
In my references 'Sissinghurst White' is listed under p. saccharata and P.
officinalis since ‘Sissinghurst white'  is shorter than P. saccharata It might
be a cross with P. officinalis, since the later is a shorter species than P.
saccharata.
 
Since I do not know these plants in there natural state and I do not have any
pure species to work with or for that matter a proper taxonomical key. I am
not able to make any personal judgments one way or the other-so I have left
the cultivars in a wide open group. 

If any one has seed from pure wild populations of these species I would love
to get some for comparison.  I hope to add about fifteen new Pulmonaria to my
small collection this year. I will try to make some more detailed comparisons
in the summer.

Below is a list of some of their classifications:
P. ‘Mrs Moon' = many different plants are lumped under this name.
P. rubra ‘Redstart' all agreement that this is were it goes.
P. rudra ‘ Bowle's Red'
P. longifolia ‘Bertram Anderson.
P. villarsae ‘Excalibur'
P. longifolia ‘Bertram Anderson X P. angustifolia = P. ‘Little Star' 
P. rubra ‘Redstart' X ‘P. ‘Excalibur'   = ‘Berries and Cream'
P. villarsae ‘Margery Fish'
P. angustifolia selection or possibly a hybrid with p. visianii? ( I have not
checked the legitimacy of this species yet)
Many modern cults are crosses with P. villarsae

 Here is a list of cults under P. officinalis:
‘Cambridge Blue' ‘Sissinghurst white' ‘white wings' ‘Roy Davidson'
 
 Now here is a list of cults under P. saccharata ARGENTEA GROUP:
‘Bielefeld' ‘Dora Bielefeld' ‘Janet Fisk' ‘Leopard' ‘Mrs Moon' ‘Pierre's Pure
Pink' ‘Pink Dawn'



One thing is clear- that plants coming from Europe in the past from nurseries
were many times poorly identified and haphazardly named- and this confusion
has persisted. So it helps not to pay to much attention to nursery tracts from
the past.

 I do not know of a modern taxonomical treatment of the genus Pulmonaria using
chemical markers but most taxonomical work is still based on morphological
features, namely flower structure and hairs or glands.

If you would like more information on Pulmonaria try contacting VANESSA COOK
of STILLING FLEET NURSERIES She is responsible for the national collection of
Pulmonaria.
You might also want to get a hold of DAN HEIMS of Terra Nova Nursery in
Portland Oregon.
He  is actively breeding Pulmonaria and introducing them into the Nursery
trade and some of the best cultivars come from him. Thanks Dan!!!
   

Some sources I use include these works plus many more and what ever I can find
on the Internet
Plant Taxonomy is a field I like and was my favorite while  studying in
collage, never was to good at plant physiology. I love plant variation and
minute details. Oh well.

 "THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY A-Z ENCYCLOPEDIA of GARDEN PLANTS" by
Christopher Brichell and Judith D. Zuk. DK publishing,inc. ISBN 0-7894-1943-2
copy right 1996

And

"HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS" volume 2, l-z" by Leo Jelitto and Wilhelm
Schacht. TIMBER PRESS ISBN 0-88192-159-9 1950 1998. translated 1990
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