This discussion has focused on cacti, but it may be of interest to bulb enthusiasts to know of some bulb populations that have been described as species, even though they're fairly well proven to be hybrids. Fritillaria gentneri is a name given to a group of unstable populations in southern Oregon that have been shown by DNA studies to be hybrids between F. recurva and F. affinis. There is strong local support, however, for retaining gentneri as a full species because it's a showy flower that is celebrated in local artwork and so on. In this and other similar cases, as well, endangered species status makes it easier to protect the sites where a plant occurs from development. (Unfortunately for us, it also makes it illegal to disseminate any material of it in horticulture. Those big red things out in my bulb frame are just really nice-looking recurva, of course. And I grew them from seed given me by people on whose property they were growing, anyway.) Other examples from the west coast of the USA are Lilium pitkinense and Brodiaea pallida, both known from single sites in California and both probably hybrid populations. An example from Turkey is Fritillaria kittaniae. A recent issue of the Rock Garden Quarterly had F. gentneri on its cover and I supplied an article discussing this issue in the context of that plant. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA