ABSTRACT
The gilia is a genus of shrub belonging to the Polemoniaceae family which grows spontaneously in North America and is widely cultivated for its flowers. The genus comprises various species, one of which is the Gilia inconspicua. For some botanists the latter is a single species; for others it is a complex of fully five different ones. How is it possible for scientists to disagree so radically on something apparently as obvious and routine as the classification of a plant?
