Marion Ownbey (1910-1974) first described the two new polyploid species, T. mirus and T. miscellus in 1950. Ownbey was the herbarium director at Washington State University in Pullman. He had been following the rapid spread in the Palouse (eastern WA and adjacent ID) of three introduced species of Tragopogon from Europe: T. dubius, T. pratensis and T. porrifolius. These species were first noticed in eastern Washington in the early 1900s. Ownbey noted that hybrids were found when these diploids co-occurred. In 1950 he documented not only diploid hybrids, but showed that two new allopolyploid species had formed between these diploid species—he named these T. mirus and T. miscellus. Ownbey (1950) clearly demonstrated that the parents of T. mirus are T. dubius and T. porrifolius and those of T. miscellus are T. dubius and T. pratensis.
Ownbey (1950) noted that there were only two populations of each allopolyploid. He described the several populations of the newly formed allotetraploids (each consisting of fewer than 100 individuals) as “small and precarious”; but noted that they had “attained a degree of success” and they appeared to be “competing successfully” with their diploid parents. He also stated that it would be “important to follow the ecological development of the newly formed polyploids” through time. Both tetraploids have been highly successful since their formation. Novak et al. (1991) conducted a survey to determine how common the two polyploids had become since Ownbey’s discovery. One or both polyploids were found in most towns of the Palouse with populations ranging from small (less than a hundred individuals) to many thousands of individuals. Tragopogon miscellus is now one of the most common weeds in and around Spokane, WA, as well as in Moscow, ID and Spangle, WA.
