Is anyone able to comment on the status of the change in North America to Askellia pygmaea from Crepis nana, please?
The on-line version of Flora of North America still lists Crepis nana, with no mention in the account of any synonymy with Askellia pygmaea, and at the same site, Askellia pygmaea is only found in the on-line Flora of China. Yet, VASCAN, the apparent authority for taxonomy for Canada, shows Askellia pygmaea as the accepted name for what was previously known as Crepis nana in North America: https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/27617?lang=en
Weber published the name Askellia in 1984 to encompass 7 species formerly placed in Crepis including 2 which occur in North America. These were originally placed in section Ixeridopsis of Crepis by Babcock in 1947. However, recognition of the Genus Askellia has not been widely adopted until recently. The separation of Askellia from Crepis is supported by DNA evidence (Enke & Gemeinholzer 2008, Enke 2009) as well as differences in morphology and chromosome number. Morphological characters that help distinguish members of Askellia from Crepis are plants generally glabrous, entire leaves, and heads with 6-12 flowers. I don’t know why the author for Crepis in Flora of N.A. didn’t at least mention the genus Askellia even if he wasn’t ready to adopt its use at the time.