Questions and Answers

I do not believe in macro evolution. I do have some questions I need answered though… Is the primula kewensis observable proof of speciation/macroevolution? If not then why? Primula Kewensis is a cross breed between a type of rose and another plant. It can’t produce with its parents but can produce with itself and has happened naturally and in a lab. Also cytologist Karpchenko crossed a radish and a cabbage. Unreduced gametes were formed in the hybrids, which allowed for the production of seeds. The plants grown from the seeds could not produce with each other but could produce with the parents. Is this observable evidence of evolution? If not then why?

Geneticist de Vries made a variant amongst his oenothera lamarckiana, named oenothera gigas. Is it a different species? Is it observable evidence of evolution?

I am not a geneticist. However, I can offer a few lower-level answers:

English Primrose

English Primrose (picture from Wikimedia Commons, CCL3.0)

You have equated speciation with macro-evolution. This is incorrect. Speciation is what we used to refer to as micro-evolution. It is important not to get micro-evolution and macro-evolution confused. Speciation (micro-evolution) is the rearrangement or loss of existing genetic information. Macro-evolution requires the (impossible) spontaneous creation of new genetic information. Speciation happens and is observable. Macro-evolution – to which we usually refer as Darwinian evolution – does not happen.

You are not correct that Primula Kewensis has a rose for one of its parents, though the confusion is understandable. The parent plants of this hybrid are Primula Floribunda and Primula Verticillata, both of which are primroses, not roses. This is therefore a hybridization within the same created kind. It is an example of speciation, but not of Darwinian evolution.

Radishes and cabbages are both in the Brassica family, so again hybridization is to be expected.

Oenothera Gigas has exactly twice the number of chromosomes as Oenothera Lamarckiana. This is common in hybridization. This is an example of speciation, not of Darwinian evolution. No new genetic information was created in any of the examples that you quoted.