[pbs] Cabin fever antidote
Jim McKenney
jimmckenney at starpower.net
Fri Jan 23 19:54:23 EST 2004
Jim, you're no fun. By and large I think I agree with you.
At 06:51 PM 1/23/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Jim McK.,
>
>Good idea! The weather here is definitely not conducive to outdoor
>activities -- too cold and too windy. Sorry, Diane. Back to the keyboard.
>
>1. A Geophyte is whatever we define it to be. I define the concept very
>broadly: A plant having some sort of subterranean storage organ and an
>herbaceous, perennial habit. Since I'm not a taxonomist, you can take my
>"definition" with a grain of salt. (I've noticed that some real
>taxonomists in the past have used conflicting concepts as invitations to
war.)
>
>I think the usual definition, limiting "geophytes" to bulbs, corms, tubers,
>or rhizomes, is a bit narrow. Jim Waddick's Paeonia, some of Mary Sue's
>Delphinium, lots of things with "fat" roots, surely ought to be
>included. I like to say something like, "geophytes and friends" for
>suitable discussion topics. The term "geophyte" is, after all, not a
>phylogenetic classification but a pragmatic one.
>
>2. Species are human conceptual constructs too, by and large. Those
>obvious species, easily perceived, are not the problems of course.
>
>For a lot of biologists, I suspect the true but unspoken definition is
>something like "I can't actually define species, but I know one when I see
>one." There are a few, like Pierre Felice Ravenna, who see new species
>wherever they look. There may be matters of ego gratification involved, or
>more serious motivations like getting tenure or a promotion. All sorts of
>things can help define "species."
>
>The definition that goes something like "a species is an interbreeding
>population" bothers most people, who seem to read into it the word
>"potentially"; i.e., "a species is a [potentially] interbreeding
>population" which confuses the devil out of things where plants are
>concerned. The orchids present an obvious case in point, with myriads of
>complex, multiply (adverb of "multiple") intergeneric hybrids made in
>cultivation. Remember: where species are concerned, cultivation does not
>count! I like the approach that starts with a species as an identifiable
>group of individuals, sharing certain traits in common. You can elaborate
>from there.
>
>This also opens up the notion of reticulated evolution, or interspecific,
>possibly intergeneric, even inter-kingdom transfers of genetic
>material. For instance, the human genome is full of relict viruses. How
>do you want to handle that? This just shows how far Mother Nature will go
>to frustrate human attempts to organize things into neat pigeonholes.
>
>Jim Shields (a.k.a. Jim S; i.e., not Jim W and not Jim McK)
>in central Indiana (USA)
>
>At 05:00 PM 1/23/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>>I'm bored! Let's get some good fights going here! Let's start some threads
>>on 1) the definition of geophyte and 2) species concept.
>>
>>To start, I'll stick my neck out and offer these (perhaps outrageous)
>>propositions:
>>
>>1) with respect to geophytes, not all bulbs are geophytes
>>
>>2) with respect to species concept, living things don't exist as species,
>>they just exist
>>
>>Fire up your blazing keyboards!
>>
>>Jim McKenney
>
>*************************************************
>Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
>P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
>Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
>Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA
>
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