[pbs] Help with Resnova pilosa/Hyacinthaceae
totototo at telus.net
totototo at telus.net
Thu Jun 5 12:45:43 EDT 2008
On 2 Jun 08, at 10:23, Richard wrote:
> How in the world do we keep up [with name changes]?
Personally, I think it's a lost cause for gardeners to try to keep
up, at least for the near future. Botanical taxonomy as a field of
scientific endeavour gives every evidence of being in a state of
active flux, thanks to cladistic analysis of the results of DNA
sequencing. (We may be approaching the point where plant
identification according to the new paradigm is impossible without
doing DNA analysis. Portable backpack DNA sequencer, anyone?)
IMHO (in my humble opinion) it is better for gardeners -- for such we
are -- to stipulate a single reference and use that consistently
until, in a few generations, the dust will have settled and our
descendants can then move to whatever names have survived the test of
time.
I also remind everyone that taxonomy is not legislative; it's
opinion, and as long as a name is validly published, it's a valid
name. There is no requirement to try to follow every graduate student
who overhauls some well-known group of plants in order to justify his
PhD. In the fullness of time, the botanical community will reach a
consensus on which renamings make sense and which do not.
There's also some strange logic among the taxonomic community that I
have serious doubts about. The example that comes to mind is the
assertion that if we have two taxa, A & B, and B is clearly descended
from A, but also clearly distinct, B *must* be a sub-taxon of A.
This logic is an extreme expression of the idea that the hierarchy of
botanical taxa should match the evolutionary hierarchy. In my opinion
(which being free, is worth exactly what you paid for it) this
overlooks the view of evolution not as a simple tree but as a thicket
of interlacings where groups of plants separate, and may later
rejoin. It also flies in the face that A & B may be intersterile and
meet all the other criteria normally used to define "distinct taxa."
If a small population B of taxon A becomes isolated from the main
distribution, it has every right to evolve in its own way into
something else while A itself remains stuck in the evolutionary mud,
so to speak.
"Freedom to Evolve!"
The rallying cry of the revolutionary plant!
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island
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