H. littoralis, now H. caribaea

ConroeJoe@aol.com ConroeJoe@aol.com
Sun, 20 Jun 2004 10:06:58 PDT
Hi Gang,

I'm happy with the collective wisdom of this group, but have to give a nod to 
K. Preuss.  That was a fast, and apparently accurate, ID and it was based on 
text only (no photo).  

Here is a photo of H. caribaea, and it is an exact match for my plant, a 
photo of H. caribaea, the leaves are a perfect match too (even the tips, texture, 
etc.).  
http://cambridge2000.com/gallery/html/… 

The more I read about Hymenocallis it seems as though the US populations (and 
maybe others) could have exploded north after the last ice age, occupying 
numerous new habitats and locations.  This could explain why species boundaries 
are fuzzy sometimes; they are still working it out themselves.  

USA and northern Mexico populations of Oak, Opuntia, Agave and other genera 
can also be explained by the "explosion out of Mexico" theory.   The problem of 
course is that such groups don't fit into neat species definitions.  
Hybridization, recombination, and hybrid dysgenesis-type events, can all scramble 
lineages.  It is quite easy for plant groups hybridize with cousin species and for 
the resultant progeny to then exchange DNA with grandparent species.  
Interpretation of DNA data is dependent upon the assumption of having a correct 
molecular clocks, an assumption that seem impossible to make when plants won't 
behave.   I'm reminded of the song, "I'm my own grandpa."    


Cordially,

C.J.   A 30-50% chance of rain predicted all week, daytime 90-95 F


LINKS

Tree of Life Web Project
http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html 

Some Definitions of Species
http://www.adera.be/fish/whatspecies.html 

Assumptions of Molecular Phylogney

http://genome.uc.edu/genome/HelpPages/… 

Lyrics, I'm My Own Grandpa
http://geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/… 



More information about the pbs mailing list