Geophyte

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Sat, 03 Sep 2005 11:46:26 PDT
Hi all,

When I started this list a number of years ago I wrote on our list page:
"Although bulbs (defined more broadly to include all geophytes) are the 
focus, we recognize that people who grow them probably grow other things 
too and will be talking about them from time to time. " I was trying to be 
inclusive, not exclusive. And judging from the topics that get a lot of 
responses, many of them are off topic completely and people want to discuss 
them. Herding cats is impossible so most of the time I don't even try. (As 
you have noticed some people continue to include the whole previous message 
when they respond even when I've written them privately.) Once you become a 
community of sorts you are going to share information that you think others 
would want to have. What gives me pride about the pbs list is that 
responses are friendly and people are respectful of all the levels of 
expertise that exists in this list.

As for what goes on the wiki, we allow some leeway there too for genera 
like Scoliopus. We include some things that are evergreen and never stop 
growing and therefore are not really geophytes, some things that have bulbs 
above the ground, and even my Delphiniums which fit a definition of 
geophyte that I liked, "something that you can put in an envelope and send 
when it is dormant." I got outvoted on keeping Jim McKenney's snakes, but 
we allow some short term visitors to the wiki even though we don't 
encourage this as it makes more work for administrators. An example of that 
is our desert page which I'll probably remove next week. One important 
criteria for making it to the wiki is that someone cares enough about that 
plant or subject to do the work to get the picture or information there.

I didn't mean to get everyone all stirred up again about what is and is not 
allowed to be discussed or added to the wiki. I just thought some of you 
might be interested in what Scoliopus bigelovii and Canarina canariensis 
look like when they are dormant. There has been no response to that at all, 
not even privately. I am always dumping out a pot and thinking, now what in 
the world is that, so I welcome pictures on the wiki or our bulbs, 
rhizomes, tubers, tuberous roots, etc. when the plant is dormant. Seed pods 
are good too since it seems that this is becoming more important in plant 
identification.

Mary Sue


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