On 27 Mar 04 at 18:02, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > Are you saying that the only two species that will be considering > Leucojum are Leucojum aestivum and L. vernum? Did I read that > right? All the rest will now be known as Acis? How in the world do > you pronounce Acis? Does the world follow what Kew proposes? This > isn't a change based on DNA testing, but a change on the basis of > physical characteristics? Is it possible that when DNA is done, that > they will all be back together? > > I think I said it before but if the botanical names keep changing as > rapidly as they seem to lately soon we will no longer be able to say > to all those people who prefer using common names that using > botanical names allows us all to know that we are talking about the > same plant. How do we keep up? Remember that the names in Leucojum remain validly published. You are not required to conform. Indeed, I prefer to think of these all as Leucojum since the English name "snowflake" covers them all. But Acis is a very old name -- I think it predates Linnaeus. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island