Syphilantha
John Grimshaw (Sun, 08 Jan 2006 11:10:41 PST)

I asked my friend Eric Knox, Director of the University of Indiana Herbarium
and world authority on Lobelia and its relatives, about this mysterious
Siphilantha. He replies:

The picture looks like a Centropogon, which is one of the segregate
genera closely related to Burmeistera and Siphocampylus; all three
derived out of Lobelia. I have never heard of Syphilantha (but I
will double check), and I assume that it is a bad approximation of
Siphocampylus. Half the Lobeliaceae (650 spp.) are in this
C[entropogon]B[urmeistera]S[iphocampylus] [JMG brackets]
clade, the radiation presumably based on the coevolution with
neotropical hummingbirds.

John Grimshaw

Dr John M. Grimshaw
Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens

Sycamore Cottage
Colesbourne
Nr Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL53 9NP

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Kramb" <dkramb@badbear.com>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2006 7:11 PM
Subject: [pbs] Syphilantha