Arum - naming a Group
John Grimshaw (Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:48:39 PDT)

Dylan Hannon wrote:

I think it is worth pointing out here that any of us is free to accept
or reject any validly published name for any given plant. If one
prefers to use Amaryllis over Hippeastrum, for whatever reasons, it is
not technically "wrong". The same goes for recognizing the Liliaceae
in its old, broad sense versus the modern partitioning of this family
into a dozen or more "new" families [some of them are very old family
concepts!]. Some formal changes, as carried by the scientific
journals, are accepted by the botanical community while others are
not. The difficulty is that picking and choosing among the various
classifications can require as much energy or more than growing the
plants themselves.

This subject has been frequently discussed here. While it is indeed true
that one can pick and choose one's own taxonomy, I always think that if one
feels confident enough to override a technical expert in the field who has
invested a great deal of time and resources into reaching a conclusion, then
one must be able to put forward on equal terms a convincing argument why
such and such a taxonomic viewpoint should be rejected. It is not sufficient
to say 'I don't like it' - that is the way of the Luddites.

The vexed question of Amaryllis versus Hippeastrum is an unfortunate case to
use in this instance, since here it IS wrong to say that Amaryllis can be
used for Hippeastrum, as the question has been settled by decision of the
International Botanical Congress in favour of Amaryllis being restricted to
the South African species. Whether or not this was the right decision is
immaterial: if the codes of taxonomy are to be ignored at random then chaos
can be the only result.

John Grimshaw

Dr John M. Grimshaw
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