Hi Mary Sue, Although an outsider to the world of the systematists (if that is the correct term -- a question of the taxonomy of taxonomists) I still have very firm opinions on new nomenclature. I think we should go with Alan Meerow's proposals. No one knows more about the New World Amaryllidaceae (now considered a small piece of Alliaceae) than Alan. Moreover, much of his work is based on DNA sequencing studies, which I consider the most reliable basis for taxonomic classifications. (I'm a biochemist, so of course I would not be biased in favor of DNA!) I do favor retaining the name Amaryllidaceae, for the sake of convenience at least. I still have trouble remembering that the amaryllids are now lumped into the Alliaceae. Jim Shields Westfield, Indiana USA At 10:08 AM 7/8/2009 -0500, you wrote: >Hi Mary Sue: > >You have my sympathy. At Chicago Botanic Garden we constantly struggle >in an effort to keep our taxonomy and nomenclature up to date. It is >particularly frustrating when two of the foremost scientific references >do not agree. Sometimes we have found it is simply the fact they have >not had time to update their websites but at other times they >strenuously disagree for scientific reasons. > >Many thanks for not giving up in your quest for answers! We use the wiki >as a resource for our staff when they are exploring new and different >taxa to kept our displays interesting and new. > >Boyce Tankersley >Director of Living Plant Documentation >Chicago Botanic Garden >1000 Lake Cook Road >Glencoe, IL 60022 >tel: 847-835-6841 >fax: 847-835-1635 >email: btankers@chicagobotanic.org > > >I see that Kew is listing the accepted name as Clinanthus for all of the > >species on our wiki Stenomesson page except for Stenomesson pearcei >which >is listed under Stenomesson. On the other hand the data base maintained >by >the Misssouri Botanical Gardens still lists them as Stenomesson. We have >so >many Amaryllidaceae fans in this group. Can you give me guidance about >which wiki page these plants should be displayed on and what most people > >have decided to call them. > >Hoping for a response. > >Mary Sue > > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA