Allium /Nectaroscordum
totototo@telus.net (Fri, 20 May 2011 08:42:19 PDT)

On 19 May 2011, at 17:44, Nhu Nguyen wrote:

That raises a number of interesting topics for debate, some of them quite
philosophical. Somewhere I've read (weasel word alert!) that most species are
very well defined with sharp boundaries, hence Amazonian tribes (or is it Papua-
New Guinea? The memory, she fails this morning.) classify their local plants
into almost exactly the same species as do double-domed four-eyed botanists
from academia.

That's the case with most plants, but some aren't that way at all. The genus
Narcissus on the Iberian peninsula, notably the bulbocodium forms, seems to be
a population currently undergoing speciation, with the result that no two
authorities agree exactly where the specific boundaries lie - in some cases.

So be of good cheer. Botanical classification actually reflects the way the
world really is and it's not a matter of everyone having their own reality,
contrary to Shirley MacLaine's peculiar world view.

Where modern evidence is profoundly upsetting the apple cart is in the
relationships of one species to another: generic and familial boundaries, not
specific boundaries. But sometimes I wonder: if you have to run a DNA analysis
to distinguish visually indistinguishable two taxa, what is the poor field
biologist or wild flower lover to do?

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada