Hi All, I think a number of basic concepts are being conflated here. A *biological*understanding of a species or group attempts to shed light on genetics, reproductive behavior, autecology, synecology and other considerations. Such an understanding is broadly based and has many potential insights and tangents. The *phylogenetic* study of a group (not an individual) seeks to answer questions about relationships within that group-- species in a genus, genera in a family-- and with other presumably related groups. The goal of such study is to elucidate evolutionary histories and mechanisms. A *taxonomic* effort, that which perhaps concerns PBS members most, is strictly concerned with ordering available information into a useful scheme of classification so that we may communicate about a given group or species. Taxonomic schemes today seek to reflect phylogeny as closely as possible but this may bring vexing difficulties such as whether to recognize paraphyly or not. Naming plants is a subset of taxonomy. DNA or molecular studies are not a magic salve for any of these disciplines. To suggest that life itself is nothing more than a brilliant DNA soup is rather nihilistic and might easily be construed as suggesting that any particular life form, or life itself, has no importance in the scheme of things. In other words, a consideration of life without any meaning from a scientific perspective. This becomes a critical topic as we are better able to manipulate genes and create new organisms. Dylan