Rain Lilies
J.E. Shields (Thu, 21 Nov 2013 17:02:37 PST)

This raises not only the question of how good are some of the "accepted"
names but -- especially if they are really documented -- of just what is a
species in rainlilies?

So many of the rainlilies seem to be mainly apomictic that the sexual
concept of a species -- an interbreeding population -- becomes
untenable. Microbiologists and mathematicians are questioning the
relevance and indeed even the applicability of the species concept to
asexually reproducing microorganisms. Is every clone (in rainlilies, every
apomictic maternal line) a distinct biological entitity? Are there as many
"species" of rainlilies as there are apomicticly reproducing
individuals? Peter Grant wrote a book (30 years ago?) about plant
speciation in which he used rainlilies and their apomictic maternal lines
as examples of a challenge to the very concept. The problem does not
appear to have gotten any simpler in the intervening years.

Jim Shields

At 12:42 AM 11/22/2013 +0000, Alberto wrote:

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Lat. 40° 02.8' N, Long. 086° 06.6' W