"The question is certainly off-topic on rec.gardens.edible..."
That's probably why Matthew cross-posted his question to sci.bio.botany!!!!
Matthew certainly did ask a question that has an answer much bigger than he
can handle.
Then again, the learning process has to start somewhere!
Even you are learning something new, Henrietta!
You might consider taking Beano for that "old fart" problem you have!
http://www.beano.net/
Henriette Kress wrote in message
news
an.2003.07.19.18.07.17.770348@hetta...
Cereoid-UR12- wrote:
I suppose it would be asking too much for a poster I could slap up
on the wall, detailing the branches, but then again... How does
a person generally go about judging how genetically distant any
two genera are, let alone species?
Sorry Henrietta but a degree in botany is not required for one to
hybridize
plants. There are scores of amateur and professional plant hybridizers
in
the world who don't have degrees.
He didn't want to hybridize anything. He wanted a picture of all the
genera in botany, showing just how they are related to each other, and how
close they are genetically.
Dunno how old he is, but that's a tall order for somebody who doesn't know
if cilantro and parsley belong to the Apiaceae.
Anyway, such a pretty picture would certainly be possible if botanists
could only agree on genera ... and it's possible that such beasts are
available online, but by what I can see, Matthew didn't even try a google
search.
And I'm an old enough fart that my reaction to a question that requires
years and years of research is to tell'em to do it themselves. Ditto for
questions that can be answered with a simple web search, which I have no
idea if this one is... but neither does Matthew, eh?
Whatever. The question is certainly off-topic on rec.gardens.edible...
follow-up set.
Henriette
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Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed