On 4/3/07 16:06, in article , "Stewart Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

In message , Sacha
writes
On 4/3/07 14:34, in article lid, "Stewart Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

In message , K
writes
The system is based on the flowers, since they are the bit that enables
sexual reproduction and therefore govern the ancestral 'tree' of the
plant in question.

Actually the classification is ideally based on "total evidence",
whether flower and fruit morphology, or vegetative morphology, or pollen
morphology, or ctyology, or biochemistry, or DNA sequences. Flower and
fruit morphology does however usually offer a better guide to
relationships that other easily examined characters.

(Note that the system also applies to non-flowering plants like mosses,
ferns and conifers. A similar system, growing from the same root,
applies to animals.)

Back in the 18th century Linnaeus ("The Father of Botany") introduced
both the binomial naming scheme which is the root of the modern
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), and an artificial
(i.e. not based on relationships) classification based on the numbers of
stamens and pistils. He also produced an outline of a natural (one based
on relationships, as far as he could deduce) classification

Very interesting but not easy for the beginner, IMO!


It didn't think I was going into particularly abstruse territory, but
it's hard to remember back to the days when the boundaries of my
ignorance were smaller. (The more you learn the more you realise that
you don't know.)

But for a learning experience, what is wanted is not easy material, but
(sufficiently) challenging material. Readers can always ask for
clarification, if they're interested.

I thought that first reader did - sort of - ask for clarification. In the
beginning - sorry to sound Biblical - if you one can just get the actual
Latin name by which a plant is known that is quite enough, IMO. It enables
you to order a plant, discuss it with others in this country or other
countries and know what you've got if you want to look it up on e.g. Google
or the Plant Finder. The far distant lunar light years away from most
gardeners, botanical particulars are, I'm sure extremely interesting to
those of that turn of mind but they are absolutely not essential to the
average gardener who simply wants to ID a plant he's read about under its
common name in South Africa, Staffordshire or South Molton. ;-)
That said, I salute your knowledge but can never say that we have had even
ONE customer here ask such questions before buying e.g. Pulmonaria 'Blue
Ensign'! OTOH, we have had customers asking for Lungwort...... ;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)