In message , Sacha
writes
On 1/6/08 22:18, in article lid, "Stewart Robert
Hinsley" wrote:

In message , Sacha
writes
On 1/6/08 19:15, in article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

In article ,
says...
In message
,
writes
Bring some Antipodean extravagance to your garden with Hebe plants. We
found out more in an interview with Tony Hayter, Secretary of the Hebe
Society.


1. Can you tell us, what exactly is a Hebe?

A Hebe is a close related of Veronica (speedwell). It is an evergreen
shrub that comes from New Zealand. There are 100 species and many
cultivars

By more recent botanical opinion a Hebe is a Veronica of subgenus Hebe,
i.e. Hebe is nested in Veronica.

http://www.albach.gmxhome.de/Classif...n.htm#Veronica

Amazing how things come around! I have spent the last 25 years trying to
get my mother to call them Hebe not Veronica, Pghiladelphus will return
to Syringa as well and her world would be perect!

I'm not sure that Philadelphus was ever in Syringa. Syringa has got into
circulation as a vernacular name for Philadelphus, but both genera were
recognised as far back as Linnaeus.

Surely we're just talking about what people called them, not what they
actually should be?

When we're talking about botanical names (which I thought we were) we
are usually talking about what they should be - unlike vernacular names,
there are prescriptive rules for botanical names. (The alternative is to
discuss the history of the nomenclature of a taxon, but even then the
purpose of such discussion is normally to ascertain what the taxon
should be called.)
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley