From: Rand Nicholson writserv at nbnet.nb.ca> on 2003.02.07 at 16:22:03(9941)
Your Lordliness:
I subscribe to a few other lists, notably an orchid and carnivorous
plants list, where the naming of names is sometimes discussed by
knowledgeable people with hammers and battleaxes a-flailing, though
usually more civilized. Although sometimes fun from an onlooker's
point of view (I keep very still and try not to make eye contact),
one can appreciate the underlying seriousness of what is being
attempted. Many times it has been brought home, the importance of
getting it right amongst a sometimes bewildering (to me) confusion of
criteria, historical inaccuracies, various schools of thought (ie:
Lumpers and Splitters) and , of course, the personal take of some
involved regarding the rules and guidelines of taxonomy itself. So, I
do not mock the science or the attempt to classify things as they
should be in order to allow me to say for certainty that my A.
fargesii _is_ indeed A. fargesii and not A. franchetianum (which, by
the way, it turned out to be - I think).
Typhonium venosum (see, I said it! Hardly hurt at all.) came to me as
a "Voodoo Lily" with a burbling exhortation of how it would "flower
hugely and gorgeously on your windowsill from the naked bulb without
being potted into soil!" Who amongst us could resist that? And it
did what they said.
After I regained consciousness I found out everything I could, which
was _very_ difficult at that time, (my email was still a decade away
in the early eighties) about the amazing beast, my first bulbous
Aroid, and decided that Sauromatum guttatum was a keeper (much to the
disgust of my friends and family who had witnessed the event).
You see, I had a lot invested in the name as well as the plant which
still lives on today, happily flaunting its inflorescence each spring
like clockwork _out_ of doors in fresh moving air in a nice roomy pot
with some of its offspring. Now the place is crawling with various
Aroids and I could not be happier. I bend a knee before your phalloid
wisdom m'Lord and If you find that you must rename any of them I will
dutifully make the appropriate labels and use them freely, as I have
a large supply of markers and labels are cheap. And I actually do
want to know what I have, am growing, and be able to find good
information on them. Names are, indeed, important.
(I should also get points for restraint in complying with your
expectations regarding any answer to your question. Significant
restraint, when one considers possible responses, which, of course, I
haven't.)
You will forgive me though, I trust, if I dance The Aroid Dance of
Joy _if_ an old friend returns? And have a bit of fun with this along
the way?
Best Regards,
Rantless Rand
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z5b (I wish) Maritime Canada
Ranting Rand,
You are absolutely right. Us taxonomists make life complicated at times. On
the other hand, plant people are inherently conservative in this, not
appreciating the scientific dynamics of taxonomy, which after all IS
science. What would happen if scientific developement stopped? (I don't
expect a smart-ass answer to this!!!!!!! o.k.!!!!!)
Congrats with your Sauromatum labels! Don't throw 'em away just yet!!!!!!!!
Cheerio,
Lord P.
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