A very good point about when or whether to update names. A new version of Kent's list probably won't help much though since Clive Stace now does that. I made...
Well said Peter. <<As I pointed out before, a name change has the potential for database chaos unless we all able to accept it and understand what we might do...
The Hieracium I have found has noticeably wavy leaves. It grows on waste ground by the Plym estuary in Plymouth next to a railway track. It may be H. sabaudum...
A new version of Kent's list won't help much in itself because it won't really address the problem, I think. But as a jumping off point it's the obvious one,...
Interesting discussion. I must admit I have no idea how to separate eyebrights reliably and record them all as Euphrasia spp. And you have to be very careful...
Martin made this point: "A naming and classification system can serve more than one purpose....The system that best serves the first group doesn't necessarily...
<<I'm thinking of becoming a birder. Birders don't record Troglodytes troglodytes do they? They just write "Wren".>> No, but they are also into the splitting...
Hello Gill, I do Alchemillas like you: glabra, vestita, xanthochlora and the ubiquitous mollis and alpina but when in Teeside I surrender to the experts. I...
Growing on mud (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire). I could only see divided and no palmate leaves; R. circinatus seems out of the question as leafs not really in...
... I don't think the rate of change has really increased much. Look at what was going on in much of the 19th century. In much the same way, we happen to have...
<<Growing on mud (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire). I could only see divided and no palmate leaves; R. circinatus seems out of the question as leafs not really in...
To Martin: "Of course dates won't actually do; what matters is the naming authority cited by the reference. But the point about the 'national synonymy' is...
This is a really good discussion; thanks Peter for your contribution(s). <<Actually Martin dates are essential for those of us with libraries of floras and...
Peter, ... "Actually Martin dates are essential for those of us with libraries of floras and flower books published at different times. Knowing the date at...
Gill, ... Yes, we do have to look at books from different ages - as someone with a shallow interest in the French flora, boy, do I know that! My argument...
"I don't think his attitude is really quite as absolutist as he was at first implying - but I'll leave him to respond on that." Yes and no. I first came across...
... That's the most sensible and important paragraph that I've ever read on these e-fora. As a complete generalist, I constantly meet this issue with plants,...
Stuart, ... Well, everybody comes up against their limits somewhere and I'm conscious that, while giving Peter a hard time over his 'Exemptables', I'm being...
It might be an idea to have a moratorium on renaming other than on grounds of adequate DNA sequencing. I do not mean to imply that any sequencing is...
"My personal bugbear is the splitting of Convolvulus arvensis into ten varieties, as far as I know without any molecular evidence (Sell & Murrell). Authors of...
This really does put off those Botany beginners. They must be so put off by all these changes, Me? well I am trying to cope thats all I can say Colin Jacobs. ...
Why would it matter to them that much? Hopefully they will be guided towards the best available texts for their level of expertise. These will furnish them...
... Some sequencing has been inadequate, although this is a situation that has improved and surely will continue to do so. You can't ask for a rule like that...
Hello I may not post many messages, but I do read them all and this present discussion on name changes is both fascinating and very informative. A reason in...
... relationships of >the things they define. Once you are down to variety or (in the case you cite) forma you >are in a different ball-game. This is quite a...
... (This is really going back to Chris's post - Peter makes the point more briefly later) Of course they don't have it before they start. Once they've gone...
Martin is right in that we cannot be sure of being 'correct' - in an absolute sense - without a lot more evidence. I take the point about confusion between...
... Although there are varying definitions (some of which are not very helpful in dealing with higher plants) I think there is a wide consensus that a...
Hi Chris, Afraid you can't cite humans as an example. We've been formally excluded from consideration for subspecies and varieties because of the racial ...
Although there are varying definitions (some of which are not very helpful in dealing with higher plants) I think there is a wide consensus that a subspecies...
