July 2009 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Androcymbium latifolium, and indeed all the South African Andros have been sunk, dumped, etc. into the genus Colchicum - so that gives you some idea of its allegiances.

That's it, I give up.  
Been reading on other threads today of Zigadenus  being re-classified too..... I cannot keep up with all this stuff...... I'm making a conscious decision to just let all this taxonimical kerfuffle pass me by..... life's too short for these puzzles.  


Your Aloes are a great colour to cheer anyone's day, Rogan, thanks!

[Paul T]

Rogan,

Thanks for the info on the Androcymbium.  Even slow, I think I might just have to track down some seed of it one of these years.  I know I HAD some seedlings of one of the species somewhere out in my back yard, but I don't know whether still there or not now.  Might just have to check. 

That Aloe flowerhead is amazing!!  Such a strong gold to them as well.  What does the whole plant look like?

[Lesley Cox]

I look forwaad with eager anticipation to the day when Moraea, Dietes, Sparaxis, Libertia and many others  (Gladiolus?) are lumped into Iris. Then those greedy northern hemispherers won't be so smug about having ALL the irises.

[rob krejzl]

That's it, I give up.   
Been reading on other threads today of Zigadenus  being re-classified too..... I cannot keep up with all this stuff...... I'm making a conscious decision to just let all this taxonimical kerfuffle pass me by..... lif'es too short for these puzzles. 

"Thus Botany, which was a pleasant Study, and attainable by Most Men, is now become by alterations and New Names the Study of a Man's Life."
        - Peter Collinson to Linnaeus, 1754.

 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I look forwaad with eager anticipation to the day when Moraea, Dietes, Sparaxis, Libertia and many others  (Gladiolus?) are lumped into Iris. Then those greedy northern hemispherers won't be so smug about having ALL the irises.

Clearly you are getting better and more your old witty self again every day Lesley ! 

[cohan]

That's it, I give up.   
Been reading on other threads today of Zigadenus  being re-classified too..... I cannot keep up with all this stuff...... I'm making a conscious decision to just let all this taxonimical kerfuffle pass me by..... lif'es too short for these puzzles. 

"Thus Botany, which was a pleasant Study, and attainable by Most Men, is now become by alterations and New Names the Study of a Man's Life."
        - Peter Collinson to Linnaeus, 1754.

 

gee the confusion started already then?? of course, no problem if you were Linnaeus, just call them whatever you like

[Maggi Young]

That's it, I give up.   
Been reading on other threads today of Zigadenus  being re-classified too..... I cannot keep up with all this stuff...... I'm making a conscious decision to just let all this taxonimical kerfuffle pass me by..... lif'es too short for these puzzles. 

"Thus Botany, which was a pleasant Study, and attainable by Most Men, is now become by alterations and New Names the Study of a Man's Life."
        - Peter Collinson to Linnaeus, 1754.

 

gee the confusion started already then?? of course, no problem if you were Linnaeus, just call them whatever you like

Now there's a bright idea, Cohan, thank you..... I will set in  motion all procedures to change my name by deed poll to Margaret Linnaeus 

[cohan]

lol--there's a solution, maggi or just write a book promoting your own schema ...

[Diane Clement]

Been reading on other threads today of Zigadenus  being re-classified too..... I cannot keep up with all this stuff...... I'm making a conscious decision to just let all this taxonimical kerfuffle pass me by..... lif'es too short for these puzzles.      

According to Kew, Zigadenus seems to have "almost" gone into the new genera Anticlea and Toxicoscordion, but there are also some family changes afoot here, as Zigadenus, Ypsilandra, Heloniopsis and Veratrum are now in the family Melanthiaceae along with Trillium and Paris (yep!).    
Do you remember a while ago that "they" were going to abandon the family Amaryllidaceae and put it all into Alliaceae. Well they clearly changed their minds - or did someone just do a typo     -  cos they've all gone back again.  

It's all becoming a joke, Linnaeus's proposals were to make classification universal and have one common system.  We seemed to have turned full circle, where all sorts of proposals are put forward based on various ideas.  No one can keep up with all this, perhaps we can just wait for it all to settle down somewhere.  

The great author Jorge Luis Borges wrote of a Chinese encyclopedia called the Heavenly Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. In it is a suggested classification of animals:

(a) those that belong to the emperor
(b) embalmed ones
(c) those that are trained
(d) suckling pigs
(e) mermaids
(f) fabulous ones
(g) stray dogs
(h) those that are included in this classification
(i) those that tremble as if they were mad
(j) innumerable ones
(k) those drawn with a very fine camel's-hair brush
(l) etcetera
(m) those that have just broken the flower vase
(n) those that at a distance resemble flies

Maybe we should invent our own classification of plants
(a) those impossible to grow but we keep on buying them
(b) those thrown away by mistake in the winter because we didn't know they died back in the pot
(c) those that are a complete waste of space but because we grew them from seed and they took 8 years to flower we can't bear to throw them away
(d) those for which visitors comment "you won a prize with that!"
(e) those for which your spouse comments (after walking five miles up the mountain) "is that it?"
etc ......

[Lesley Cox]

I really like this system Diane. Perhaps others will add to yours. So far as the animals go, Teddy seems to belong to at least half of them. Neither my regular landline phone nor my mobile now has an aerial. Roger's charger has also been chewed. Of course if the dog were trained properly.....it's just that I am always fooled by that angelic "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" look.

[Otto Fauser]

Paul , in case you can't find your seedling Androcymbium bulbs , I can spare you a few
of A. ciliolatum later in the year.
 All is well with my camera , the sales person fiddled around a bit and there are no problems
 he said the camera was 'confused' , just like I was !!!

[Paul T]

Otto,

Thanks goodness for that.  I had been intending to ring you this evening to find out how it went.  Glad to know it worked out OK. 

[cohan]

The great author Jorge Luis Borges wrote of a Chinese encyclopedia called the Heavenly Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. In it is a suggested classification of animals:

(a) those that belong to the emperor
(b) embalmed ones
(c) those that are trained
(d) suckling pigs
(e) mermaids
(f) fabulous ones
(g) stray dogs
(h) those that are included in this classification
(i) those that tremble as if they were mad
(j) innumerable ones
(k) those drawn with a very fine camel's-hair brush
(l) etcetera
(m) those that have just broken the flower vase
(n) those that at a distance resemble flies

Maybe we should invent our own classification of plants
(a) those impossible to grow but we keep on buying them
(b) those thrown away by mistake in the winter because we didn't know they died back in the pot
(c) those that are a complete waste of space but because we grew them from seed and they took 8 years to flower we can't bear to throw them away
(d) those for which visitors comment "you won a prize with that!"
(e) those for which your spouse comments (after walking five miles up the mountain) "is that it?"
etc ......

a very good couple of lists..
 i might add..
(f)those which don't meet our usual selective criteria but were available locally, at discount
(g)same as above, but were received as gifts
the two above might be considered subspecies of (c)
(h)blue ones
(i)those teased by hybridisers beyond all semblance to anything found in nature
(j)those that tremble as if mad

[Paul T]

Cohan,

Does (j) apply to the plants, or to those of us growing them?  Particularly those of us who grow (a)?

[cohan]

definitely all of the above