Me and my big mouth: was sazensoo etc.

[Greg Ruckert]

Ray,
There are other issues here.  The Flora of China Key is only a draft.  It is
subject to substantial checking which is most necessary.  By the time it is
published there will be more species in it and hopefully some of the bugs
will be out of it.  As I see it the new key will cause even more problems.
I believe that section dochafa again contains only one species - not even
any varieties.  Surely it is important that the experts try and get it right
before letting it loose on us amateurs.  Information released in an
incomplete form only compounds problems.  FOC is a multi million dollar
project and I think they are quite within their rights to keep it from us
until they think they have got it right.
By the way, Rob McClure has just reported that we may be about to see a
first flower on Arisaema giganteum.

Greg Ruckert
Australian Areae Collection
http://www.ezi-learn.com.au/areae/default.html

>Having Li Heng's provisional key to the Flora of China - Arisaema would
>be nice
>if we only had it. I could start the work of revising the Arisaema Page
>so it would
>be ready when she publishes. As it is, it's just frustrating to know it's
>there, but
>not here.

>Seems to me there's a lesson to be learned by Taxonomists here!!! If
>there had been this kind of selfless
>cooperation from the beginning, we wouldn't have the mess that exists.
>Couldn't be done
>in Engler's day, but there's no excuse today with E-mail and the web.