arisaema hybrids

[Rand Nicholson]

Hi Barry:

Interesting observation. Just how far along is the naming of names when considering Arisaema? For instance - Orchid taxonomy is pretty much a mess and there seems to be much debate lately concerning speciation amongst our beloved Trilliums - something I was blissfully unaware of until the last few years. Is there much disagreement going on in the classification of Arisaema, or is it just a few plants?

Rand





>Arisaema serratum is now, taxonomically speaking, ten gallons of water
>in a one gallon bucket.  Some authors include most of the species with
>a club-shaped spadix from Siberia through Korea and Japan as variants
>of this species.  Furthermore, there is a proposal that serratum itself
>is a subspecies of amurense.  If we accept this treatment, some
>ecologically and morphologically distinctive species such as mayebarae
>and takedae will have no significant taxonomic status at all.  This is
>wrong and I hope that our best and brightest will do something about
>it.  Otherwise you will need to buy labels 2 feet long to accommodate
>the genus,species, subspecies, variety and forma for some very
>distinctive species.
>
>Barry
>
>On May 24, 2004, at 1:38 PM, Tony Avent wrote:
>
>>Barry:
>>
>>        Glad to know that others are also crossing arisaema.  Is A.
>>takedai now
>>lumped as a synonym of A. serratum?