Josh*m
Taraxia ovata
Taraxia ovata, Onagraceae. Seen on a California Native Plant Society field trip to the the Foote Preserve, a Land Trust of Napa County property, on the western slopes of Mt. George. Napa County.
Lots of the people grouse about how this plant had been transferred from Camissonia to Taraxia, and generally there is a lot of (what I would call) whinging about taxonomic changes that have come into effect in the Jepson Manual 2nd edition (the new manual of the California flora): i.e. "those pesky botanists have mucked up all the names and now we have to learn new ones." These comments are often delivered with a hint of condescension, if not contempt. Well...
I will say this: the taxonomic changes made in Jepson 2 have been in the works for over 20 years, and are the result of painstaking research published and debated by generations of botanists around the world. It may be frustrating to have the generic and family names of familiar plants altered, but isn't it interesting? Isn't it progress? Rather than complaining about the inconvenience, and blaming botanists and taxonomists for their decades of work, people should be excited that our knowledge is now closer to the truth. After all, this plant was ALWAYS a part of THIS lineage; we just hadn't recognized it or named it correctly, presumably. Yes, taxonomy can be subjective, more changes may come, and our knowledge is not perfect or complete, but complaining about or denigrating taxonomic change is analogous to denying climate change research. It's anti-science, and it is unbecoming of educated, progressive people. That's my opinion. Ok I'm probably biased, too. ;-)
Taraxia ovata
Taraxia ovata, Onagraceae. Seen on a California Native Plant Society field trip to the the Foote Preserve, a Land Trust of Napa County property, on the western slopes of Mt. George. Napa County.
Lots of the people grouse about how this plant had been transferred from Camissonia to Taraxia, and generally there is a lot of (what I would call) whinging about taxonomic changes that have come into effect in the Jepson Manual 2nd edition (the new manual of the California flora): i.e. "those pesky botanists have mucked up all the names and now we have to learn new ones." These comments are often delivered with a hint of condescension, if not contempt. Well...
I will say this: the taxonomic changes made in Jepson 2 have been in the works for over 20 years, and are the result of painstaking research published and debated by generations of botanists around the world. It may be frustrating to have the generic and family names of familiar plants altered, but isn't it interesting? Isn't it progress? Rather than complaining about the inconvenience, and blaming botanists and taxonomists for their decades of work, people should be excited that our knowledge is now closer to the truth. After all, this plant was ALWAYS a part of THIS lineage; we just hadn't recognized it or named it correctly, presumably. Yes, taxonomy can be subjective, more changes may come, and our knowledge is not perfect or complete, but complaining about or denigrating taxonomic change is analogous to denying climate change research. It's anti-science, and it is unbecoming of educated, progressive people. That's my opinion. Ok I'm probably biased, too. ;-)