On 18 Mar 08, at 20:23, Jim McKenney wrote: > I object to the use of this term affinis in the way being discussed > because it is illogical: it does not deliver what it promises. It > purports to state the very things which are in fact unknown: > relationship and identity. > > The word akin expresses natural relationship, not mere similarity. > What sense does it make to use the word akin before such natural > relationship is established? > > This distinction between natural relationship and mere similarity is > the salient difference between modern taxonomy and taxonomy as > practiced up until the beginning of the twentieth century. But Linnaeus was still cooking with gas when he pinpointed floral anatomy as the key to understanding relationships. If you look up from your computer and take a good gander out the window at the taxonomic landscape, you will see that most genera established using floral anatomy are still held to be valid. Yes, there are problematic areas, the South American tangle of Ipheions, Nothoscordums, Beauverdias, and who knows what else being the one that comes to mind, but Mother Nature does have a fondness for playing jokes on scientists, so what else can we expect? The place where DNA and other microscopic evidence is proving valuable is sorting out higher taxons, families in particular. We all know (or should) that there's a tangle involving peonies, podophyllums, jeffersonias, and such, and hopefully DNA is helping figure it out. But the generic boundaries remain largely untouched. Thus, using aff, meaning roughly "looks a lot like", doesn't just mean that there's some kind of vague overall similarity, but that on close inspection, the critical features of floral anatomy (and other relevant details) are closely similar to previously named species. I wrote earlier, and then again just above "looks a lot like" but to be precise the phrase should include "with reference to anatomical details indicative of taxonomic relationships." That's a little vague, but of course the details used in one class of plants may be different from those in another class. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island