From: aaron floden <aaron_floden@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [pbs] Flora of North America ========================= Hi Aaron, I believe the omission of Mexico in the Flora of North America to be a paramount problem... is not Mexico in North America? The very name of the project is a misnomer. The regionalism of botanical floras serves little purpose where land areas are contiguous, exacerbating the botanical understanding of many genera that bridge both regions. I know this to be true with the genus Allium as it pertains to Mexico. With that said, the Flora of [partial] North America is taking a long time, and showing itself to arrive at some peculiar conclusions. Example, most Talinum are now Phemeranthus... not a problem in itself, I can buy into that, reserving true Talinum to be the subtropical woody species that are mostly south of the US border, but making comments that species like sediforme (syn. Talinum okanoganense) and spinescens (T. spinescens) might be conspecific... such absurdity! Are the authors drunken sailors??? How could two utterly different plants be considered the same species? Everytime I look at the online Flora of North America, I find disappointments and surprises, and apparent omissions. Mark McDonough Massachusetts, USA, near the New Hampshire border, USDA Zone 5 antennaria@charter.net http://www.plantbuzz.com/