Dear Mary Sue and Linda:
It is difficult to understand this
"lumping" we have seen in the past decade or so by Dr. Goldblatt but not so
when one looks at the great variation within the genus Gladiolus. Star
shaped, orchid like, cylinder like, curved or practically tubeless, but all
with the basic Gladiolus organs. Shape in each species matches the
pollinators (too many to list) but all doubtless Gladioli. Then look at
Sparaxis and "Synnotias": all share the same basic features including
typical bracts but the flowers have different shapes again to match the
pollinators shape and size. Then you go to Babiana/Antholyza. Then
Gladiolus/Anomalesia/Homoglossum, the same case. Then comes
Moraea/Homeria/Gynandriris, etc. The only thing we can not swallow is
Galaxia being members of Moraea (Rachel, are you there?) but most of the
other "lumping" sounds logic and sensible. Now if Albucas, Bowiea,
Ornithogalum, are basically the same but with the flowers in different
shapes to suit their pollinators then it is the previous case and most
probably true. It is basically a taxonomy based in the plant studied within
its environment. Of course, DNA is normally akin in all these groups.
Regards
Alberto
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