At the same time, the current arrangement of names in Massonia is not satisfactory. Alison van der Merwe, in her PhD thesis (c. 2002, unpublished as far as I know) treats only a minimal number of species. M. echinata remains a kitchen sink of incongruous entities even after the Mueller-Doblies circumscribed it more concisely as a plant mainly restricted to the area of Vanrhynsdorp and Nieuwoudtville. Some of the plants depicted as M. echinata on the Wiki appear to be radically different from each other and this undoubtedly confuses readers, myself included. Certain distinctive massonias have recently been assigned "resurrected" names or as new outright. This unevenness should not come as a surprise. Taxonomy seeks better, clearer understanding for purposes of classification rather than absolute stability. Dylan Hannon