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Sansevieria monograph

Congratulations Norma on your talk on Crassulacea in Las Vegas!
I am sure it was a success.

Writing a monograph on sansevierias is not an easy thing and if Jim Bauml, a
fine fellow and taxonomist, accepts your invitation, he will have to work
very close with you Hermine. A good taxonomic work (and even a mediocre one)
needs deep knowledge of the genus by delving into a) the plants in
cultivation, b) the herbarium specimens and c) field work, over and above the
paper research. All three are as important and I would be hard pressed to say
which one is more important, each one playing an important role.

If an error if found in somebody's taxonomic work on sansevierias, it will be
due to the lack of one of these three facets. The errors of Mats Thulin work
are due to his lack of knowledge of cultivated plants.

I can already see that the errors of the new upcoming monograph of
Sansevierias will be due to the lack of knowledge of cultivated plants and
the lack of field experience in the geographical areas of Africa that the
author did not visit. There may be no errors in the areas he visited, though
he lacks knowledge of cultivated plants. I have seen already severe mistakes
that the author made in identification of live plants in general and
herbarium specimens at Kew.

Whether botanists like it or not, it is we, the ones who deal everyday with
cultivated plants that can help with identification. A word of caution: We
have been brain washed as to this and that plant being this and that. We have
to be open and review our thoughts.

Cheers and Kirk, did not mean to hurt you, hope to hear from you soon.

Juan
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