More on Somali Sansevierias

Steve, I think you a being a bit too harsh on Thulin (write a book on his mistakes...) We all make mistakes and it is always easier to criticize than to do. I mean this in a constructive way. We are trying to find what is right rather than proving him wrong. Unfortunately, the only way to do it is by critizising his work.

I did talk to him on the phone when he sent me the proof of S. eilensis , regarding S. aff. arborescens but he paid no attention to it. He may have been busy with other things. Later I met him at the San Diego Cactus & Succulent Convention and he and his wife were quite nice.

As far as S. fischeri is concerned, there is nothing wrong in citing several authors, in particular those who completed the description of the plant by describing its inflorescence. I don't know that they are in Florence. The original was in Berlin, totally destroyed during the warm but fortunately Kew had a specimen (from Berlin) and from there came fischeri (I published that in the Journal).

S. bacularis cannot possibly have 200 cm (more than 6 ft.) in height, be 4 cm in diameter (more than 1 1/2") and have a capitate inflorescence, so I really do not know why you keep mentioning it.

All I know is that S. bacularis is a name that Pfennig wanted to give to the plant that we all know as S. sulcata. He asked me if this was a good name, almost ten years ago. Reacting to the name, which I recognized immediately since the word "báculo" in Spanish means "stack" as in Papal stack, I said yes. However, I never asked him why he wanted to change the name. I do not think now that the name change would have been valid unless he came up with some reason for it. It is an unpublished name and therefore invalid.

I think that sansevierias would have to be the last remaining genus in the world for Susan Carter to write something about them. As nice as she is, in a convention she showed a picture of a Sansevieria and promptly said something negative about it. Can't remember what it was (I wiped it off my mind like a bad dream)