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Re: New Year stuff

> Since you are new to the list, maybe you do not know what a long workout
we
> gave the Politically Correct thing!  Like the (black, or
African-American)
> man on the milk of magnesia commercial says "Here we go again!"

As most people on the list will know, I am certainly not a newcomer! In
fact, I've been on the list more or less since it started, though I've
been lurking more than I would like recently due to pressure of work. 

> The International Organization which controls plant names, etc says that
> kaffir, caffrea, cafforum, etc. only means South African. 

You seem to be a bit confused here. The International Nomenclature
Committee is responsible for SCIENTIFIC names of plants. Thus, it would
indeed be responsible for names such as caffea, cafforum (latinized forms
of kaffir, which as you say refer to S. Africa) but not kaffir itself,
which is unlikely to be used as part of a scientific name.

The term Kaffir Lily is not a scientific name, and thus the nomenclature
rules do not apply. My argument for abandoning its use is that it refers
to at least two quite different plants and is therefore a source of
confusion. It has nothing to do with political correctness! I make a rule
of mentioning scientific names when posting to the list (when I can
remember them!) though I often include common names too. Maybe we should
Email the Truth and Reconciliation Commision for a final ruling :-)

PS While we're on the subject of boring threads, don't you think its time
we stopped endlessly arguing about definitions of the list and talked
about some plants?

Tristan Hatton-Ellis
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