Re: perennial zinnias?

> On Sun, 26 Jul 1998 17:10:51 -0500 Amy <a4sberg@swbell.net> writes:
> >Zinnia linnearis has been renamed Zinnia angustafolia.  
> 
> Who decides that?  It's most confusing . . .<grumble>

Just a bunch of taxonomists who get together and agree that it should
be changed...  If memory serves me right:

   linnearis    = linear leaves; like a line
   angustifolia = narrow leaves

They usually don't change without good reason.  The name could 
be confusing it with a newer species, it may have been discovered that
two plants existed with different names (and so they were joined under
a single name), etc.  Maybe in this case it was decided that the leaves
can be both linear or narrow for the same genus based on genetic
variation, yet until that time they were classified as separate species.
I'm just guessing though...

I wish they'd do it for some of the other misspelled specific epithet (the
last part of a scientific name -- it's not genus and species, but genus
and specific epithet.  Species refers to the combination of the two).
Look at Myrica pensylvanica...  It's going to have that horrible name
forever because some botanist can't spell 'Pennsylvania.'  But they
expect us to spell Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Betula maximowicziana,
and Ampelopsis brevipedunculata.  <SIGH>.  And now we have cultivars
to remember that have trademarked names and untrademarked names --
who wants to remember Acer rubrum 'RF721-4' (don't know if that's
a real one or not -- clearly *I* don't want to remember them).

Chris (who felt tangential tonight)

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