Taxonomy in the popular media

[John Nelson]

Tues 14 jan 0829

Friends:

   1. There was this movie back in the 70's called "A New Leaf" in
which Walter Matthau was trying to bump off his wife, who was
a paleobotanist, for goodness sake. In one scene of the movie
she actually discovered a new fossil plant.

    2. In Woody Allen's "Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", Jose Ferrar
is arguing with his rival (Woody Allen's doctor buddy, can't
remember his name) about the identity of certain local basidiocarps
in the woods. Although he doesn't offer a binomial, he refers to them
this way:

    "Those, sir, are poisonous fungi [pronounced "fun-guy"] and I
    dare you to eat them."

    Of course, they were eaten. But they weren't poisonous.

    John Nelson




John B. Nelson
Curator of the Herbarium (USCH)
Department of Biological Sciences
University of South Carolina
Columbia SC 29208

nelson at biol.sc.edu
803-777-8196 phone
803-777-4002 fax