Use of the rank of forma

[Thomas Lammers]

At 10:29 AM 10/3/00 -0700, you wrote:

>Or, more generally, to give names to units that are
>not conceived as monophyletic.

Sure, I'll go along with that.  The sporadic nature of formae (occasional
individuals within populations) almost certainly means they are not
monophyletic.

I'll be a little more cautious on statements that species and subspecies
are monophyletic, at least in the strict sense (=holophyletic).  Loren
Rieseberg's work with sunflowers suggests many species may be
paraphyletic.  But that's a whole 'nother issue.




Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-7085
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.
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