Cyperales or Juncales?

[Tom DiBenedetto]

John Grehan wrote:

> Is it possible that the phylogenies are really just phylogenies of
> characters? (same for biogeography).

The phrase "really just" seems to equate to "nothing more than". If that is your
meaning, then I would say no. Species phylogenies (cladograms) are, at heart, a
collection of character histories. But they are more than that, because heritable
characters qualify as valid evidence of taxic history - because such characters
descend within isolated lineages. This is also why spatial characters, which do not
descend in isolated lineages, do not qualify as evidence of phylogeny.

Tom diBenedetto