Any Botanists / taxonomists here that use Outline Software?

Posted by Andrew Mckay
Feb 24, 2020 at 03:45 AM

You are correct , it is very hierarchical with each species of plant having its place in the hierarchy

As a matter of interest the hierarchy is not constant and is undergoing constant change with often heated debate and much arguments of where a species belongs. This can lead to lumping or splitting of genus/species and strongly opposing views ( it can really heated at times )

I am interested in Family, genus and species rank although the hierarchy does go higher

As an example on of my favourite tress was known as Aloe barberae , that is it belonged in the Aloe Genus which is in the Asphodelaceae family
The Aloe genus is very large and has close to 500 species

However it was decided that a new genus for the tree aloe should be created in a new subfamily and it is thus placed in a new genus Aloidendron so it is now known as Aloidendron barberae

This goes on all the time and especially now that DNA technology is being used more and more
Below is the full classification and every plant has a unique classification until someone disagrees and it can change

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae
Subfamily: Asphodeloideae
Genus: Aloidendron
Species: A. barberae

Amontillado wrote:
Sounds like a great showcase for categorization. I’m not a botanist, but
>would appreciate examples of how this would be organized.
> >It seems to me that a strict hierarchy would be enough to pigeonhole
>most things, but then there’s cross-species events, like mules versus
>donkeys. New species and alleles would be of interest - but I’m speaking
>as a non-botanist with crushing ignorance of evolution.
> >A system supporting tags or keywords would go a long way to providing
>the needed structure. I always remember using The Brain fondly, because
>of its jump thoughts, which were more useful to me in those days than
>tags.