If you went out on a limb and ventured to guess that asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a member of the Asparagaceae family, you would be correct. But to suspect that it belongs to the same family as the Joshua tree (Yucca brevolia) is not so obvious. And yet, Asparagus and Yucca are two out of over a hundred genera that comprise the family.
With numbers like this, botany can be a bit mind boggling. Apparently the size of the Asparagaceae family has fluctuated over the years. In the past decade the APG debated just how inclusive it should or should not be, with inclusiveness winning out. This resulted in seven subfamilies and 118 genera. Don't ask me how many species. It's safe to say there's a lot.
One genus that came into the early years of my life is Hosta (although which of the 23 to 45 species I do not know). Hosta is a low-growing ornamental with broad leaves that is sometimes called plantain lily. I remember it from my summer job at Old Westbury Gardens - I think I was asked to remove chickweed growing around the Hosta. It's funny how a thirty year old memory such as this can be retained with such seeming clarity. I say "seeming" because I know for certain that memories become distorted over time. But it is also certain that the Hosta and the chickweed were real and not imagined.
This is where cameras come in handy. The above photo of the Joshua tree was taken while on a road trip in 2011, somewhere in the Mojave desert. There is no risk that I imagined this Joshua tree, or that the information will distort over time. Its classification may change, but the fact of the tree will always remain.
No comments:
Post a Comment