Taxonomy of the Cactaceae

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leland
Posts: 266
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:55 pm
Location: North central Nicaragua

Taxonomy of the Cactaceae

Post by leland »

I have just received my copy of the new work by Joel Lode. My first impression when the Fedex driver handed me the box in the United States was "what did I order that is so heavy?" At almost 15 lbs and 700 plus large format pages, this is a very impressive 2 volume set.

I should mention here that I am neither a professional botanist nor a skilled taxonomist, so I leave the details of the nomenclature of specific plants to those who are.
When I started my study of the native cacti of Nicaragua a few years ago, I was puzzled by the frequent name changes on some of the species which made my basic research much more difficult. In any case, this set will add to my basic collection of Britton & Rose, Anderson, and Hunt, as well as various specialty volumes such as Veliz' book on Guatemala. Lode does make an introductory comment to not run out and change your plant labels; his work is an attempt to emphasize the use of DNA research as a greater part of cactus nomenclature in conjunction with more traditional methods. Research will continue and DNA research will also become more precise.

The format of the book is excellent. The first half of each volume has a presentation of each genus with geographic range and a list of recognized species and nomenclature history. The second half is a photo collection of the species in alphabetical order by genus and species. The bulk of the material is a collection of very good photos. It is a pleasure to just thumb thru the book to see so many photos so well presented. This many color photos, of course, drives the cost of printing up, so the book retails for around $200 delivered to the USA. It will find a home in research libraries, and among professionals and advanced amateurs interested in plants in habitat. I suspect that once it goes out of print it will be very hard to obtain a copy, as in the case of the first edition of NCL. Keep in mind this is a taxonomy book and has little practical information for growers, landscapers, and casual hobbyists.

For the purposes of my project on Nicaragua, I aim to cross reference Lode's names with the others, a process I have already started when I cross referenced Hunt's nomenclature with Anderson's where necessary. Laborious, but I think it is better to have a convenient cross reference handy that to have to remember to look up each plant's history. Some changes, such as listing Peniocereus hirschtianus as an acanthocereus, will take some getting used to, but I don't have the scientific expertise to debate it one way or the other.

The website http://cactus-aventures.com/pageweb_ENG.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has more information on the books, which are available in English, Spanish, and French.
DaveW
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Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Taxonomy of the Cactaceae

Post by DaveW »

Yes quite a heavy parcel when it comes, you sometimes wonder how much of the cost of the books is the transport! There are quite a few errors in the synonymy though, but even so the synonymy is more extensive than the New Cactus Lexicon one. I still find the "atlas" volume of the NCL has the best pictures, particularly as most are from known habitat sources, whereas a lot of the Lode ones are cultivated plants of unknown provenance.

DNA Sequencing is still in it's infancy and questions are sometimes asked as to the authenticity of some of the material and also the number of plants used, therefore should be treated with caution just as morphological classifications now are. However it is a welcome addition to our knowledge of the plants, but as with the NCL should never be regarded as the definitive treatment of the subject, because within a few years somebody is sure to come out with a more modern classification based on more up to date data and that situation will still continue for generations. As Joel Lode says - don't change your labels yet!

However these works like Britton & Rose, Die Cactaceae, New Cactus Lexicon etc will remain standard reference works forever. I was lucky enough to pick up the original 6 volumes of Backeberg's Die Cactaceae last year for half the price of the reprint. It's obviously now superseded by Lode, Hunt etc, but still a valuable source of information when you are researching species, just as Britton & Rose's The Cactaceae still is.

Anyway hope you get a lot of pleasure from it Leland, I am still wading through it and it's nice to see some of the over lumping of the NCL undone!
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