Systematics at the Family Level

I was reading through some of the discussion involving the reclassification of the family Legumaceae that took place on this site in 2004. I am running into a similar issue, and wanted to check in with someone.

I recently obtained an unusual Chinese False Solomon's Seal (my own common name, it has no English common name as far as I can tell). The plant was sold under the name Smilacina oleracea, though the current binomial would be more accurately reflected as Mainanthemum oleraceum. The problem that I had was that while researching the exact name of this plant, I discovered that the genus Maianthemum, as well as the genera Convallaria, Ophiopogon, and Polygonatum, and maybe others, has very recently been moved to the Family Ruscaceae. When I started to add the PF for this plant, I realized that I was unable to add another Family, and I was wondering if I should just add it is a Liliacaea for now. From reading through the former discussions, I see that DG would like to stay as in line with ICBN standards as possible. I wasn't able to confirm that the Family designation for this plant has actually been moved officially, and a brief look at the ICBN website left me thinking that learning to navigate it might take some practice, but it does seem that this change in nomenclature is at least in the works from reading about it on more accessible sites on the web.

At this point, I don't have a complete feel for how important some of the stickier points of systematics are here at DG, but it seems to me that members like Terry have spent a lot of time and effort on the subject, so I wanted to bring this one up, especially since it concerns some very common and important garden stalwarts like Lilies of the Valley and the Solomon's Seals. I can certainly provide references for this change of nomenclature if it will help with researching this issue.

-Greg

Aww and I was hoping that wouldn't come up for a couple of months yet ;)

We do try as best we can to keep within the ICBN rulings, it's not always easy in a horticultural/gardeners database. What we've tended to have done in the past is wait until the nomenclature has filtered down to the horticultural world rather than change with the botanists and taxonomists. This helps to prevent entire reworkings of genera int he PF only to find out that a debate has seen the whole thing change back again (such as Dendranthemum/Chrysanthemum debates), besides it's very difficult to almost impossible if you aren't a botanist or taxonomist to find the complete, upto the minute current names. It can also depend on which system you use and which ICBN code too *G*.

Liliaceae has been split and it's appearing in horticultural resources now, however regarding Maianthemum, my sources say it's in the Convallariaceae rather than Ruscaceae which source are you citing so we may research further please?

Terry (I'm thousands of miles away so if you're going to kick me under the table, you'd better get a plane ticket ;) do you want the lists for the Liliaceae splits?

Oh, no... Looks like I've opened up a can of worms! Give an amateur a new plant and a few hours playing around with Google, and there's no telling what will come out of it. :)

I'll list a few links that I have found showing Maianthemum as being assigned to the Ruscaceae. Many of the on-line references I have seen that reflect the split in Liliaceae DO have the genus under Convallariaceae, though others have it listed as synonymous w/ Ruscaceae, and others don't have Convallariaceae even listed as a family anymore. I imagine as with most things academic, there is a lot of jockying for position and politics involved, but I suspect it is an open issue to some extent still. This stuff is complicated. It scares me!

The first link got me going on this, the rest are other references to Ruscaceae-Maianthemum.

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2005/06/maianthemum_ole.php
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/apg_asparag.htm lists Maianthemum under Rusc.
http://www.herbarium.unc.edu/progress.htm (This is a list of species from a book on North Carolina flora. Maianthemum is classified as Rusc here also, and a text search for Rusc will show that he has moved Conval. to Rusc.)
http://www.colorado.edu/eeb/MORPH/labs/pubs/rudall_pubs.html (This scientist, Paula Rudall, wrote the paper that many sites reference when referring to the assignation of Maianthemum to Ruscaceae. It is referenced on this site as "Systematics of Ruscaceae (formerly Convallariaceae sensu lato): a combined morphological and molecular investigation", but their link to the abstract is not working. Perhaps I could email her and ask her the status of her work on the subject?)

I have many others, but those are the few that I had quick access to and had bookmarked. Let me know if I can do more to assist with this.

Ahh right, got it. This is an ongoing work which hasn't yet filtered down to us hortics, I admit it's not something I'd personally heard of until you mentioned it. Even Kew and MOBOT are still listing Convallariaceae and that Ruscaceae/Convallariaceae is still under research so unless Terry and the other admins want us to run with this, I'll be hedging my best with Convallariaceae until further notice :)

Interesting!

Oh, for elastic legs that could reach halfway around the world. (Then again, that would be a little strange - scratch that wish off my list. Baa's shins are safe once more ;o)

To-date we have a mere 7 entries for Maianthemum species - a good thing when changes are forthcoming.

I can support leaving them in Liliaceae if there is still debate raging, or moving them to Convallariaceae if that seems to be a solid spot to take a stance at the present time. (If RHS and MOBOT are in agreement, that's certainly good enough for me.)

There are splits in the old Liliaceae that are fairly established now so there's a case for moving the relevant genera but I think we need to do a little more research first and I don't think Liliaceae is going to be such a terrible thing to leave them as for the time being.