Yes, I have been completely converted to the 'splitter' camp in the 'Taxonomic Wars'! Before my conversion, I had never really known why I preferred to have several smaller genera instead of one giant genus, but I now know why. I was reading an article in
Orchids about recent taxonomical changes in the Maxillaria Alliance, and there was something that really caught my attention. It goes something like this (My paraphrasing, but quite close to the real thing): "The reason behind these taxonomical changes is that before, when someone said, "I have a Maxillaria species", you wouldn't really know any generalizations about it, you wouldn't know its general habitat, flower structure, or several other features. The reason is because there is over 500 species in the old Maxillaria genus. Now that the genus has been split up, the new genus names better fit the species that compose it. So when someone says, "I have an Inti species (one of the new genera split from Maxillaria) you have a way better clue of what the plant looks like, and its general culture." This paragraph really turned the light on for me as to why I was always against the 'Genus Clumping' that is going on so much. To be honest, I really don't care about all of this DNA stuff, just because some genera are closely related, you do not have to throw them together! Like sure, most of the Cattleya Alliance are closely related, but now when some one mentions that Cattleya species thrive in their conditions, we don't know if they are talking about the unifoliate
labiata group, the bifoliate
bicolor group, or even the rupicolous Laelias! So, I don't know about you people, but I don't plan on changing much of my tags anytime soon! UGHH!!! Thanks for letting me rant, as this has been bugging me for a LONG time.
I have been converted!
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