Say goodbye to Prosopis, New World species anyway..

[Silas_Sancona]

Well,   it appears Palms aren't the only things getting the shuffle-around lately..  

Was looking over some info via a favorite nursery here and it appears the Geuns Prosopis ( = Mesquites ) has undergone a pretty big breakup.  The article below is long but the Abstract section sums up everything pretty well..  As it stands, our 3 native species have been re-assigned into new Genera..

https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/75379/

Prosopis velutina, Velvet Mesquite will now fall within the Genus Neltuma,  as will Honey Mesquite. Screwbean Mesquite will now be listed in the Genus Strumbocarpa, which references the Mollusk- shell like coiled seed pods..

" New " species are as follows:

Velvet Mesquite = Neltuma velutina

Honey Mesquite = Neltuma glandulosa

Screwbean Mesquite = Strumbocarpa pubescens

Will have to look to see what the Mexican species (  P. laevigata /  P. palmeri from Baja, etc ) have been reassigned to.

Gotta love what DNA is revealing..


On a side note, It also appears Rosemary, Genus Rosemarinus  has been dropped ( ..the Genus )  and Rosemary will now be known as Salvia rosemarinus ( Genus assigned to Salvia )

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes?taxon_id=636795

[miamicuse]

"Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, Salvia rosemarinus, and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine"

[Silas_Sancona]

12 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Will have to look to see what the Mexican species (  P. laevigata /  P. palmeri from Baja, etc ) have been reassigned to.

 

Quick follow up,

Diving into the article more, here's how the rest of the new world Mesquite ( and the remaining sp. in the Old World ) will shake out: Prosopis itself will stick with the African species ( Dark Blue dots on the map )

Essentially, all the species in North, Central, and South America will be assigned to the two Genera cited for the species that occur in the U.S. ( Red and Green dots on the map above )


Knowing what i was getting myself into, decided to take a stroll further down this rabbit hole and, needless to say, a ton of articles on new plant species being discovered, mainly in East Asia, and some more potential shuffling around of plant names to come.  Albizia, for example, is going to be split up with species in the New World being placed in the resurrected Genus Pseudalbizzia ( Albizia sinaloensis for example.. Now = Pseudalbizzia sinaloensis ) Others in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and the Pacific Islands should retain the Genus name Albizia.

https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/76821/


Earlier this year, was made aware a major re-examination the Genus Bursera appears to be on the horizon as well.

Interesting times..


 

[Xerarch]

Always a pain keeping up with these changes, thanks for the info though.  I always heard that the velvet mesquite and honey mesquite were closely related, clearly screwbean is quite a bit different so that's no surprise.

[Tracy]

5 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Quick follow up,

Diving into the article more, here's how the rest of the new world Mesquite ( and the remaining sp. in the Old World ) will shake out: Prosopis itself will stick with the African species ( Dark Blue dots on the map )

Essentially, all the species in North, Central, and South America will be assigned to the two Genera cited for the species that occur in the U.S. ( Red and Green dots on the map above )


Knowing what i was getting myself into, decided to take a stroll further down this rabbit hole and, needless to say, a ton of articles on new plant species being discovered, mainly in East Asia, and some more potential shuffling around of plant names to come.  Albizia, for example, is going to be split up with species in the New World being placed in the resurrected Genus Pseudalbizzia ( Albizia sinaloensis for example.. Now = Pseudalbizzia sinaloensis ) Others in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and the Pacific Islands should retain the Genus name Albizia.

https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/76821/


Earlier this year, was made aware a major re-examination the Genus Bursera appears to be on the horizon as well.

Interesting times..


 

As you point out it is the genetics driving the latest reorganization.   Hopefully this will continue as the cost of genetic sequencing continues to drop.  Exciting., despite the insignificant inconvenience to Homo sapiens. 

[Tom in Tucson]

7 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Quick follow up,

Diving into the article more, here's how the rest of the new world Mesquite ( and the remaining sp. in the Old World ) will shake out: Prosopis itself will stick with the African species ( Dark Blue dots on the map )

Essentially, all the species in North, Central, and South America will be assigned to the two Genera cited for the species that occur in the U.S. ( Red and Green dots on the map above )


Knowing what i was getting myself into, decided to take a stroll further down this rabbit hole and, needless to say, a ton of articles on new plant species being discovered, mainly in East Asia, and some more potential shuffling around of plant names to come.  Albizia, for example, is going to be split up with species in the New World being placed in the resurrected Genus Pseudalbizzia ( Albizia sinaloensis for example.. Now = Pseudalbizzia sinaloensis ) Others in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and the Pacific Islands should retain the Genus name Albizia.

https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/76821/


Earlier this year, was made aware a major re-examination the Genus Bursera appears to be on the horizon as well.

Interesting times..


 

Correction: Dark blue dots = Anonychium, Cyan dots = Prosopis (such as P. cineraria from Asia).

Hi 103˚, Lo 70˚

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

As you point out it is the genetics driving the latest reorganization.   Hopefully this will continue as the cost of genetic sequencing continues to drop.  Exciting., despite the insignificant inconvenience to Homo sapiens. 

It really is insignificant. I mean, sure, many tags will be changed, but,.. How hard is doing that..  ..I've never understood people who get upset about it ...feeling as though the world ended whenever name changes occur. I'm sure there is a lot of consideration and fore thought that goes into this aspect of Taxonomy before decisions are made. 

My answer to anyone who rolls their eyes / gets annoyed or upset:  Get over it... If you're not getting paid to do the work these folks do, you have no say in their findings / decisions.

The only aspect i could feel a bit of empathy about is all the books that will now need to be updated.  Perhaps the main reason i limit how many books i have around/ considered purchasing in the first place, haha.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[Silas_Sancona]

6 minutes ago, Tom in Tucson said:

Correction: Dark blue dots = Anonychium, Cyan dots = Prosopis (such as P. cineraria from Asia).

Hi 103˚, Lo 70˚

Thanks for that correction Tom..