anise or fennel?

[Matthew Montchalin]

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003, Cereoid-UR12- wrote: |Just because the species are in two different genera that doesn't |necessarily mean the two genera are not closely related. There is |such a thing as intergeneric hybrids. Intergeneric hybrids have been |reported in the Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) and in the closely allied |Araliaceae.

How many millions of years must have passed in order for the various genera in the family of Apiacea to have descended from a single genus?

I suppose it would be asking too much for a poster I could slap up on the wall, detailing the branches, but then again... How does a person generally go about judging how genetically distant any two genera are, let alone species?

[Henriette Kress]

One attends a university, specializes in botany, and starts to study the branch one is interested in.

Henriette

[Mike Stevenson]

Well, assuming for a moment that this so called enzyme theory is true, your perception of the aroma would have a great deal to do with such an enzyme. Taste and Smell are very much linked together, and if one is diminished (or enhanced) for some reason, the other is most definately affected. Remember anything from grade-school about the blindfolded taste tests? How by holding or plugging one's nose an apple and a potato taste nearly identical.

This is not to say I'm buy> >

[Henriette Kress]

He didn't want to hybridize anything. He wanted a picture of all the genera in botany, showing just how they are related to each other, and how close they are genetically. Dunno how old he is, but that's a tall order for somebody who doesn't know if cilantro and parsley belong to the Apiaceae.

Anyway, such a pretty picture would certainly be possible if botanists could only agree on genera ... and it's possible that such beasts are available online, but by what I can see, Matthew didn't even try a google search.

And I'm an old enough fart that my reaction to a question that requires years and years of research is to tell'em to do it themselves. Ditto for questions that can be answered with a simple web search, which I have no idea if this one is... but neither does Matthew, eh?

Whatever. The question is certainly off-topic on rec.gardens.edible... follow-up set.

Henriette

[Stewart Robert Hinsley]

In article , Matthew Montchalin writes

x Fatshedera (Araliaceae: Fatsia x Hedera) was described in 1923.

[Citation ex IPNI: Guillaumin, Journ. Soc. Nat. Hort. France, Ser. IV. xxiv. 524 (1923)]

[Matthew Montchalin]

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003, Henriette Kress wrote: |> I suppose it would be asking too much for a poster I could slap up |> on the wall, detailing the branches, but then again... How does |> a person generally go about judging how genetically distant any |> two genera are, let alone species? | |One attends a university, specializes in botany, and starts to study |the branch one is interested in.

Not that your answer comes close to addressing my question, but while we are on the subject, which universities have your stamp of approval?

[Noydb]

Dunno about that ... look what a dollar a plant did for the guy who bred Mortgage Lifter.

Bill

[Iris Cohen]

Please excuse my ignorance. What is Mortgage Lifter? Iris, Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40 "If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming train." Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

[Frogleg]

I'm a little doubtful about the story (which is reported as both $1/plant and $1/per tomato). Given an average income of $40/wk in

1941, that would have made the cost of one plant or tomato about $12 today, and I can hardly believe there would be many takers. 'Radiator Charlie' may have indeed paid off his mortgage with successful sales of plants and/or fruit, but not at $1 each. Tales of a "four pound fruit" also sound a little suspect. I weighed a softball-sized tomato yesterday ('Celebrity') that was just about 1 pound. A 4lb tomato would, IMHO, be in the same category as a 500lb pumpkin -- possible to grow and enter into a contest, but hardly a very practical food crop. I know a number of posters are growing Mortgage Lifter. Any 4lb tomatoes?

[Phaedrine Stonebridge]

Mortgage Lifter is an heritage tomato cultivar.