For example, similar overall appearances are sometimes due to
parallel evolution as with cacti resembling certain desert
euphorbias
•
For such examples, we already knew the groups weren’t related because
of flower structure, but newer studies…
•
Sometimes place plants with very different looking flowers in the same
family as, for example, the penstemons from the Scrophulariaceae and the
plantains in the Plantaginaceae (many scrophs are now placed there)
•
When something like this happens, it wreaks havoc with trying to learn to
i.d. plants by appearances, making family concepts sometimes almost
impossible to characterize
•
As a consequence, many changes, some startling, have come down the
pike, and life is not as straightforward
•
What we really need are two classification systems: a practical one based
on appearance for field botanists, and a theoretical one for those who
study evolution