Thursday, June 17, 2010

Who's Yo Daddy?


DNA is now a part of our every day lives thanks to TV shows like "CSI".  And finding out who our relatives are has become even more popular thanks to shows like "Who Do You Think You Are?" 
(Or was that The Maury Povich Show?)

Well, the plant world is not being left out. Plants are now being classified by their DNA rather than their appearance. This is the result of a 10 year collaborative effort by taxonomists from around the world - the APG III (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) Project.

And the results are amazing! Indian Pipe is related to the Azalea and Sycamores are kin to the Protea.

But then, aren't we always amazed at who we're related to??

3 comments:

  1. That's interesting, I guess it makes sense they'd look into that.

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  2. Very cool, had no idea they were doing that with plants, but it makes sense. Thanks for sharing.

    Cheers!

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  3. Wow!! How interesting!! I can only imagine how this will throw Linnaeus's toxonomy into chaos, until it is settled that everyone use a new classification system, or stick with the old one. lol

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