Day 252: A relatively common plant in the lower forests of the Pacific Northwest, Starflower's blossoms may be pink or white, and for many years, the two were treated as different subspecies following the nomenclatural convention of "splitting." The opposite of "splitting" in taxonomy is known as "lumping," and the proponents of either side of the coin are known respectively as "lumpers" and "splitters." It's kinda like Democrats and Reprobates (um...did I mean "Republicans?" No, don't think so). Currently, the Lumpers hold the majority as far as botany is concerned, so what I have always thought of as Trientalis borealis ssp. latifolia has been reallocated to the simpler Trientalis latifolia, pink or not. Fortunately with botany (unlike politics), you can be of two minds about this without major conflicts of conscience. One, lumping subspecies into a single species regardless of the obvious differences in physical characteristics gives us a manageable homogeneity (if sometimes skewed toward the dominant form) and an objective overview of the organism as a whole; two, splitting into subspecies allows us to learn more about the diversity of the parent species' adaptive responses and how they have shaped its natural history. Personally, I think the convenience of lumping should be relegated to field guides for novices with a fear of long names. I'll undoubtedly continue referring to Starflower as Trientalis borealis ssp. latifolia in the hopes that some day, the Splitters will regain the house.
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