My Very Own Asarum

Day 209: The internet. I refer to it as "the world's largest source of misinformation." Let's use Mr. Vogel and Asarum caudatum as our example. In 1978, Vogel published a paper stating that his "observations covering a period of several years have shown that Asarum caudatum is regularly pollinated by fungus gnats." A few short years later, this was roundly debunked by another botanist, K. Lu, and it might have ended there but for the subsequent development of personal computers and the true villain, the world-wide web. Scores of other scientists have provided abundant evidence that Vogel was talking through his hat, but excerpts from his paper began cropping up on the 'net as soon as it was birthed and spread quite rapidly as harmful invasive species are wont to do. Vogel's kudzu of erroneous information propagated at a phenomenal rate, crowding out the native truths. Sound familiar? I promise you, this is not a political post. We now have a wealth of research to support the hypothesis that Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum) is autogamous/allogamous (self-pollinating/cross-pollinating), and that while coincidentally, fungus gnats may lay their eggs in the blossoms, they do not play a significant role in the plant's reproductive processes. And them's the facts. (And thank you, Arnie, for a wealth of reading matter on the subject.)