Hi All, This is an understandable point of confusion. Basically, by fiat some plant families have two names (International Code of Botanic Nomenclature). This includes the Compositae, which is a synonym for the Asteraceae. Also included are families such as the Graminiae (Poaceae), Palmae (Arecaceae), and a few others. Either is acceptable, but most botanists use Asteraceae for consistency's sake (the -aceae ending).
The Asteraceae is a huge family, and it is broken into a number of subfamilies, such as the Asteroideae (note the ending), which are in turn broken into a number of tribes, such as the Astereae (again, note the ending). The problem here is that Astereaea is a tribe, not a subfamily. Otherwise, the original poster was correct. On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:08:03 -0600, Robert Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Hi, >There's an interesting little blurb about this issue in the new book The >Nature Handbook by Ernest Williams. He says that the predominance of white >and yellow flowers in the spring, and all season in some alpine areas, is >due to predominance of color-blind pollinators, such as flies, at those >times. later in the season as pollinator diversity increases, so does >flower color diversity. Nothing in there about fall patterns though. He >cites several references. Below is a link to the book, which is pretty >interesting. > >http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LifeSciences/Ecology/?view=usa&ci=9780195171945 > > >On 9/21/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> I have no idea why, or if, yellow flowers predominate in the fall but I >> would like to ask the taxonomists among us to clarify a point from Steve >> Brewer's posting. >> >> Steve refers to the "Astereae" as a subfamily of composites. It is my >> understanding that Asteraceae is now the accepted name for what was once >> known as the composite family (Compositae). >> >> Bob Mowbray >> Tropical Forest Ecologist >> Volunteer Docent, U. S. Botanic Garden >> >> -------------- Original message from Steve Brewer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> -------------- >> >> [snip] >> a likely reason why most of the composites in the Astereae >> [snip] >> >> result of a phylogenetic constraint within the Astereae subfamily of >> composites, which represents a large proportion of the plants flowering >> right now in the East. >> [snip] >> > > > >-- >Robert J. Miller, Ph.D. >Postdoctoral Scholar >Santa Barbara Channel LTER >Marine Science Institute >University of California, Santa Barbara >Santa Barbara CA 93106-6150 >(805) 893-7295
