form 



comment one must mention 

 id Funk (1986) in their Phn 



Orchidaceae. This treatise is heavily dependent on another 



Rasmussen 



Whereas Rasmussen 



seemingly coherent picture in outlining hypothetical lineages, 

 are liberally saturated with such factual words and phrases as 

 "imagined", "probably", "may be derived", "possibly" or even "I 

 believe" to mention a few, Burns-Balogh and Funk accept all 

 such assumptions as facts. Although Rasmussen emphasizes 

 that the study of phylogeny or cladistics is basicly independent 

 of classificatory problems, Burns-Balogh and Funk base their 



em 



"New System" is a mere half-digested mish-mash made unique 

 by their lack of comprehension of the distinction between facts 

 and hypotheses offered by other investigators. Finally this "New 

 System" is brought to perfections through their lack of familiar- 

 ity with the requirements of the International Code of Botanical 

 Nomenclature. With respect to this latter phenomenon we are 

 presented with two new tribal names, prasophylleae and pter- 

 ostylideae, as nomenclatorial transfers without supporting 

 basionyms. 



As a matter of fact, future students will find in the genera and 

 species commonly assigned to the subtribes prasophyllinae, 

 diuridinae, gastrodiinae and epipogoninae, the latter of 

 which also includes the genus Sylvorchis J. J. Sm., another well- 

 defined evolutionary line in the Neottioideae, which is not only 

 comparable in advancement to, but which has also evolved in a 

 parallel manner with the line of the Orchidoideae. 



The purpose of this paper, however, is to bring together and 

 interpret as well the known facts and sundry details pertaining to 

 the Vanilla tribe for future students of orchid systematics, or 

 even possibly for those of cladistical phylogenetics, rather than 

 to propose new hypotheses. These facts and details are presented 

 here in the form of a key to genera, which in turn is a summary 

 of the current make-uo of the vanilleaf. as T understand it 



229 



