Volume 42, Number 1
Winter 1988
A. buttercup (Poem)
Bob Carlson
South Salem, New York
I'm called schlippenbachii.
Named for Mr. Schlippenbach,
Even though he was not my first choice:
Far too rarely taxonomists,
Historical botanists,
Give namesakes that much of a voice.
Do you think nudiflorum
Was furnished a forum
When renamers revised the last time?
Was my naming an omen
That they'd find a cognomen
That folks can't pronounce, spell or rhyme?Some day some revisionist,
Ambitious taxonomist
May learn who first gave me the eye —
'Twas poor Mrs. Buttercup,
Sweet Mrs. Buttercup,
Who showed Mr. Schlippenbach I!Copyright 1987 Bob Carlson
Volume 42, Number 1
Winter 1988
