What if Two Day Kava was made a Different Species?

[MikeB]

I have no idea what the process to make an "official" species classification is, but if a species-level change is too much, we could also try proposing that it be made a different "variety."

In botany, "variety" is an official taxonomic classification something akin to "subspecies."

Hence, we'd have something like: Piper methysticum var. noble and Piper methysticum var. tudei, or something like that.

 

[verticity]

That's an interesting question. One traditional definition of "species" is a group of organisms that are capable of interbreeding with each other. But kava plants do not reproduce sexually, so that definition doesn't help. You would have to go by some arbitrary measure of genetic difference, I guess. I can tell you that the noble - tudei distinction is not a continuum, if you look at the distribution of kavalactone profiles of Vanuatu cultivars, there are two distinct groups, corresponding mostly to the traditional definitions of noble/tudei.

 

[Deleted User01]

I still stand by my supposition that the Aliens brought Tudei to the Islands to destroy the Islanders and create a Vacation resort for themselves. But the Islanders were quit to spot the ruse and flipped them off. They got pissed off, sent an asteroid to earth, and created what is now known as "Noah's Ark and the Great Flood". Yeah, I heard about it on Cable TV.

 

[Rookietwoshoes]

Wow! You can smoke kava?
Passer to da left@Deleted User01.

 

[Prince Philip]

I don't think it's going to happen. Back in the day (1997), wild kava was called "Piper Wichamanii," but diligent research showed that it's not divergent enough to be a separate species.

Now, that's probably just me being pedantic. A good analogy we're all familiar with (I hope) is the ongoing debate on if 35,000 year ago H. Sapiens sapiens and H. Sapiens neanderthalensis were sodomizing each other or if it was H. Sapiens and H. Neanderthalensis. The current scientific consensus is the latter. If you could identify a genetic component that separated P. Mythesiticum acheronta from P. Mythesticum nobilitas, I'd use my contacts at the Royal Society.

Hopefully, it won't be too distorted by the time it reaches them. You see, I can only communicate with their botanical members through the grapevine.

 

[Prince Philip]

Yes, you can smoke kava. You can also smoke dried horse manure, which I'm told gives similar effects, including uncontrollable whinnies and the irresistible urge to kick a barn door.

Why do I tell @Deleted User about my ... habits?