The Geography of Phytochemical Races

Chapter 8
Conclusions
Some years ago I read an essay entitled, as I recall, “A sequence of saviors,” that
outlined the history of experimental systematics, pointing out that each new technique
was at the time heralded by proponents as the technique that would, once and
for all, set the subject on the road to objective respectability. [Unfortunately, I can
recall neither the source nor the writer.] Chemotaxonomy, or chemical systematics,
played its part in this sequence, as did numerical taxonomy (the two of them often
together), chromosome features, breeding biology, protein electrophoresis, aminoacid
sequence, and now, of course, DNA sequence analysis. Although there is a
strong bias in today’s systematics toward DNA, the other techniques have not lost
their inherent usefulness. Indeed, the successful laboratory today will utilize whatever
data that prove useful. Thus, as the examples listed above indicate, geographic
patterning of secondary metabolites can often help illuminate potential relationships,
or draw attention to relationships that may be incorrect. Every little bit helps.
B.A. Bohm, The Geography of Phytochemical Races,
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