I found this on a website this morning. Interesting. What do you think?

A mystery solved... DNA studies have finally solved a long-standing horticultural puzzle -- where do orchids come from? It turns out that orchids are a member of the asparagus family, which, beyond the title vegetable, includes vanilla, agave and daffodils. Until now, scientists believed orchids were relatively new plants, evolutionarily speaking. The DNA tells a different story. It looks like it is actually the oldest member of the Asparagales family. Source: NY Times.

BTW, we have a LOT of asparagus growing wild around the fringes of the saltwater marshes in my hometown, Poquoson, VA. You find it in the woods, mainly pines. These woods are often underwater during Spring tides and certainly during the last 3 hurricanes! As a kid, we would go out after church and pick a bunch you could barely get your hands around!

That's interesting. They all seem so radically different (especially the Agave being in there?) but I guess it's all about DNA, isn't it?

We also have one wild asparagus thicket growing here at the museum, and it is ready right when we open - myself and the curator are always trying to beat each other to it! He won last year...:roll:

Given the degree of speciation and specialization, I'm not too surprized. Composites and orchids are the two largest groups of flowering plants. So they have probably been duking it out since the beggining.

Specialization does not always imply "newness" or recent evolution.

This thread could be fun.
Rick