Phylogony is simply the study of the evolutionary relationships and origins between organisms. One usually expresses those relationships through diagrams called clades. This word originates from the Greek word for branch or twig. What the criteria for a cladograms is variable and constantly changing most of the work now being developed uses complex algorithms that crunch genetic data. Since this isn’t my expertise I am going to move on. We are interested in all this nonsense because how we find plants in data bases will be effected by how plants are taxonomically represented. Our biggest problem with genetic taxonomy is a plants men will have no idea what the sense of the divisions are since they can not be seen the same way as you can see the shape of a flower. Check out the divison eudicots and see if you can find the commonality of plants by a simple visual examination. Many scietists would have you believe that phylogony is only a study of science. It really is a philosophical question as well. Our next installment will be a demonstration of phylogony as it pertains to gardeners.