User: Chris Clarke

Re:Was it rediscovered OR did it re-evolve?

On: Extinct Wildflower Found In California

Fossil records don't show continuity of existance, only evolving form.

That's pretty much exactly wrong. The fact is that fossil records show far more stability of species forms - over periods lasting millions of years - than change. So much so,, in fact, that it was a problem reconciling the fossil record with the classical notion of incremental evolution over time. That's why Stephen J. Gould and Niles Eldredge had to come up with the notion of Punctuated Equilibrium, in which long periods of statsis alternate with rapid speciation.

How the hell do we puny humans know, in our quick as a wink relative to evolution of life time, that this is NOT a natural process in evolution?

Because evolution doesn't work that way. It's not unlikely that a new eriogonum species would evolve to fill a nche left by the extinction of another eriogonum, but the chances that it would closely resemble the old species - to the point where botanists had a hard time distinguishing the two - are infinitesimal.

Come on all you natural philosphers. What do you say?

I say your time would be well-spent reading a basic text in evolution or plant biology.