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Informateur OPTIMANewsletter

OPTIMA Newsletter - 30(e) / Informateur OPTIMA - 30(e)

Printed version ISSN 0376-5016 30 (1996), published by the Secretariat of OPTIMA.

N°. 30(e)

 

NOTICES OF PUBLICATIONS

by Werner Greuter

 

 

Notices of Publications:

OPTIMA; Cryptogamae; Dicotyledones; Monocotyledones; Floras; Flower Books; Floristic Inventories and Checklists; Excursions; Chorology; Karyology; Ecology; Regional Studies of Flora and Vegetation; Ethnobotany, useful plants; Conservation Topics, Red Data Books; National parks and protected areas; Gardens; Herbaria; Bibliography and Documentation; Biography and historical subjects; Reprints; Symposium Proceedings; Abstract volumes; New Periodicals

 

OPTIMA

 

  1. Dimitrios Phitos & Werner Greuter (ed.) – Proceedings of the VI OPTIMA Meeting, Delphi, 10-16 Sept. 1989. [Botanika hronika, 10.] – Botanical Institute, University of Patras, 1991. 987 pages, black-and-white illustrations, paper. Price: SFr 250.

96 papers on all aspects of Mediterranean botany, corresponding to the symposium lectures and poster presentations at the VI OPTIMA Meeting. Addresses, lectures and resolutions at the opening ceremony and closing session are also included. Symposium topics were: Current floristic projects; Geographical isolation and cytological differentiation; Phytogeography of lichens; Taxonomic botany, phytogeography and plant conservation in Greece; Forest management and plant conservation; Wild relatives of cultivated plants.

  1. Hüsnü Demiriz & Neriman Özhatay (ed.) – OPTIMA. Proceedings of the Fifth Meeting, Istanbul, 8-15 September 1986. – Istanbul Üniversitesi, Fen Fakültesi, Istanbul, 1993. xxxii + 797 pages, black-and-white illustrations, 4 extra plates (one in colour), 1 folded inset (graph), paper. Price: SFr 180.

78 papers on a variety of topics related to Mediterranean botany, corresponding to the symposium lectures and poster presentations at the V OPTIMA Meeting. Symposium topics were: The Mediterranean Sea, a threatened ecosystem and its plants; Biology and systematics of geophytes; Turkish contributions to taxonomic botany and phytogeography; Archaeobiology; Reproductive biology and adaptive strategies of angiosperms.

Index

Cryptogamae

  1. Ramon Folch i Guillèn & al. (ed.) – Historia natural dels països catalans. 5. Fongs i líquens (by Xavier Limona & al.). – Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona, 1991 (ISBN 84-7739-267-6). 528 pages, colour illustrations, hard cover.

The botanical part of this 15-volume encyclopaedia, comprising vol. 4-7 and begun in 1984, is now complete (see OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (2-3). 1991). The salient feature of the present volume, apart from its well documented and well written Catalan text, are its numerous (584) and excellent illustrations, mostly photographs, which give a balanced picture of the organismic diversity treated. This is by no means a mushroom-and-toadstool picture book, but a pictorially supported textbook of all categories of fungi, lichenized and non-lichenized, including myxomycetes. Looking for a good colour photograph of a slime mould, an oomycete, a chytrid? You will find it here, side by side with a good graphic representation of its life cycle and main morphological features. Paper and print quality are as remarkable as the illustrations and written contents.

 

  1. Carlos Lado – Catálogo comentado y síntesis corológica de los Myxomycetes de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares (1788-1990). [Ruizia, 9.] – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Vitruvio 8, E-28006 Madrid, 1991 (ISBN 84-00-07105-0). 142 pages, map, laminated cover.

An inventory of the Ibero-Balearic myxomycete flora, with numerous critical remarks. Taxon information, by provinces, is cited, from published and unpublished (manuscripts, herbaria) sources. Species inventories for each province form a second chapter.

 

  1. Giovanni Monti, Mauro Marchetti, Luca Gorreri & Paolo Franchi – Funghi e cenosi di aree bruciate. Indagine nell’ambiente del parco [naturale Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli]. – Pacini, Via Gherardesca, I-56014 Ospedaletto, 1992 (ISBN 88-7781-068-8). 149 pages, black-and-while illustrations, colour photographs, laminated cover.

Two natural park areas along the Tyrrhenian coast, in which the pine woods had been destroyed by fire in August 1989, were studied during early vegetation regeneration with regard to their fungal flora. The main portion of the book brings detailed descriptions, with brilliant colour photographs and illustration of microscopic details, of 40 species of fungi.

 

  1. Giuseppe Venturella – A check-list of Sicilian fungi. [Bocconea, 2.] – Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum, Via Archirafi 38, I-90123 Palermo (ISBN 88-7915-001-4). 221 pages, 1 graph, paper.

A mainly literature-based checklist of (non-lichenized) micro- and macrofungi so far reported from Sicily, including few unpublished records. The list gives highly condensed literature references of reported occurrences, by provinces, island groups or mountain massifs, as well as substratum (host) indications.

 

  1. Euaggelia Kapsanakê-Gkotsê – Sumbolê stên ereuna tês mukêtohlôridas tês nêsou Krêtês. Taxinomikê kai hlôridikê meletê tôn Uredinales. [Evangelia Kapsanaki-Gotsi, Contribution to the knowledge of the mycoflora of Kriti island (Hellas). Taxonomic and floristic study of the Uredinales.] – PhD Thesis, Department of Biology, University of Athens, 1986. 256 pages, black-and-white illustrations, folded map, paper.

354 rust samples collected between 1977 and 1983 mainly in W. Crete were studied and assigned to 93 taxa (90 different species). Two species and one variety are described and named as new. The treatment includes several new records for Crete, or for Greece as a whole, and indications of new host plants. Detailed study, using SEM, of the Puccinia calcitrapae and P. hieracii aggregates enabled the recognition of segregate species. The book is well illustrated by 238 micrographs on 33 plates, mostly of spores.

 

  1. Pier Luigi Nimis – The lichens of Italy. An annotated catalogue. [OPTIMA Commission for Lichens publication, 1.] – Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali [Monografie, 12], Via Giolitti 36, I-10123 Torino, 1993 (ISBN 88-86041-02-0). 897 pages, hard cover and dust-cover.

A detailed inventory of Italian lichens and their distribution by provinces, with full documentation of literature sources. Ecology, general distribution, taxonomy, etc., are commented upon in notes under each taxon. This impressive inventory, the first to be published under the auspices of OPTIMA’s Commission for Lichens, has been recognized by the award of OPTIMA’s Silver Medal to its author. (Full reviews can be found in, e.g., Ann. Bot. Fenn. 31: 28; Herzogia 10: 266; and Vegetatio 116: 173; all 1994.)

 

  1. Pedro Pablo Moreno & José María Egea – Estudios sobre el complejo Anema-Thyrea-Peccania en el sureste de la Península Ibérica y Norte de Africa. [Acta botanica barcinonensia, 41.] – Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 1992. 66 pages, black-and-white illustrations, paper.

14 lichen species, belonging to four genera usually referred to the Lichinaceae, are fully treated (keys, synonymy, descriptions, specimen citations, distribution maps) and partly illustrated by micrographs; one of them belongs to a new genus, Digitothyrea, validated elsewhere by the same authors.

 

  1. Vrec Aršamovic Manakjan – Listostebel’nye mhi jugo-vostocnoj Armenii. [The mosses of S.E. Armenia.] – Akademija Nauk Armjanskoj S.S.R., Erevan, 1989. 313 pages, black-and-white illustrations, hard cover.

The mosses known from the three floristic provinces encompassed by S.E. Armenia (Daralagaz, Zangezur, Meghri) are treated mainly with respect to their distribution, which is given in detail both for within and outside the area covered. Numerous distribution maps are included, mostly covering Caucasia as a whole. A floristic analysis summarizes, among other things, the habitat preferences of each species. No keys or morphological descriptions are present, but in some cases figures showing anatomical details are included.

Index

Dicotyledones

  1. Cèsar Blanché & Angel M. Romo (ed.) – Current research on the tribe Delphineae Warming (Ranunculaceae). [Also as Collectanea botanica, 19.] – Institut Botànic, Av. dels Muntanyans, E-08038 Barcelona, 1990. 160 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover. Price: US$ 20 (OPTIMA members: US$ 15).

This volume of Collectanea botanica, contrary to tradition, is devoted to a single subject and is also available as a special issue with coloured cover. 10 papers are included, dealing with various aspects related to the Delphinieae (consistently, as it seems, misspelled "Delphineae") and their genera, Aconitella, Aconitum, Aquilegia, and Consolida. Topics treated include ecology, floral biology, phytochemistry, and horticulture, apart from taxonomy and evolution.

  1. Cèsar Blanché y Vergés – Revisió biosistemàtica del gènere Delphinium L. a la Península Ibèrica i a les Illes Balears. – Institut d’Estudis Catalans [Arxius de la Secció de Ciències, 98], Carrer del Carme 47, E-08001 Barcelona, 1992 (ISBN 84-7283-194-9). 290 pages, black-and-white illustrations, paper.

This was presented as a PhD thesis in 1985 and, in 1986, was awarded the Pius Font i Quer prize, but publication was much delayed. It is an in-depth study of Ibero-Balearic Delphinium taxa, considering classical morphology as well as micromorphology of pollen, seeds and epidermis features, anatomy, and chromosome numbers. Types are newly designated for several names. As a conclusion and synthesis, a classical taxonomic revision is presented, recognizing 10 species and one additional subspecies.

  1. T. C. G. Rich – Crucifers of Great Britain and Ireland. [BSBI Handbooks, 6.] – Botanical Society of the British Isles, c/o Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, U.K., 1991 (ISBN 0-901158-20-8). [5] + 336 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover. Price: £10.75.

A practical field guide, with full (partly illustrated) identification keys, and full descriptions with analytical illustrations of the 138 species and interspecific hybrids found in the area. Many (60) of the taxa are mapped for Britain and Ireland, the maps being somewhat difficult to interpret due to excessive reduction in print.

  1. G. G. Graham & A. L. Primavesi – Roses of Great Britain and Ireland. [BSBI Handbooks, 7.] – Botanical Society of the British Isles, c/o Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, U.K., 1993 (ISBN 0-901158-22-4). 207 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover. Price: £12.

On the British Isles, Rosa is represented by 10 native and about as many naturalized species, plus a great number of interspecific hybrids. The species receive a full treatment by keys and illustrations, the hybrids are mostly just described. The principal native taxa are mapped by analogy to Perring & Walters’s Atlas of the British flora. Main diagnostic features of habit, acicles and prickles, leaves, calyx, and hips are thoroughly discussed and illustrated in the introductory part. The book will be found useful far beyond the territory it is designed to cover.

  1. Nigel Maxted – An ecogeographical study of Vicia subg. Vicia. [Systematic and ecogeographic studies on crop genepools, 8.] – International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Via delle Sette Chiese 142, I-00145 Roma, 1995 (ISBN 92-9043-240-3). [5] + 184 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover.

The subgenus comprises 8 sections and 38 species and is centred in the E. Mediterranean and S.W. Asia. This treatment is not a traditional monograph but a source book for genetic resources conservation purposes; it nevertheless includes keys to species (but not infraspecific taxa), descriptions of sections (but not series), and selected analytical illustrations. Ecology and distribution, including maps and specimen citations, are central to the account. The synonymies are somewhat awkward, with duplication when the authors, or even merely the spellings of the source, differ – obviously a side-effect of computer assistance.

  1. A. Libaniou-Têniakou – Biosustêmatikê meletê tou genous Viola sectio Viola (Violaceae) stên Ellada. [A. Livaniou-Tiniakou, A biosystematic study of Viola sect. Viola (Violaceae) in Greece.] – PhD Thesis, University of Patras, 1991. [3] + iv + 337 pages, black-and-white illustrations, paper.

Following in-depth study of morphological and caryological features, including morphometrical statistics of within- and between-population variation, 14 species and two additional subspecies representing 3 subsections are recognized. Two taxa, Viola oligyrtia from Peloponnisos and V. cretica subsp. glabra from Crete, are newly described and validly named. Keys, detailed descriptions, specimen citations and distribution maps are provided.

  1. Gabriel Alziar – Catalogue synonymique des Salvia L. du monde (Lamiaceae). [Biocosme mésogéen, 5: 87-136. 1988; 6: 80-115, 163-204. 1989; 7: 59-109. 1990; 9: 413-497. 1992; 10: 33-117. 1993.] – Ville de Nice. 2 maps, 22 colour photographs.

This synonymic checklist is now complete except for the reference list (if it is to be published at all) and is an important nomenclatural source for a large, subcosmopolitan genus which has one of its centres of diversity in the Mediterranean area. Although Alziar’s "Catalogue" has not as it seems been published separately but consists of a series of papers in a journal, it may be worth mentioning it in the present context (one may note that the title varies, either "L." or "du monde" being sometimes omitted).

  1. Pedro L. Pérez de Paz & Lourdes Negrín Sosa – Revisión taxonómica de Sideritis L. sugénero Marrubiastrum (Moench) Mend.-Heuer (endemismo macaronésico). [Phanerogamarum monographiae, 20.] – Cramer, Berlin & Stuttgart, 1992 (ISBN 3-443-78002-4). 327 pages, black-and-white illustrations, hard cover.

The natural group of species sometimes referred to a separate genus Leucophae has a controversial taxonomic history in view of its obvious complexity. This monograph appears to provide the final key for its understanding. The 24 species recognized (1 Madeiran, 23 Canarian) have been thoroughly investigated in every respect, their distribution established, and their relationships clarified. The treatment is profusely illustrated, and includes the description and valid naming of one new section, one species and several hybrids. Recognition of natural hybridization as one of the sources of the present complexity of variational patterns is one of the major merits of the authors.

  1. Concepción Obón de Castro & Diego Rivera Núñez – A taxonomic revision of the section Sideritis (genus Sideritis) (Labiatae). [Phanerogamarum monographiae, 21.] – Cramer, Berlin & Stuttgart, 1994 (ISBN 3-443-78003-2). x + 640 pages, black-and-white illustrations, hard cover.

A major monograph of one of the most critical Mediterranean (almost exclusively Ibero-Maghrebine) plant groups, recently honoured by the award of the OPTIMA Silver Medal to its authors. It is based principally on the study of herbarium specimens and uses classical morphological characters in the first place. Many of the 69 species recognized are further subdivided into subspecies (up to 11, in Sideritis hyssopifolia) or varieties, reflecting their natural polymorphism. They are assigned to 16 subsections and several series, all newly described – and (mis)named, with epithets in the singular mostly in need of correction. Many novelties are included, some previously described by the same authors. All taxa are illustrated by drawings and sometimes indumentum micrographs.

  1. Petra-Andrea Hinz – Etude biosystématique de l’agrégat Digitalis purpurea L. (Scrophulariaceae) en Méditerranée occidentale. [Reprints from Candollea 41:339-368; 42: 167-204, 693-716; 43: 223-247, 587-643; 44: 147-174, 681-714; 45: 125-199. 1986-1990; with common title, introductory part and indexes, [7] + [9] pages.] – PhD thesis, Université de Genève, & Conservatoire & Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, 1990.

This in-depth biosystematic study of a critical complex of four W. Mediterranean species and several infraspecific taxa was awarded the OPTIMA Silver Medal at the Borovec Meeting in 1993. While not easy to use due to the piecemeal way in which it was published, it has the merit of clarifying the taxonomy and evolution of a difficult and much confused complex of considerable horticultural and pharmaceutical interest.

  1. Ourania N. Geôrgiou-Karabata – Biosustêmatikê meletê tês omadas Anthemis tomentosa (Asteraceae) stên Ellada. [A biosystematic study of the Anthemis tomentosa group (Asteraceae) in Greece.] – PhD Thesis, University of Patras, 1990. [5] + 299 pages, black-and-white illustrations, 1 folded map, 2 folded tables, paper.

A polymorphic complex of littoral annuals has been investigated, and the riddle beautifully resolved by the recognition of four vicarious species with several infraspecific taxa (some of the latter being new, and newly named). The criteria used are mainly flower and fruit morphology, presented in great detail. Chromosome number and morphology are virtually uniform in the group. The observed distributional patterns, with one amphi-Adriatic, one peri-Aegean and two Aegean insular species, are excellent case studies for phytogeographical analysis.

  1. Hermann Meusel & Arndt Kästner – Lebensgeschichte der Gold- und Silberdisteln. Monographie der mediterran-mitteleuropäischen Compositen-Gattung Carlina. Band II. Artenvielfalt und Stammesgeschichte der Gattung. [Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Denkschriften, 128.] – Springer, Wien, 1994 (ISBN 3-211-86558-6). 657 pages, black-and-white illustrations, 32 extra plates of colour photographs, paper.

This superbly illustrated and richly documented second half of Meusel & Kästner’s Carlina monograph (see OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (73-74). 1991, for a review of the first volume) is made to the gusto of both the taxonomist and general biologist. The new classification here presented and amply documented recognizes 5 subgenera and several sections and subsections, 28 species and many subspecies and varieties, most of the supra- and many of the infraspecific names being new or newly combined here. Each taxon is seen in its natural coenotic context, illustrated by vegetation relevés, and in a biogeographical frame, represented by maps of similar distributions. Growth form, habit and habitat are described and profusely illustrated by photographs and drawings. The classical aspects of a taxonomic monograph are in no way neglected. Cladists and non-cladists will be equally interested in the juxtaposition of a computer-generated and a more intuitively designed cladogram. A monument indeed, and a useful tool in the same time!

  1. Walter Huber † –Biosystematisch-ökologische Untersuchungen an den Erigeron-Arten (Asteraceae) der Alpen. – Geobotanisches Institut der ETH, Stiftung Rübel [Veröffentlichungen, 114], Zürich, 1993. 143 pages, black-and-white and colour illustrations, laminated cover. Price: SFr 58.

A very complete revision, covering a variety of topics from typification and nomenclature through traditional morphology to ecology, phytosociology and chromosome studies. Over 200 populations have been studied, representing the 9 Alpine Erigeron taxa (8 species and one newly named subspecies), each illustrated by a colour photograph. The key extends to all Central European representatives of the genus, and to potentially confusable species of Aster and Conyza as well.

  1. Robert Vogt – Die Gattung Leucanthemum Mill. (Compositae-Anthemideae) auf der Iberischen Halbinsel. [Ruizia, 10.] – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Vitruvio 8, E-28006 Madrid, 1991 (ISBN 84-00-07161-1). 261 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover.

Of the c. 70 species of the genus, 19 occur on the Iberian Peninsula, representing all three sections. Of all but one of the 26 taxa (species or subspecies) recognized, living material was available for study, originating from no less than 350 different localities. Chromosome studies as well as investigation of fruit anatomy are among the main data sources on which Vogt’s classification (which includes one new section, four new species and several novelties at subspecies rank) is based. The work, generously illustrated by drawings of habit and details as well as maps, was distinguished by the award of the OPTIMA Silver Medal to its author, in 1993.

Index

Monocotyledones

  1. Juan Antonio Devesa Alcaraz (ed.) – Las gramíneas de Extremadura. – Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, 1991 (ISBN 84-7723-094-3). 358 pages, drawings, laminated cover.

A regional monograph and field guide for identification of the 175 grass species (209 taxa) of W. Spanish Estremadura. The 83 full-page drawings, by A. Cadete, of plant habit and analytical details contribute essentially, along with the careful descriptions and keys, to the practical value of the book.

  1. Juan Antonio Devesa Alcaraz (ed.) – Anatomía foliar y palinología de las gramíneas extremeñas. – Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, 1992 (ISBN 84-7723-129-x). 397 pages, graphs, black-and-white photographs, laminated cover.

The companion volume to N° 25 (above) describes in its first part the gross leaf morphology, cross section and abaxial epidermis microstructure for all 209 grass taxa known from Estremadura. A key permits the identification of non-pooid genera. Significant examples are illustrated on 19 plates of micrographs. An ordination by Principal Component Analysis is presented, using 94 characters. The pollen of 178 taxa has been studied, and the quantitative data thus obtained are presented in tabular form.

  1. M. W. van Slageren – Wild wheats: a monograph of Aegilops L. and Amblyopyrum (Jaub. & Spach) Eig (Poaceae). – Wageningen Agricultural University [Papers, 94(7)], Wageningen, and ICARDA, Aleppo, 1994 (ISBN 90-6754-377-2). xiii + 512 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover.

A phenomenal achievement, both taxonomically and nomenclaturally, designed to set new bases for the classification of the larger part of the secondary gene pool of bread wheat. As to taxonomy the approach is synthetic, leaving a mere 22 species (plus five varieties) in Aegilops, a single one in the redeemed split Amblyopyrum, 7 intergeneric nothospecies (including one artificial hybrid) in ´ Aegilotriticum, and a foreshadowed total of 6 species in the not yet fully treated Triticum. The treatment is very comprehensive, with ample space being allocated to, e.g., distributional, ecological and other notes, and extensive specimen citations. The illustration, too, is exemplary, including habit and analytical drawings, habitat photographs, and distribution maps. The author concedes to have spent inordinate amounts of time on nomenclatural matters, reducing the 1015 extant (c. 700 validly published) names to a mere 38 accepted ones and typifying all of the latter (even the nothogeneric name, although being a formula it has by definition no type!), yet not all nomenclatural questions are as yet definitely resolved (e.g. in the case of A. caudata, for which a conservation proposal is still pending). Perhaps the most critical part of this revision is the chapter on taxonomic limits, where the author opts for a pragmatic approach suiting the breeder and familiar to most users, yet in blatant conflict with the requirement of monophyletic taxonomic units. (For those thinking of taxonomy in evolutionary terms, Stebbins’s 40-years-old statement is still true, that "the maintenance of Triticum and Aegilops as separate genera becomes an absurdity".)

  1. Uwe Schippmann – Revision der Europäischen Arten der Gattung Brachypodium Palisot de Beauvois (Poaceae). [Boissiera, 45.] – Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Ville de Genève, 1991 (ISBN 2-8277-0061-1). 250 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover. Price: SFr 75.

Even including the Canarian endemic Brachypodium arbuscula, the number of European species of this genus is merely 8, plus a single additional subspecies. To reach this conclusion, extensive investigations of, e.g., leaf micromorphology and anatomy, chromosome numbers, vegetative plasticity and overall variability (partly using numerical methods such as Principal Component Analysis) have been necessary, taking into account several thousand herbarium specimens and hundreds of live plants observed in the field and often cultivated. The fully investigated synonymy is particularly impressive and, for several species, occupies four to six pages. The taxonomic treatment is very thorough and includes illustrations of both macroscopic and microscopic features, as well as dot maps. A model revision, appropriately distinguished by the award of an OPTIMA Silver Medal in 1993.

  1. Robert Portal – Bromus de France. – Portal, Av. St-Christophe, F-43750 Vals. 111 pages, drawings, ring brochure.

A privately published compendium of brome-grasses indigenous or occasionally introduced in France. 35 taxa (species or subspecies) are described in detail, each being illustrated by a full page of original drawings (habit and details); 6 further taxa, doubtfully present, are more briefly treated but also illustrated. Carefully built and generously illustrated identification keys as well as a synonymic index are provided. The author is a gifted botanical artist and a keen specialist in the same time, being familiar with the old and recent literature, and with the plants themselves. A hidden treasure.

  1. José Luis Pérez Chiscano, José Ramón Gil Llano & Fernando Durán Oliva – Orquídeas de Extremadura. – Fondo Natural, Apdo. 142, Avila, 1991 (ISBN 84-86430-19-4). 223 pages, black-and-white illustrations and colour photographs, laminated cover.

The orchidaceous flora of Estremadura comprises 34 species and two hybrids, representing 11 genera. Following a general introductory part, each taxon is illustrated by one or more colour photographs (89 in total), then described and mapped. The most noteworthy among them is the endemic Serapias perez-chiscanoi (S. viridis Pérez-Chisc., non Vell.), whose name commemorates its original discoverer and senior author of this book, a well-known member of the OPTIMA Commission for mapping the orchids of the Mediterranean area.

  1. Giorgio Perazza – Orchidee spontanee in Trentino-Alto Adige. Riconoscimento e diffusione. Fotoatlante con chiavi analitiche e carte di distribuzione per la provincia di Trento. [Pubblicazioni dei Musei Civici di Rovereto, 87.] – Manfrini, Calliano (Trento), 1992 (ISBN 88-7024-476-8). 183 pages, black-and-white illustrations and colour photographs, hard cover.

The book is far more than an inventory of the orchid flora of the Trento province (with corresponding grid distribution maps), plus an outlook on the Alto Adige: it is a superb iconography of the 63 species (27 genera) present in the area, including some of the most gorgeous and superbly reproduced full-page colour close-ups of native European orchids presently on the market (which is a major achievement indeed). A partly illustrated identification key and indications on habitat etc. are a useful corollary.

  1. Hans R. Reinhard, Peter Gölz, Ruedi Peter & Hansruedi Wildermuth – Die Orchideen der Schweiz und angrenzender Gebiete. – Fotorotar, CH-8132 Egg, 1991 (ISBN 3-905647-01-0). x + 348 pages, black-and-white illustrations and colour photographs, hard cover.

Much rather a scientific textbook on Swiss orchids (68 species) than one more among the plenty of beautiful picture books in the orchidaceous field, although the quality and variety of its colour photographs is remarkable and ranks high among its many merits. The introductory portions are thoroughly written and very informative. The chapters on habitats, conservation status, morphology (especially of the vegetative parts) and development include a wealth of data not or not readily available elsewhere. The text on floral biology, with several dozens of close-ups of pollinators caught in the act, is unique among documentations of its kind. Even ethnobotanical aspects have been covered. The central species-by-species treatment, headed by tables on flowering phenology and altitudinal range, occupies just over one half of the total book and includes profuse illustrations and distribution maps.

  1. Giannês Th. Kalopisês – Ta orheoeidê tês Elladas. Apografê kai episkopêsê. [Yannis Th. Kalopissis, The orchids of Greece. Inventory and review.] – Mouseio Krêtikês Ethnologias, Kentro Ereunôn, GR-70200 Bôroi, 1988. 40 + [68] pages, black-and-red distribution maps, laminated cover and dust-cover.

The Greek orchidaceous flora encompasses 130 taxa of specific or subspecific rank, one quarter of which are endemic (23) or subendemic (9) to the country. This publication presents a synthesis of our knowledge on their distribution, as per 1988, and is based on 25 years of the author’s own field experience and on the numerous contributions by others which, in recent times, have been busy with mapping the Greek orchids in the frame of the relevant OPTIMA project.

Index

Floras

  1. Adalbert Hohenester & Walter Welss – Exkursionsflora für die Kanarischen Inseln mit Ausblicken auf ganz Makaronesien. – Ulmer, Stuttgart, 1993 (ISBN 3-8001-3466-7). 374 pages, drawings, 24 extra plates of colour photographs, hard cover. Price: DM. 68.

A very condensed and therefore handy although complete excursion Flora which, contrary to presently available guides, covers endemics and aliens alike. The whole Flora consists of an extensive dichotomous key, with indications of distribution, endemism and ecology (habitat or plant communities) under each terminal taxon. Related taxa found on other Macaronesian islands (Azores, Madeira, Salvage and Cap Verde Islands), or in neighbouring mainland areas, are often intercalated in smaller print. Drawings of details aiding identification are scattered throughout the text, whereas the 96 colour photographs of characteristic species form a compact block. An English translation would be welcome.

  1. Santiago Castroviejo & al. (ed.) – Flora iberica. Plantas vasculares de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares. Vol. III, Plumbaginaceae (partim)-Capparaceae. Vol. IV, Cruciferae-Monotropaceae. – Real Jardín Botánico, C.S.I.C., Madrid, 1993 (ISBN 84-00-07375-4 & 84-00-07385-1). liv + 730, liv + 730 pages, map and drawings, cloth with dust-cover.

Extensive reviews of this Flora were written when the two first volumes had been published (OPTIMA Newsl. 20-24: (22-23). 1988; 25-29: (22-23). 1991), and the enthusiastic comments then made remain fully valid for the present volumes. This is, and will remain for a long time, the standard work on the flora of the Iberian Peninsula. Major genera treated in volume 3 include Limonium, postponed from vol. 2, with 107 numbered species, Viola (28 species), Hypericum (26), Helianthemum (24), and Salix (24), most of which are also notable by including a large number of interspecific hybrids (enumerated at the end without comment) and by having their main centre of diversity in the Flora’s territory. Most of volume 4 is devoted to the Cruciferae, which include several critical genera somewhat unequally treated by either pronounced splitting (e.g. Erigeron) or lumping (e.g. Biscutella), always as it seems for excellent reasons; Resedaceae, Ericaceae, and a couple of minor families make up for the remainder of the text. Several nomenclatural novelties are validated in each volume, including the names of two new taxa, a section of Halimium in vol. 3 and a species of Alyssum in vol. 4. The excellent and abundant illustration by original drawings of plant habit and analytical details is a particularly valuable and appreciated feature of this Flora.

  1. Josep Nuet i Badia & Josep M. Panareda i Clopés – Flora de Montserrat, 1-3. [Biblioteca Abat Oliba, sèrie il·lustrada, 7-9.] – Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Apartat 244, E-08013 Barcelona, 1991-1993 (ISBN 84-7826-274-1 [whole work], -246-6 [vol. 1], -247-4 [vol. 2], -403-5 [vol. 3]). 341, 311, 205 pages, black-and-white illustrations, hard cover and dust-cover.

The Montserrat is a mountain of Palaeogene conglomerate rocks, 1236 m high, situated N.W. of Barcelona in Spanish Catalunya. A famous Benedictine monastery is built on its flank, whose old botanical and pharmaceutical tradition has made Montserrat one of the source areas for the botanical knowledge of the entire province. The authors have studied the old and recent herbarium documents, literature and manuscript sources conserved mostly at Barcelona but also at the Montserrat Abbey, and have thoroughly explored the area for many years. They now present a new inventory of 1040 species of vascular plants, numbered in the sequence of Flora europaea, having eliminated almost 200 old but unconfirmed records. The treatment includes keys but no descriptions, distribution maps for each numbered species using a 1 km × 1 km mapping grid, notes on the distribution, ecology, literature sources, etc., and in many cases drawings or black-and-white photographs of live plants or herbarium specimens. The first two volumes treat the pteridophytes, gymnosperms and dicots, the final, third volume includes the monocots, an extensive bibliography and a general index.

  1. Bernard Girerd – La flore du département de Vaucluse. Nouvel inventaire. – Barthélemy, Avignon, 1991 (ISBN 2-903044-89-9). 391 pages, black-and-white maps and drawings, 16 extra plates of colour photographs, hard cover and dust-cover.

The vascular flora of the Vaucluse Department, according to this inventory, comprises 1686 species. Each is briefly (non-diagnostically) characterized as to its salient features, habitat and occurrence in the area. No keys are provided, but a few drawings and 24 colour photographs of characteristic plants (including the endemic, still somewhat controversial Leucoium fabrei) are included. For almost 100 of the rarer species, the local range is mapped on one of the 20 distribution maps.

  1. Daniel Jeanmonod & Hervé Maurice Burdet (ed.) – Compléments au Prodrome de la flore corse. Scrophulariaceae, par Daniel Jeanmonod & Jacques Gamisans. – Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, Ville de Genève, 1992 (ISBN 2-8277-0809-4). 234 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover. Price: SFr 32.65.

This series of family treatments for the island of Corsica aims at filling the gaps due to the non-achievement of Briquet’s and later Cavillier’s Prodrome de la flore corse (see earlier reviews in OPTIMA Newsl. 20-24: (25-26). 1988; 25-29: (25-26). 1991). By the present instalment, one of the three large families still wanting has been taken care of (what now remains to be done are essentially the Rubiaceae and Compositae, plus a few minor families). The treatment is remarkably thorough and critical, and includes description of almost half-a-dozen infraspecific taxa new to science, in the genera Chaenorrhinum, Scrophularia, Verbascum, and Veronica. Black-and-white photographs, notably micrographs of the diagnostically important seeds, are used to a much larger extent than in previous fascicles.

  1. Jost Fitschen – Gehölzflora. Ein Buch zum Bestimmen der in Mitteleuropa wildwachsenden und angepflanzten Bäume und Sträucher, mit Früchteschlüssel. Ed. 10, by Franz H. Meyer, Ulrich Hecker, Hans Rolf Höster & Fred-Günter Schroeder. – Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg & Wiesbaden, 1994 (ISBN 3-494-01221-0). [806] pages, drawings, hard cover.

This popular manual for the identification of woody plants native or cultivated out-of-doors in Central Europe now reaches its tenth edition, again improved and enlarged. It includes separate generic keys based on vegetative, floral, and fruit characters, respectively, and well over one thousand drawings of analytical details. Hybrids are given full treatment, and important cultivars are mentioned. A practical and reliable field guide, improved through feedback from generations of users. The awkward pagination system, starting anew for each family, may be found irritating by those not used to it.

  1. David Aeschimann & Hervé Maurice Burdet – Flore de la Suisse et des territoires limitrophes. Le nouveau Binz. Ed. 2. – Griffon, Neuchâtel, 1994 (ISBN 2-88006-506-1). lxxi + 603 pages, drawings, hard cover. Price: SFr. 48.

The success of this pocket Flora is demonstrated by the fact that, five years after its publication, the original edition was already out of stock. The present, second edition has been improved in many details but was not substantially changed. One has sometimes blamed the authors for having disrupted the monolithic tradition established among Swiss field botanists by Binz’s Schul- und Exkursionsflora through its many editions. The fact is that the French and German versions of the standard Swiss school Flora have lately been drifting apart, with the former following Cronquist’s system of classification and, at the lower levels, the taxonomy and nomenclature of Flora europaea and Med-Checklist, and the latter opting for Ehrendorfer’s sequence and delimitation of families and holding a rather traditional line for genera and species. Both are very carefully edited and utterly reliable, and neither is particularly well illustrated (the Nouveau Binz being rather cumbersome to use in this respect, having all its drawings grouped together on 17 consecutive pages).

  1. Miloje R. Sari& (ed.) – Flora Srbije. – Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti, Beograd, 1992. xv + 429 pages, black-and-white maps and drawings, hard cover.

Mladen Josifovi6’s Flora SR Srbije was published in ten volumes, including two volumes of supplements, between 1970 and 1986, and is rightly considered one of the basic critical Floras for the Balkan countries. As stated in the (English and Serbian) preface, if not on the title page, the present volume is the first of its second edition. The progress made since 1970 in the knowledge of the Serbian flora is perhaps best reflected by the number of pages which, while the coverage is unaltered, has increased by well over one hundred. The illustrations were newly drawn and unfortunately reduced in number (from 55 to 21 plates), which is compensated by 20 new grid distribution maps, each for several species.

  1. Kiril Micevski – Flora na Republika Makedonija. Vol. 1(2). – Makedonska Akademija na Naukite i Umetnostite, Skopje, 1993. Pages [4] + 153-394, paper.

The first instalment of this critical Flora was published in 1985 under a slightly different title (see OPTIMA Newsl. 20-24: (26-27). 1988). The present, second part of volume 1 comprises the treatments of the Berberidaceae, Papaveraceae, Fumariaceae, Platanaceae, Ulmaceae, Moraceae, Cannabaceae, Urticaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, Juglandaceae, Phytolaccaceae, and Caryophyllaceae. The latter family alone accounts for about three quarters of the text, being one of the larger and more critical groups in the Balkans. The index provided, curiously, covers only the second part, the first one remaining unindexed for the time being.

  1. N. Andreev, M. Ancev, S. Kozuharov, M. Markova, D. Peev & A. Petrova – Opredelitel na visšite rastenija Bblgarija (plaunoobrazni, hvošcoobrazni, papratoobrazni i cvetni rastenija). – Nauka i Izkustvo, Sofija, 1992 (ISBN 954-02-0055-5). 788 pages, drawings, hard cover.

This key to the c. 3800 species of vascular plants of the Bulgarian flora, which was awarded the OPTIMA Silver Medal in 1993, is basically a concise field guide for identification purposes, but also provides an updating of the published volumes of the big national Flora, the Flora na NR Bblgarija (with 9 volumes published so far) and a preview of the volumes yet to come. Its main part consists of indented, sparingly illustrated keys to the genera, species and subspecies, in landscape disposition. Contrary to the contents, the typographical layout will meet with justified criticism from the users’ side: the lack of lexical page headers is a serious shortcoming in a book in which the families and genera are arranged alphabetically, more so since the Latin plant names, neither italicized nor consistently placed, are difficult to spot. To find their way, users are supposed to know offhand the family assignation of all genera. The numbering system employed (independent alphabetical runs for genera, species and, curiously, subspecies) has no obvious use. Many new combinations, mostly of subspecific rank, are validated in the ‘Addenda’, where a list of additional taxa is also to be found.

  1. Arne Strid & Kit Tan (ed.) – Mountain flora of Greece. Vol. 2. – Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1991 (ISBN 0-7486-0207-0). xxv + 974 pages, black-and-white illustrations, hard cover and dust-cover. Price: £90.

This second volume completes a basic manual on the vascular plants found growing in Greece at or above the timber line (c. 1800 m a.s.l.). The first volume has been reviewed extensively in this Newsletter (20-24: (27-28). 1988). The present one, slightly bulkier owing to the larger number of species treated, comprises contributions by no less than 34 different authors, including the editors, and brings about substantial improvements of our knowledge of critical plant groups of the southern Balkan Peninsula. About one third of the taxa are either new additions to the Greek flora, or have had their name and/or taxonomic disposition changed with respect to the corresponding Flora europaea treatments. Apart from the 58 new names and combinations validly published here, many more such novelties were included in a series of precursor papers in the journal Willdenowia. The illustration consists of 43 plates of drawings, partly original and partly reproduced from recent published sources, 3 plates of scanning micrographs showing details of Taraxacum cypselae, and an outline map. Altogether, a major achievement!

  1. Ralf Jahn & Peter Schönfelder – Exkursionsflora für Kreta. – Ulmer, Stuttgart, 1995 (ISBN 3-8001-3478-0). 446 pages, graphs and maps, 24 extra plates of colour photographs, hard cover. Price: DM 68.

What had started of as a co-operative effort of students preparing an excursion, pieced together into a xeroxed Prodromus by their professor (see OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (27). 1991), has undergone a major metamorphosis and is now available as a nicely printed, thoroughly edited field guide. I have been genuinely impressed by the exhaustive coverage of even the most recent literature that is apparent from the text. Some of the species keyed out are yet to be validly named (in Limonium and Ophrys, in particular), four new combinations are validated in the introduction. The 101 colour photographs all portray endemic or subendemic taxa seldom if ever illustrated elsewhere. The coverage of the Flora, contrary to what the title indicates, includes the Karpathos island group: species found only there are given full treatment although they appear in smaller print. This book is a most welcome addition to the literature on the flora of Mediterranean islands.

  1. Deryck E. Viney – An illustrated flora of North Cyprus. – Koeltz, Königstein, 1994 (ISBN 3-87429-364-5). Pages iii-xxix, 2-697, drawings, coloured frontispiece, laminated cover. Price: DM 58.

This Flora, dealing with the spermatophytes (but not pteridophytes) of the Turkish-Cypriot sector of the Island, is the work of a "journalist-turned-botanist", as the cover text has it. About 1100 species are treated in a quite professional manner, each being illustrated by a drawing of the habit and sometimes of a detail. These plain and unpretentious drawings are astoundingly faithful portraits and are, together with the keys, an excellent help for plant identification. The book will be a good companion in the field and is a worthy little brother of Meikle’s two-volume critical Flora of Cyprus.

  1. A. A. El-Gadi (ed.) – Flora of Libya. Parts 148-150. – [Koeltz Scientific Books on behalf of] Department of Botany, Al-Faateh University, Tripoli, "1990" [1992] (ISBN 3-87429-309-2). [3] + 3 + [1] + 3 + [1] + 4 pages, drawings and map, paper. Price: DM 20.

I erred when (in OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (21-22). 1991) I stated that Flora of Libya was complete with part 147 plus the two unnumbered fascicles on pteridophytes and gymnosperms. The magic number 150 had apparently to be attained, by three families (Sambucaceae, by A. A. El-Gadi; Cannabaceae, by F. B. Erteeb; Flacourtiaceae, by M. A. Siddiqi) each consisting of a single, non-native (cultivated or casual) species. While the original drawings may have been fine, the print is execrable. The printed date (1 Oct 1990) is as false as usual; availability through Koeltz dates from 12 Mar 1992.

  1. Karl Heinz Rechinger (ed.) – Flora iranica. Flora des iranischen Hochlandes und der umrahmenden Gebirge. Persien Afghanistan, Teile von West-Pakistan, Nord-Iraq, Azerbaidjan, Turkmenistan. Lfg. 168, Dipsacaceae (by K. H. Rechinger & H. W. Lack; 67 pages, 60 extra plates; "Apr" [28 Jun] 1991; Price: öS 620). Lfg. 169, Violaceae (by A. Schmidt; 29 pages, 24 extra plates; "Nov 1992" [8 Feb 1993]; Price: öS 272); Lfg. 170, Liliaceae III (by K. Persson; 40 pages, 14 extra plates, of which 8 in colour; same dates; Price: öS 272); Lfg. 171, Ranunculaceae (by M. Iranshahr, K. H. Rechinger & H. Riedl; 249 pages, 276 extra plates, of which 8 in colour; same dates; Price: öS 2596 ). – Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz (ISBN 3-201-00728-5, the whole work). Paper.

One might be led to believe that Flora iranica is so-to-say holding its breath in view of the final assault toward completion, with "only" four issues published within as many years. The truth, I suspect, might rather be that preparing the bulky and important treatments yet to come takes quite some time and energy. However this may be, the progress to date is far from negligible: the Liliaceae (sensu lato) at last completed (see also the last review, in OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (30-31). 1991), plus three other families including a major one (Ranunculaceae); which leaves us with, principally, the pteridophytes, Chenopodiaceae, Cyperaceae, Rubiaceae, and the huge genus Astragalus yet to come. The Dipsacaceae treatment, except for recognition of the fancy genus Scabiosiopsis, is quite conservative, ignoring much of the recent progress in understanding the evolution of Scabiosa s.l. Fasc. 169, devoted to the genus Viola (23 species), is the only among the present four not to include nomenclatural novelties. Karin Persson’s account of Colchicum (including Merendera; 17 species) has the merit of being based on live material to a large extent, so that characters of both the flowering and fruiting plant could be accounted for. By far the largest morsel are the Ranunculaceae, mostly as it seems due to Rechinger and Iranshahr (the role of Riedl as co-author of Ranunculus and sole author of several minor genera remains somewhat mysterious, since obviously his own results as laid down in the but slightly earlier Flora of Pakistan account [see below] are only partly taken care of, due to "difficulties in co-ordination"); this volume is particularly rich in newly described species belonging to several genera, the larger of which are Ranunculus s. str. (excl. Batrachium, Ceratocephala, Halerpestes, and Ficaria; 88 species) and Delphinium (excl. Consolida; 53 species). Of the generously supplied illustrations – mostly photographs of selected herbarium specimens – the original drawings deserve special mention: 3 plates of professionally executed drawings of Scabiosa diaspores, by I. Reimann; 6 plates of fruiting Colchicum, by K. Persson; and no less than 40 plates of flower analyses of Delphinium and Consolida, by M. Iranshahr. The splendid colour photographs in fasc. 170 (19, by K. Persson and P. Wendelbo) and 171 (16, by S.-W. Breckle and P. Wendelbo) are a welcome extra. Botanists look forward to the next volumes of this extraordinary, really monumental work.

  1. M Assadi, M. Khatamsaz, A. A. Maassoumi & [except for Nos 6-8] V. Mozaffarian – Flora of Iran. N° 4, Ulmaceae (by M. Khatamsaz; 25 + [2] pages; 1991). No 5, Violaceae (by M. Khatamsaz; 50 + [2] pages; 1991). No 6, Rosaceae (by M. Khatamsaz; 352 + [2] pages; 1992). No 7, Zygophyllaceae (by Kh. Akhiani; 49 + [2] pages; 1993). No 8, Dipsacaceae (by Z. Jamzad; 109 + [2] pages; 1993). No 9, Resedaceae (by M. Nowroozi; 54 + [2] pages; 1993). No 10, Juncaceae (by Zh. Taheri; 77 + [2] pages; 1993). – Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, [Tehran]. 7 brochures.

Since this national Flora was started (see OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (31-32). 1991) it keeps making good and steady progress without losing any of its initial qualities. It is interesting to compare, e.g., the Dipsacaceae treatment with that (duly quoted) published shortly before in Flora iranica by Rechinger & Lack: the discrepancies are perhaps few but by no means negligible, with several additional species and one genus (Knautia, with two species) newly recorded for Iran, and with examples of splitting (Cephalaria procera, C. microcephala) but also lumping (Scabiosa olivieri, S. flavida). Clearly, more research is needed in these instances. Names of new taxa are not validated in the flora but in precursory papers, often in the Iranian journal of botany. The copious full-page drawings are among the major qualities of the work; as to possible shortcomings, one might mention the rather incomplete synonymies. The habit of restarting at 1 the numbering for doubtful species, at the end of the corresponding genus, is somewhat confusing.

  1. S. I. Ali & Y. J. Nasir (ed.) – Flora of Pakistan. N° 191, Boraginaceae (by Y. J. Nasir; [2] + 200 pages; hard cover; "25 Aug 1989"). N° 192, Labiatae (by I. C. Hedge; [2] + 310 pages; hard cover; "31 Dec 1990"). N° 193, Ranunculaceae (by H. Riedl & Y. J. Nasir; [2] + 164 pages; hard cover; "15 Feb 1991"). N° 194, Nelumbonaceae (by M. Qaiser; [2] + 4 pages; paper; "10 Aug 1993"). N° 195, Nymphaeaceae (by M. Qaiser; [2] + 10 pages; paper; "12 Aug 1993"). N° 196, Lentibulariaceae (by T. Ali; [2] + 8 pages; paper; "14 Aug 1993"). – Department of Botany, University of Karachi.

The six new issues of Flora of Pakistan presented here consist of three tiny fascicles devoted to water plants and three sizeable volumes covering as many largish families of the country’s flora. The quality of text and illustrations is as high as before (see OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (32-33). 1991). Vol. 193 raises a problem of authorship citation, the statement that three specified genera were "revised by Yasin J. Nasir" being quite ambiguous: does it mean that treatments of these three genera are by Riedl & Y. Nasir and the others by Riedl alone (as authorship of a new species and a new combination would seem to imply)? or that Y. Nasir alone is responsible for the three genera, and the other ones are authored jointly (as one would conclude from the authorship on the title page)? Accepting the title-page statement at face value, for the whole book, is probably the least arbitrary answer. New combinations, or more rarely new taxa, occur sporadically in each volume, and indexers would certainly be grateful to the editors for considering inclusion of a corresponding separate index, in future issues.

Index

Flower books

  1. Ingrid Schönfelder & Peter Schönfelder – Kosmos-Atlas Mittelmeer und Kanarenflora. Über 1600 Pflanzenarten. – Kosmos, Stuttgart, 1994 (ISBN 3-440-06223-6). 304 pages, drawings, maps and colour photographs, hard cover and dust-cover. Price: DM 128.

This picture book of Mediterranean plants is not a field guide (as such it would be oversized) but will be found very useful when preparing a field trip or naming one’s slide collection, back home. Less than 5 % (c. 1200) of the species found in the area are illustrated (and shortly but diagnostically described), and a few more are mentioned in passing; yet the selection is adroit and – allowing for the deliberate omission of mountain species – equitable except perhaps for N. Africa. The plants represented are those that are characteristic enough to be recognized on a colour picture, even though they may not be showy: many grasses are present, but no Festuca, Koeleria, or Poa. In some cases the species concept used is overly wide, even though this is not apparent from synonymy; an example is Crepis neglecta, mapped for Crete where it is in fact represented by the vicarious C. cretica – when the latter is indeed the plant figured under the former name. The quality of the colour photographs is excellent, both aesthetically and with regard to identification value. Country-by-country (or, for Canarian endemics, island-by island) distribution maps are provided, largely using the familiar Med-Checklist divisions – except for merging Malta with Sicily, and Albania with former Yugoslavia.

  1. Maria da Luz Rocha Afonso & Mary McMurtrie – Plantas do Algarve. – Serviço Nacional de Parques, Reservas e Conservação da Natureza, Lisboa, 1991 (ISBN 972-9034-45-1). 397 pages, colour illustrations, hard cover and dust-cover.

Lisbon botanist Rocha Afonso and Scottish botanical artist McMurtrie have combined their efforts to produce a gorgeous rhapsody in book form, on the Algarve flora. Despite its Portuguese title the text is fully bilingual, in Portuguese and English, and is devoted entirely to the characterization of the c. 300 species appearing on the airy water-colours that are reproduced on 112 plates. They are grouped by subject into 11 chapters, the first two devoted to particular areas (serra de Monchique, península de Sagres), the three last to particular kinds of plants (grasses, orchids, trees), and the others to special habitats. A splendid combination of art and science.

  1. Betty Molesworth Allen – A selection of wildflowers of southern Spain. – Mirador, E-29640 Fuengirola, 1993 (ISBN 84-88127-06-5). 251 pages, drawing, colour photographs, laminated cover.

The book tries "to give easy identification with simple text to some of the common wildflowers of southern Andalusia". Mrs Molesworth Allen, a distinguished British amateur botanist who has been residing for many years in southern Spain, is well qualified for such a task. She presents us with a selection 207 species, each illustrated by one or two colour photographs, shortly described, and characterized as to habitat preferences, general distribution, and possible uses. The quality of the pictures is somewhat uneven, and a few inexplicable mix-ups have obviously happened (Plantago lanceolata featuring as P. lagopus, and the figures of Asphodelus albus and Urginea maritima being transposed). Otherwise, a quite commendable booklet.

  1. Angel Mª Romo – Flores silvestres de Baleares. – Rueda, E-28924 Alcorcón, 1994 (ISBN 84-7207-073-5). 412 pages, black-and-white and colour illustrations, hard cover. Price: Ptas 3500.

One first wonders, when leafing it through, whether this is really just a flower book. It has the looks of a fully fledged excursion Flora, with keys, descriptions, and original drawings (by E. Sierra) representing a majority of the species. It includes much original information such as distributional data, indication of life span, etc., and also the validation of several new combinations and of the name of at least one new taxon (no separate index of such novelties is, alas, provided). There is a most readable chapter on the history of botanical exploration of the Balearic Islands, illustrated with rare photographical documents, as well as an account of endemic or subendemic taxa, illustrated by colour photographs, same as a section portraying sites and landscapes of botanical interest. The main problem is that coverage is far from complete, although this is not explicitly stated, so that the unwarned user trying to identify an unaccounted-for plant will either feel frustrated or end up with an erroneous identification. The user’s task is further complicated by the lack of reference to the drawings, under the corresponding species accounts – especially when the name in the text and that in the caption are not the same (as for Allium antonii-bolosii/A. cupanii subsp. hirtovaginatum).

  1. Ignazio Camarda, Bruno Corrias, Silvana Diana & Franca Valsecchi – Piante di Sardegna con sessantacinque aquarelli di Anne Maury. – Chiarella, Sassari, 1992. 30 pages of text and 65 loose colour plates, in folder.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Italian Botanical Society (SBI) its Sardinian section, in conjunction with the Banca Popolare of Sassari, published a calendar for 1988, reproducing 13 of Florence-based botanical artist Anne Maury’s paintings of Sardinian endemic plants. A second such calendar, on macquis plants, followed the year after (see OPTIMA Newsl. 25-29: (38). 1991), and three more were printed for the years 1990-1992, in exactly the same format, on native trees, sand dune plants and mountain plants of Sardinia, respectively. Of the 13 species of each year, 12 (each corresponding to a month) were provided with descriptive texts printed on the back sheet, whereas the one on the cover, while lacking a description of its own, was accompanied by a general text introducing the year’s subject. In view of the ephemeral nature of calendar publication, and taking the 1992 annual SBI assembly in Sassari as a welcome pretext, the Sardinian section of the SBI arranged for a reprint of all plates to be made which, together with the explanatory matter (to which the five lacking descriptions for the cover sheet plants were added), was offered to the participants of the gathering. The result is a Sardinian botanical iconography of remarkable beauty and botanical faithfulness, of which the artist as well as the publisher may be justly proud.

  1. Emilia Poli Marchese – Piante e fiori dell’Etna. [Bel vedere, 2.] – Sellerio, via Siracusa 2, Palermo, 1991. 198 pages, colour photographs and maps, laminated cover.

This guide to the flora of the Mt Etna natural park, well illustrated by the author’s own photographs of plants (218) and botanical landscapes (14), will no doubt be well received by plant lovers visiting the area. The text, both of the introductory chapter on vegetation features and of the (very condensed) treatments of the individual species, is in Italian. Users should correct some misidentifications (e.g., "Sedum rubens" is S. hispanicum, "Trifolium arvense" is T. lappaceum; "Brachypodium sylvaticum" is B. pinnatum) as well as a confusion of captions that has not been rectified on the Errata slip: on p. 123, "Teucrium siculum" is in fact Scutellaria rubicunda (same as "S. columnae" on the next plate) whereas "Teucrium flavum" is truly T. siculum.

  1. Velco I. Velcev, Stefan I. Kozuharov & Minco E. Ancev (ed.) – Atlas na endemicnite rastenija v Balgarija. – Balgarska Akademija Nauk, Sofija, 1992 (ISBN 954-430-004-x). 204 pages, colour illustrations and maps, cloth with dust-cover.

This well printed, good-looking book represents what one might call a first step toward a full, illustrated inventory of the Bulgarian endemic flora. Of the c. 270 taxa (species and subspecies, unfortunately not listed in detail) believed to be endemic to the country, about one half (128) are treated here, plus 35 subendemic ones that extend to neighbouring countries. Each treatment extends over a full page and comprises a Bulgarian text (description, distribution, habitat, protection status, literature references), a distribution map, and the reproduction of a colour painting of the plant. The quality of the latter (by unnamed artists) is quite remarkable. Among the taxa treated, many are of controversial status, being often merged with others, and the data presented here may help assessing their appropriate taxonomic status. Oligoglott readers will appreciate the inclusion of a full translation of the introduction, in a colourful English that renders "centre" by "fireplace". A truly outstanding contribution to Balkan botany, both scientifically and in terms of space occupation on a library shelf (size c. 23 ´ 26 cm).

  1. George Sfikas – Wild flowers of Greece. – Efstathiadis, Athens, [reimpr.] 1993 (ISBN 960-226-061-0). 125 pages, black-and-white and colour illustrations, laminated cover. Price: Drs 1400.

 

  1. George Sfikas – Medicinal plants of Greece. – Efstathiadis, Athens, [reimpr.] 1993 (ISBN 960-226-076-9). 142 pages, colour illustrations, laminated cover. Price: Drs 1400.

 

  1. George Sfikas – Trees and shrubs of Greece. – Efstathiadis, Athens, undated (original edition 1978). 213 pages, black-and-white and colour illustrations, laminated cover. Price: Drs 1800.

Three cheaply produced and reasonably priced booklets which have a lot to offer to the plant-lover on his or her first visit to Greece. Sfikas is a gifted nature photographer, and while not a professional botanist and sometimes rightly hesitant as to the exact scientific name applying to a given plant, he has a remarkably good overall knowledge of his subject. The print is in places defective, and some of the colour may have faded, yet the images are mostly useful and sometimes excellent. It is a good thing that Sfikas, having some claim to botanical artistry, often adds his own, partly coloured drawings; those in the woody plant booklet I found to be particularly useful.

  1. Hellmut Baumann – Greek wild flowers and plant lore in ancient Greece. Translated and augmented by William T. Stearn and Edwyth Ruth Stearn. – Herbert Press, London, 1993 (ISBN 1-871569-57-5). 252 pages, black-and-white and colour illustrations, hard cover and dust-cover. Price: £16.95.

Having long been available in German and Greek (see OPTIMA Newsl. 14-16: 38-39. 1983; 17-19: 42. 1985), this remarkable book, which combines modern plant lore and ancient history in a most instructive and appealing fashion, has now at last been translated into English. It has found translators worthy of its merits, and too famed to be introduced to the reader: William Stearn and his spouse share and extend the author’s, Hellmut Baumann’s, classical erudition and love for the plant world of Greece, and theirs is of course a masterly recast, a model of good teamwork between author and translators. The new text, combined with the beautiful and often dazzling photographs of the original issue, will make this a bestseller among hellenophilous botanists.

  1. Walter Strasser – Pflanzen des ostägäischen Raumes (türkisches Festland und vorgelagerte Inseln). – Ott, Thun, 1993 (ISBN 3-7225-6757-2). 130 pages, drawings, laminated cover.

The cover text claims this to be the only plant identification book for the E. Aegean area, with which even amateur botanists can easily identify their plants. This may be slightly over-optimistic: neither is the booklet itself what one is used to call an identification guide, nor may one take easy identification for generally granted unless one is already well familiar with the subject. Yet Strasser has, as a result and by-product of his several excursions to the area, produced a quite useful little field vademecum whose principal merit lies in the many (over 700) original and faithful if simple drawings portraying E. Aegean plants. No keys are provided, and the proposed identification is visual, with a single text line per species to verify the result. The drawings form 9 groups: ferns, grasses, orchids, woody plants, and the remainder subdivided by flower colour. Non-illustrated species are referred to under their most similar portrayed relative, each with a one-line diagnostic phrase (an almost Linnaean approach). "Generally known" central European species occurring in the area are enumerated in an appendix, with but a few selected drawings. Scientific accuracy is remarkable throughout.

  1. George Sfikas – Wild flowers of Cyprus. – Efstathiadis, GR-14565 Anixi, 1994 (ISBN 960-226-061-0). 320 pages, colour photographs, maps, drawings, laminated cover.

A nice, colourful introduction to the island of Cyprus and its wildflowers, aimed at the botanically interested tourist. It has a fluently written introductory part on the island in general, and on its vegetation and flora in particular, followed by a selection of its more common and characteristic wild or widely cultivated plants, illustrated on 111 plates of colour photographs and briefly described (enumerations of species not so treated are appended). Some plants are wrongly identified (e.g., "Matthiola sinuata", a species absent from Cyprus, is M. tricuspidata; "Minuartia sintenisii" is M. picta; and "Crepis fraasii" is Picris altissima). The two only drawings, of Rosularia and Liquidambar, are unblushingly plagiarized from Meikle’s Flora of Cyprus (but with the presumed hybrid R. cypria ´ R. pallida misnamed R. cypria).

  1. V. Pantelas, T. Papachristophorou & P. Christodoulou – Cyprus flora in colour. The endemics. – Privately published [?], Athens, 1993 (ISBN 9963-7931-0-x). 104 pages, colour photographs, laminated cover. Price: £12.50.

An excellent complement to the foregoing book, there being but little duplication of images. The 128 taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, and one forma) thought to be endemic to Cyprus, enumerated in alphabetical sequence, are briefly characterized, about 100 of them being illustrated by one or more of the 154 mostly excellent photographs. The taxonomy is largely that of Meikle’s Flora, but at least three species described subsequently (one perhaps unpublished as yet) have been included: Centaurea akamantis, Ophrys lapethica, and Valantia eburnea. The fact that the illustration captions are limited to the name of the (often non-endemic) species, the infraspecific designation being omitted, is somewhat awkward. Identifications are generally reliable, with at least one exception (the plant figured as Trifolium campestre [subsp. paphium] does not belong to T. sect. Chronosemium).

Index

Floristic inventories and checklists

  1. Jean-Pierre Lebrun & Adélaïde L. Stork – Enumération des plantes vasculaires d’Afrique tropicale. Vol. I, généralités et Annonaceae à Pandanaceae; Vol. II, Chrysobalanaceae à Apiaceae; Vol. III, Monocotylédones: Limnocharitaceae à Poaceae. – Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève [Publication hors série, 7, 7a, 7b], 1991, 1992, 1995 (ISBN 2-8277-0108-1; -0109-x; -0110-3). 249, 257, 341 pages, some black-and-white photographs, maps, and drawings, laminated covers. Price: SFr 40.80 per volume.

For the purpose of this inventory, Tropical Africa (excluding Madagascar) is so defined as to exclude the territory of Med-Checklist and the Flora of southern Africa. Three of the four planned volumes have been published so far, listing almost 17,500 of an estimated total of 24,000 species. The last volume will apparently comprise the sympetalous dicotyledons (assuming that the gymnosperms are not to be covered). The treatment is very succinct, with reference to a source (or sources) where further information, e.g. on distribution, can be found. Recent novelties are added in the form of appendices. Once complete, this checklist will provide the base-line for work on a future new Flora of Tropical Africa.

  1. Alfred Hansen & Per Sunding – Flora of Macaronesia. Checklist of vascular plants. 4. revised edition. [Sommerfeltia, 17.] – Botanical Garden & Museum, Oslo, 1993 (ISBN 82-7420-019-5). 295 pages, paper. Price: NoK 250.

The constant effort, by the author, to update their well-known checklist of the flora of the Atlantic Islands has been successfully pursued, most appropriately so since the previous edition is now out of stock. About 200 species and 900 island records have been added since 1985 (see OPTIMA Newsl. 20-24: (35-36). 1988), yet the marked increase in page number (and price) is due solely to less economic space use. In fact, the number of listed species has decreased by 19 units, presumably due to the omission of non-naturalized and erroneously recorded taxa. The authors have tried to follow new trends in generic delimitation and nomenclature, e.g. by merging Micromeria (but curiously, and rather illogically, not Clinopodium and Calamintha) with Satureja; separating Nauplius from Asteriscus (but the concomitant renaming of Pallenis spinosa as A. spinosus is ill advised, since Pallenis as a nomen conservandum is automatically conserved against its homotypic synonym, Asteriscus); and recombining all names in use in Taeckholmia under Atalanthus (rather than seeking nomenclatural stability by proposing conservation of the former name). These few mildly critical remarks notwithstanding, the new edition will serve its purpose in the best tradition of the earlier ones.

  1. Tomás Romero Martín & Enrique Rico Hernández – Flora de la cuenca del Río Duratón. [Ruizia, 8.] – Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Vitruvio 8, E-28006 Madrid, 1991 (ISBN 84-00-07015-1). 438 pages, some black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover.

This critical floristic inventory relates to the Duratón River basin, largely confined within the Segovia province in Central Spain: a botanically rich (over 1750 vascular plant species) yet insufficiently explored area of 1450 km2 now thoroughly studied by the authors. The enumeration includes locality and specimen citations as well as a short statement of general distribution, ecology and phytocoenological affinity. In several cases, further points are discussed in the form of notes. Brief chapters are devoted to the climate and geology of the area, to phytogeographical considerations, and to the vegetation zonation found.

  1. Roland Lindacher – phanart. Datenbank der Gefässpflanzen Mitteleuropas. Erklärung der Kennzahlen, Aufbau und Inhalt. – Geobotanisches Institut der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule, Stiftung Rübel, in Zürich [Veröffentlichungen, 125], 1995. 436 pages, map, laminated cover. Price: SFr 78.

The core of this book is a printout of the contents of a database on th