Informateur
OPTIMA Newsletter
OPTIMA Newsletter 32(e) / Informateur OPTIMA 32(e)
Printed version ISSN 0376-5016 32 (1997), published
by the Secretariat of OPTIMA.
Contents of N°.
32(e)
Part I
Introduction
Nouvelles de l’OPTIMA;
OPTIMA News; Gold and Silver Medals - Participate
and send your proposals
Chromosome News
Karyological Investigation as a Contribution
to Systematic and Taxonomic Aspects of Italian Flora; News
from CROMOCAT
Conservation News
MEDUSA Network; IUCN
Mediterranean Programme
Herbarium News
The BCB: A Great Bryophyta Herbarium;
The Spanish Algae Herbaria
Web News
Internet Directory for Botany
- Subject Category List
Projects
Announcing a Test and Trial Phase
for the Registration of New Plant Names; A
Call to Everyone; Registration as a Positive Step;
Seeds of Digitalis atlantica ,
D. nervosa and D. subalpina from Wild Accessions
Needed
Meetings
Le IXème Colloque
OPTIMA - The IX OPTIMA Meeting in Paris,11-17 May 1998;
The XVI
International Botanical Congress in Saint Louis, 1-7 August
1999;
Annnouncements
Part II
Notices of Publications:
(by W. Greuter)
OPTIMA; Dicotyledones;
Monocotyledones;
Floras; Flower
Books; Floristic Inventories
and Checklists; Excursions;
Chorology; Regional Studies
of Flora and Vegetation; Applied
botany; Conservation Topics,
Red Data Books; Gardens;
Bibliography and Documentation;
Biography and historical
subjects; Reprints;
Symposium Proceedings;
New Periodicals
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NOUVELLES
DE L’OPTIMA
Une quantité impressionnante de données sur les comptages de
chromosomes de la région méditerranéenne est en cours de collecte
dans différentes institutions. C’est pourquoi nous rendons
compte dans ce numéro des activités orientées dans cette direction.
Nous voulons attirer votre attention sur la proximité du IXème
Colloque de l’Optima qui doit se tenir à Paris en Mai 1998.
Nous vous prions de veiller à bien respecter les dates limites
d’inscription et de remise des résumés. N’hésitez pas
à prendre contact avec le Pr. Moret à Paris ou avec le secrétariat
de l’OPTIMA à Madrid si vous avez besoin d’informations
supplémentaires. Les nouvelles les plus fraîches sur le Colloque
seront disponibles sur le Web à l’adresse: http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/OPTIMA/.
Nous souhaiterions également vous inviter à participer au processus
d’attribution des Médailles d’Or et d’Argent qui
doivent être décernées au IXème Colloque en envoyant vos propositions
au Secrétariat de l’OPTIMA.
Le Comité d’Edition voudrait tout particulièrement évoquer
le décès du Pr. Dr. Stefan Kozuharov et manifester sa plus profonde
sympathie à cette occasion. Stefan fut l’un des membres fondateurs
de l’OPTIMA et était un membre actif du Comité International.
Ce fut quelqu’un d’exceptionnel aussi bien au plan professionnel
qu’humain. Il nous manquera beaucoup à tous.
J.M. Iriondo
DÉCÈS
† Pr. Dr. Stefan Kozuharov, Sofia, Bulgarie, décédé le 24.08.1997.
Il était membre fondateur de l’OPTIMA et membre du Comité
International.
NOUVELLES DES COMMISSIONS
IXème COLLOQUE DE L’OPTIMA
La première circulaire pour le IXème Colloque qui doit se dérouler
à Paris en Mai 1998 a été diffusée au printemps dernier. La seconde
circulaire a été envoyée en Octobre à tous ceux qui avaient répondu
à la première. Le délai pour le paiement des droits d’inscription
a été prolongé jusqu’au 31 Décembre 1997.
L’élaboration du Programme Scientifique est maintenant achevée,
et le Secrétariat du Comité et le Comité d’Organisation coopèrent
activement à la préparation de cet événement.
Pour plus d'informations, vous êtes priés de vous reporter à
la rubrique d'annonces de ce bulletin ou de prendre contact avec
le Pr. Jacques Moret, Conservatoire Botanique du Bassin Parisien,
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 61, rue Buffon, F-75005
Paris, France.
CARYOSYSTÉMATIQUE
La Commission pour la caryosystématique travaille activement
à la création d'une base de données méditerranéennes sur les chromosomes.
Malgré l'échec d'une tentative de financement de la saisie sur
une grande échelle, des efforts plus modestes sont en cours pour
collecter les données cytologiques. Vous êtes priés de consulter
la rubrique Chromosome News de ce bulletin pour une description
détaillée des réalisations en cours.
CARTOGRAPHIE DES ORCHIDÉES DE LA RÉGION MÉDITERRANÉENNE
Des progrès très importants ont été accomplis dans la cartographie
de différents pays méditerranéens tels que la Grèce, l'Italie,
la Turquie, l'Espagne, le Maroc, la Tunisie et les îles (Mer Égée,
Canaries, Sicile).
Tout ce travail de recherche a débouché sur une quantité d'informations
nouvelles et a considérablement amélioré les connaissances de
base sur les orchidées méditerranéennes. Ces informations ont
fait l'objet de publications, essentiellement dans le Journal
Europäische Orchideen et dans Berichte aus den Arbeitskreisen
Heimische Orchideen.
COMMISSION DES PRIX
Médailles d'Or et d'Argent de l'OPTIMA:
Participez et envoyez vos suggestions!
Au prochain Colloque de l'OPTIMA de Paris, la Médaille d'Or de
l'OPTIMA sera décernée à un botaniste dont on estime que l'activité
a apporté une contribution exceptionnelle à la phytotaxinomie
de la région méditerranéenne. Par ailleurs, trois Médailles d'Argent
de l'OPTIMA seront décernées aux auteurs des meilleurs articles
ou livres sur la phytotaxinomie de la région méditerranéenne publiés
en 1995, 1996 et 1997.
La Commission des Prix est d'ores et déjà ouverte aux suggestions
sur les éventuels bénéficiaires des Médailles d'Or et d'Argent
de l'OPTIMA. Pour la Médaille d'Or, vous êtes priés d'envoyer
simplement le nom de votre candidat et d'exposer brièvement les
raisons justifiant votre proposition. Pour les Médailles d'Argent,
présentez pour examen les articles ou les livres publiés en 1995,
1996 ou 1997. Vous êtes priés d'envoyer vos propositions à :
José M. Iriondo, Dpto. Biología Vegetal, E.U.I.T. Agrícola, Universidad
Politécnica, E-28040 Madrid, Spain; Fax: +34 1 336 5656; E-mail:
iriondo@ ccupm.upm.es.
Les règles d'attribution des Médailles d'Or et d'Argent de l'OPTIMA,
modifiées par décision du Conseil de l'OPTIMA le 10.3.1978, sont
les suivantes:
Médailles d'Argent de l'OPTIMA
- Les prix seront décernés tous les trois ans aux auteurs des
meilleurs articles ou livres portant sur la phytotaxinomie de
la région méditerranéenne et publiés pendant la période précédente
de trois ans.
- Les prix prendront la forme de médailles en argent.
- Les lauréats seront choisis par une Commission des Prix dont
les recommandations seront soumises au Conseil de l'organisation
pour ratification et approbation.
- Le prix sera décerné à l'occasion d'une réunion triennale
de l'Organisation.
- En principe, un prix est attribué pour chaque année de la
période de trois ans, mais la Commission des Prix est libre
de proposer l'attribution de plus d'un prix pour une même année,
ou qu'aucun prix ne soit attribué une année.
- Les auteurs dont les articles ou les livres seront soumis
à la Commission des Prix peuvent être choisis parmi les membres
de l'organisation ou non.
- Aucun membre en activité de la Commission des Prix ou du Comité
International ne pourra être désigné pour le prix.
Médaille d'Or de l'OPTIMA
- Un prix sera décerné tous les trois ans à un(e) botaniste
dont on estime que l'activité a apporté une contribution exceptionnelle
à la phytotaxinomie de la région méditerranéenne.
- Le prix consistera en une médaille en or.
- Le lauréat sera choisi par une Commission des Prix dont la
recommandation sera soumise au Comité International de l'Organisation
pour ratification et approbation.
- Le prix sera décerné à l'occasion d'une réunion triennale
de l'Organisation.
- Aucun membre de la Commission des Prix ne pourra être proposé.
PUBLICATIONS
Le Volume 5(2) de Bocconea, avec les posters présentés
au VIIème Colloque de l'OPTIMA tenu à Borovetz en 1993, et le
volume 7, avec les Actes des ateliers sur la conservation des
parents sauvages des plantes cultivées d'Europe, ont été publiés
en Mai 1997.
Les Actes du VIIIème Colloque de l'OPTIMA tenu à Séville en 1995
viennent d'être publiés dans Lagascalia.
Vous trouverez dans la liste des publications disponibles, en
tête de ce numéro du Bulletin de l'OPTIMA, des informations
plus détaillées sur les remises particulières consenties aux membres
de l'OPTIMA pour ces publications ainsi que d'autres.
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OPTIMA NEWS
An impressive amount of data on Mediterranean chromosome records
is currently being gathered at different institutions. In this
issue, we report on some of the activities taking place in this
direction.
We want to call your attention to the forthcoming IX OPTIMA Meeting
to be held in Paris in May 1998. Please, make sure you register
and submit the abstracts in due time. Do not hesitate to contact
Prof. Moret in Paris or the OPTIMA Secretariat in Madrid if you
need further information. The latest news on the meeting will
be available on the Web at: http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/OPTIMA/.
We would also like to invite you to participate in the process
of designation of the OPTIMA Gold and Silver Medals to be awarded
at the IX OPTIMA Meeting by sending your proposals to the OPTIMA
Secretariat.
At the Editorial Board we would like to make a special mention
and express our deepest sympathy on the death of Prof. Dr. Stefan
Kozuharov. Stefan was one of the founding members of OPTIMA and
was an active member of our International Board. He was an outstanding
person both professionally and humanely. We shall all miss him
very much.
J.M. Iriondo
DEATHS
† Prof. Dr. Stefan Kozuharov, Sofia, Bulgaria, died on 24.08.1997.
He was a founding member of OPTIMA and a member of the International
Board.
UPDATES ON COMMISSIONS
IX OPTIMA MEETING
The first circular for the IX OPTIMA Meeting to take place in
Paris in May 1998 was issued last spring. The second circular
was distributed in October to all those who answered the first
circular. The deadline for payment of registration fees has been
postponed till 31 December 1997.
The elaboration of the Scientific Programme is now complete and
the Committee’s Secretary together with the Organizing Committee
are actively working on the preparation of the event.
For further information, please check the meetings section of
this newsletter and/or contact Prof. Jacques Moret, Conservatoire
Botanique du Bassin Parisien, Muséum National d’Histoire
Naturelle, 61, rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France.
KARYOSYSTEMATICS
The Commission for Karyosystematics is actively working on the
creation of a Karyosystematic database for Mediterranean chromosome
records. Although a proposal for funding data input on a large
scale has been unsuccessful, smaller scale efforts are being carried
out for the collection of cytological data. Please, check the
Chromosome News section in this newsletter for a detailed
description of current achievements.
MAPPING OF ORCHIDS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA
Very good progress has been made on mapping in many Mediterranean
countries such as Greece, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia
and islands (Aegean, Canary Islands, Sicily).
All this research work has resulted in plenty of new information
and has considerably improved the current knowledge about Mediterranean
orchids. This information has been published mainly in Journal
Europäische Orchideen and Berichte aus den Arbeitskreisen
Heimische Orchideen.
PRIZE COMMISSION
OPTIMA Gold and Silver Medals:
Participate and send your proposals!
At the forthcoming IX OPTIMA Meeting in Paris the OPTIMA Gold
Medal will be awarded to a botanist who, by his or her activity,
is considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the
phytotaxonomy of the Mediterranean area. Moreover, three OPTIMA
Silver Medals will be awarded to the authors of the best papers
or books on the phytotaxonomy of the Mediterranean area that were
published in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
The Prize Commission is now open to proposals for recipients
of the OPTIMA Gold Medal and the OPTIMA Silver Medals. For the
OPTIMA Gold Medal please, simply send the name of your candidate
and briefly state the reasons that support your proposal. For
the OPTIMA Silver Medals, submit papers or books published in
1995, 1996 or 1997 for consideration. Please, send your proposals
to: José M. Iriondo, Dpto. Biología Vegetal, E.U.I.T. Agrícola,
Universidad Politécnica, E-28040 Madrid, Spain; Fax: +34 1 336
5656; E-mail: iriondo@ ccupm.upm.es.
The regulations of the OPTIMA Gold and Silver Medals, as amended
by the Executive Council of OPTIMA by decision of 10.3.1978, are
as follows:
OPTIMA Silver Medals
- Prizes will be awarded every three years to the authors of
the best papers or books on the phytotaxonomy of the Mediterranean
area published in the preceding three-year period.
- The prizes will take the form of silver medals.
- The prize winners will be selected by a Prize Commission and
its recommendations will be submitted to the Council of the
Organization for ratification and approval.
- The prize will be awarded at a triennial meeting of the Organization.
- Normally, one prize is available for each year of the triennium;
the Prize Commission is free however to propose that in single
years more than one prize, or no prize at all, be attributed.
- Both members and non-members are eligible to submit papers
or books for consideration by the Prize Commission.
- No current member of the Prize Commission or International
Board will be eligible for the prize.
OPTIMA Gold Medal
- A prize will be awarded every three years to a botanist who,
by his or her activity, is considered to have made an outstanding
contribution to the phytotaxonomy of the Mediterranean area.
- The prize will consist of a gold medal.
- The prize winner will be selected by a Prize Commission and
its recommendation will be submitted to the International Board
of the Organization for ratification and approval.
- The prize will be awarded at a triennial meeting of the Organization.
- No member of the Prize Commission will be eligible for consideration.
Back to index
PUBLICATIONS
Volume 5(2) of Bocconea, with the posters presented at
the VII OPTIMA Meeting held in Borovetz in 1993 and volume 7,
with the Proceedings of the workshops on conservation of the wild
relatives of European cultivated plants were published in May
1997.
The Proceedings of the VIII OPTIMA Meeting held in Sevilla in
1995 have just been published in Lagascalia.
Please check the publications offer sheet at the beginning of
this issue of OPTIMA Newsletter to get further information
on special discounts for OPTIMA members on these and other publications.
Back to index
CHROMOSOME NEWS
KARYOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
AS A CONTRIBUTION TO
SYSTEMATIC AND TAXONOMIC ASPECTS OF ITALIAN
FLORA.
by F. GARBARI
The Botanic Garden of Pisa has traditionally been a seat of cultivation
and study of many geophytes, particularly those of horticultural
interest, since the XVI century. This is the main reason why today
many genera of monocots of the Mediterranean area have been taken
into consideration by the Biosystematic Unit of the Department
of Botanical Sciences in Pisa.
Cytotaxonomic (and embryological) investigations are a tradition
in Pisa, started by A. Chiarugi, G. Martinoli and E. Battaglia
and ongoing today. Obviously, karyological research oriented to
systematics does not focus exclusively on bulbous plants, but
covers groups of particular phytogeographic value, such as endemics
or relics of the Apuan Alps and Apennines, which have been reported
in various published papers.
Critical genera - both of monocots and of dicots - and floras
of ecological or phytogeographic interest are also studied.
The following list summarizes the current main interests:
- Gen. Allium: a biosystematic revision of Italian populations
of unclear taxonomic circumscription is progressing. Groups belonging
to A. sect. Rhizirideum from North-Eastern and North-Western
Italy are particularly taken into account. A. lehmannii
(Sicilian populations with various ploidy levels), A. chamaemoly
and A. dentiferum. are also under investigation.
- Gen. Muscari: numerous specimens belonging to M.
atlanticum-neglectum complex were collected from Spain (with
the cooperation of B. Valdés) to Turkey (with the collaboration
of N. Özhatay), showing different karyological levels and karyotype
patterns. Contrary to previous statements, M. atlanticum
does not seem to be present in Italy. M. kerneri, M.
lelievrii and M. longifolium - all related to the M.
botryoides group - are also under investigation.
- Gen. Urtica: the revision of Italian taxa is in progress,
by using morpho-anatomical, histological and karyological characters,
together with microcharacters related to stinging hairs and other
cellular structures of relevant bioecological interest. This research
is carried out in cooperation with G. Corsi.
- Gen Salvia: the systematic and taxonomic revision of
S. sect. Plethiosphacein Italy is about to be concluded.
Among the main results hitherto obtained, we can point out the
clear specificity of S. haematodes with respect to S.
pratensis and the presence of S. clandestina
in Italy (syn. of S. multifida Sibth. et Smith, nom. illeg.).
Moreover, S. bertolonii Vis. must be excluded from the
flora of Italy, S. virgata Jacq. is to be cancelled from
Sardinian flora and S. ceratophylloides Arduino is unfortunately
to be considered extinct. A group of populations formerly a variety
of S. pratensis will need a new taxonomic ranking. All
the cited taxa have been thoroughly investigated from a karyological
point of view. This research is being carried out with the cooperation
of F. Del Carratore.
- Gen. Cerastium: cytogeographic studies of populations
referred to as "C. arvense" (with diploids, tetraploids
and hexaploids), "C. tomentosum"(with the same
ploidy levels) and "C. banaticum" (with diploid
and tetraploid taxa, some of them with relic value) are at a final
stage. Karyological investigations have been correlated to nomenclatural
and typification problems, to geographical distribution and diagnostic
evaluations. This research is being carried out by N. Bechi and
P. Miceli with the cooperation of P. Barberis (Genoa).
Floristic and cytosystematic research on the flora of Wadi Rum,
Jordan, is in progress with the participation of D. Al-Eisawi
(University of Jordan, Amman) and A. Borzatti von Löwenstern.
Back to index
NEWS FROM
CROMOCAT:
A CHROMOSOME DATABASE OF THE CATALAN COUNTRIES
by J. SIMON & C. BLANCHÉ
At the OPTIMA Meeting held in Borovec in 1993, the idea of a
network of chromosome databases was proposed. At the Commission
of Karyosystematics at the following Meeting held in Sevilla in
1995, we presented our project of a Chromosome Database, covering
the taxa of higher plants of the Catalan Countries. The adopted
methodology and the current state of progress of the database
is now presented.
SCOPE AND GOALS
The territorial basis of CROMOCAT is the land known as the Catalan
Countries (which include the regions of Valencia and Catalonia,
the Balearic Islands and the Northern -French- Catalonia, corresponding
to the OPTIMA territories of Hs, Bl and Ga, respectively).
Although some chromosome counts coming from our country belong
to the first period of cytogenetics (i.e., a report for Diplotaxis
erucoides by Baez (1933) appeared in the historical journal
Cavanillesia), the current development of karyology began
under the influence of the school of Neuchâtel, through the contributions
of A.M. Cauwet (Perpinyà), M.A. Cardona (Menorca) and the visits
to the Pyrenees of Ph. Küpfer, during the late 60's and beginning
of the 70's. Until now, no attempt to summarize the karyological
knowledge of the Flora of the Catalan Countries has been reported.
Although some taxa and regions have been thoroughly studied, a
large number of gaps still have to be filled.
From this starting point, the following goals were designed
for CROMOCAT:
- To include chromosome numbers but also the associated chromosomal
data (karyotypes, photographs, banding, etc.). This leads to
a necessary image database linked to the main tables and a more
complete record card design.
- To include both complete cards of the chromosome studies coming
from populations inside the country and reference cards
of reports belonging to our taxa from outside populations
for comparative purposes.
- To offer researchers the original publication of the
data, as a large amount of complementary information cannot
be included in the general cards and as an important error source
is the transfer of information from papers to computer files.
- To design a system of image information able to introduce
data directly from microscope as well as from CD-ROM or remote
databases.
- To produce a database of free access through the Internet
.
As a supplementary (but very important) decision, a taxonomic
scheme had to be chosen. From the available floristic literature,
the only complete list of taxa from the Catalan Countries at present
is the Flora Manual dels Països Catalans (Bolòs et al.,
1993). It was thereby selected for CROMOCAT. As this flora was
also chosen as a basis for the Chorologic Database (Font, 1996),
a further integrated system of Plant Information Databases could
be implemented in the future.
STRUCTURE AND DESIGN
Hardware
The multi-unit pack of interconnected machines comprises a Pentium
compatible computer, a Hewlett Packard ScanJet 4c/T scanner, two
laser printers, an Axiolab E Zeiss microscope, a Hitachi VideoDeck
VT-S80E video recorder equipped with an Averkey Plus system and
completed with a Sony TV monitor and a CD-ROM duplicator-recorder
Philips CDD-2000 IPW.
Software
The database structure has been built through the relational
database manager Access 2.0 and the image digitalization has been
processed through Corel Photo-Paint 5.0 and the Visioner Paper-Port
3.0 programmes.
Tables, fields and structure
The relational characteristic of the Access software allows the
building of a system of 7 tables with some fields in common, then
running as a global system but facilitating the completion of
records in individual tables.
There are two main and five complementary tables. Their field
structure comprises the major fields defined by the OPTIMA Commission
of Karyosystematics included in the tables named CHRODATA, CHROTAXON
and CHROBIBLIO (Kamari, 1996) and thus, in the near future, a
network of OPTIMA databases could be organized.
Main tables
- CRO-IN.- This is the longest file, comprising 35 fields of
information on any chromosome data from the Catalan Countries.
All cards of bibliographic origin are linked to the digitalized
original document.
- CRO-OUT.- This is a 9-field table including all the reports
of the taxa present in the Catalan Countries coming from outside
the study area.
Complementary tables
- BIBLIOGRAFIA, which includes the standard data of a recorded
bibliographic unit and the link to the digitalized copy of each
paper.
- TÂXONS PPCC, including the taxonomic ascription (and code
number) of each record, following Bolòs et. al. (1993).
The main synonyms (i.e.: Med-Checklist, Flora Europaea and Flora
Iberica) have also been incorporated.
- FAMÍLIES, which is linked to the table above and which is
generated according to the codes from Bolòs et al. (l.c.).
- MUNICIPIS, comprising a thesaurus of municipalities of the
Catalan Countries, following the same codification adopted by
Font (1996) to permit further connections.
- DEMARCACIÓ which includes a code for the several administrative
and geographical units allowing for different types of listing
and consulting (i.e.: "comarca", province, OPTIMA
unit, etc.)
RESULTS AND CURRENT STATE OF CROMOCAT
After a first phase of design, a second phase of database implementation
was started in 1996, in which a Secretariat composed of Maria
Bigordà, Marta Margelí and Míriam Galisteo began to introduce
the first package of chromosome data, mainly from literature,
helped by the indexes produced by the Real Jardín Botánico de
Madrid and the University of Sevilla, to which we are indebted.
This Secretariat is based at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University
of Barcelona and incorporated in the Research Group on Plant Biodiversity
and Biosystematics (GReB). A first report on the progress of our
database was presented at the IVth Conference on Plant Taxonomy
(Simon et al., 1996).
At present (June 1997), nearly 14,800 chromosome records are
included in CROMOCAT, 2,300 belonging to CRO-IN and the remainder
to CRO-OUT. Although the database information is currently being
checked by an internal security system, the finished CRO-IN cards
belong to 801 taxa and 4 interspecific hybrids from 345 genera
and 63 vascular plant families of the Catalan Countries. This
means that 18.4 % of the total flora has been studied karyologically,
according to our present state of knowledge. The major geographic
origin of data in CRO-IN are the Balearic Islands and the Pyrenaean
region.
The next step in CROMOCAT development is the organization of
a Scientific Committee to ensure the quality of the information
contained in the database and to guide the forthcoming steps.
These include the availability of information through Internet,
and the design of chromosome research projects in the taxonomic
groups or regions in which a low level of cytotaxonomic knowledge
has been detected.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Philippe Küpfer, Anne Maria Cauwet, Xavier Font, Julià
Molero, Joan Vallès and Carles Benedí, for their technical advice
and suggestions. We also thank the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
and G. Nieto Feliner, as well as the Departamento de Botánica
of the Universidad de Sevilla and J. Pastor, respectively, for
kindly allowing us to use their computer files as reference indexes
for our work.
References:
Baez, A. (1933). Estudio cariológico de algunas
crucíferas y su interpretación en la sistemática. Cavanillesia
6: 59-103
Bolòs, O. de, Vigo, J., Masalles, R.M. & Ninot,
J. (1993). Flora Manual dels Països Catalans (2nd
Ed.). Pòrtic, Barcelona.
Font, X. (1996). Els bancs de dades de la
Flora i la Vegetació de Catalunya. IVth Conference on Plant
Taxonomy Abstracts Book: 60. Barcelona
Kamari, G. (1996). Report of the OPTIMA
Comission for Karyosystematics. In: http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/OPTIMA/activities/caryosystematics.htm
Simon, J., Bigordà, M. & Blanché, C. (1996).
Projecte CROMOCAT: Banc de dades citogenètiques de la flora
dels Països Catalans. IVth Conference on Plant Taxonomy Abstracts
Book: 61. Barcelona
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CONSERVATION NEWS
MEDUSA NETWORK
by VERNON HEYWOOD
The MEDUSA Network of the Mediterranean Region was established
by CIHEAM-MAICh, with the support of the European Union Directorate
General I, for the identification, conservation and sustainable
use of the wild plants of the Mediterranean Region. The Network
comprises National Focal Point Coordinators from the countries
of the region and also includes representatives of international
organizations (CIHEAM-MAICh, IUBS, FAO, IPGRI-WANA, LEAD) that
form the Steering Committee. It has already held two regional
workshops, the first in Chania, Greece on 28-29 June 1996 on ‘Identification
of wild food and non-food plants of the Mediterranean Region’
and the second in Hammam-Sousse, Tunisia on 1-3 May 1997 on ‘Wild
food and non-food plants – Information Networking’.
At this workshop a series of country profiles were presented and
will be included in the Proceedings of the meeting. The Proceedings
of the first Workshop have just been published. A list of priority
species has been compiled and that too will be available shortly.
Plans are in hand for the design and establishment of an Interactive
Regional Information System (MEDUSA IRIS) that will include the
following kinds of information on the useful plants of the region:
scientific plant name and authority, vernacular names, plant description,
distribution, habitat, chemical data, uses, conservation status,
present and past ways of trading, marketing and dispensing, and
indigenous knowledge and practice (ethnobiology and ethnopharmacology),
including references to literature sources.
A MEDUSA Newsletter will be published annually. The first number
was issued in August 1997. It contains information on the activities
of the Network and news of national and international activities
on plant resources of the Mediterranean region and reports on
recent and forthcoming events, and book reviews.
For further information, please contact:
Ms Melpo Skoula-Johnson
Executive Secretary of MEDUSA, Mediterranean Agronomic
Institute of Chania
Department of Natural Products
PO Box 85, 73100 Chania - Greece
Fax: 30 821 81154
E-mail: melpo@zorbas.maich.gr
Back to index
CONSERVATION NEWS
IUCN
MEDITERRANEAN PROGRAMME
IUCN Mediterranean members met in Malaga, Spain from October
23 to 25, 1997 to discuss the future IUCN Mediterranean Programme.
An IUCN Office for the Mediterranean Region will established in
Malaga with the initial support of local, regional and central
Spanish administrations.
Back to index
HERBARIUM NEWS*
edited by PALOMA BLANCO
THE BCB: A GREAT BRYOPHYTA
HERBARIUM
by ROSA M. CROS & MONTSERRAT BRUGUÉS
The Bryophyta Herbarium (BCB) is located at the Unitat de Botánica
de la Dpto. de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología de
la Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (Bellaterra). It started
in 1971, right after the foundation of our University, when Professor
Cruz Casas donated all her collections carried out since 1942.
These collections included many specimens collected in Catalonia,
essentially in the Pyrennee Mountains, from Ordesa to the cap
de Creus, and in the mountains of Montseny, Montserrat y Prades
as well as in Mallorca. The collections carried out by M. Losa
and P. Montserrat in Cantabria and by P. Montserrat in Mallorca
were also included. Moreover, it contained an abundant collection
of the SEM (Societé d’Echanges des Muscineés) exchange and
from other exchanges with other European and American bryologists.
Since 1971, Cruz Casas and her collaborators Rosa M. Cros and
Montserrat Brugués have built up a team that has been able to
form the present Herbarium. It currently holds over 50,000 specimens,
a figure which is continuously increasing as a result of the collections
and studies in new areas of Spain and Portugal. Most accessions
come from Sistema Ibérico, Sistema Central and Sierra Nevada as
well as the region of Extremadura, the Monegros and Cabo de Gata.
The specimens are kept in labelled and numbered envelopes located
on numbered sheets which are stored in herbarium boxes. In order
to facilitate the access, the genera and the species in each genus
are ordered alphabetically. Mosses, hornworts and liverworts are
kept separately, each one with its own alphabetical order.
Annex to the herbarium BCB is a collection, Brioteca Hispánica,
that holds over 1,600 specimens. It is the result of an exchange
that is annually carried out with Spanish bryologists. The accessions
are numbered according to the date of reception and not alphabetically
as in the general herbarium. A genus indexed file allows for the
fast location of the accessions.
The specimens held at the Herbarium are representative of the
exceptional and complex diversity of environments found in Catalonia
and the Iberian Peninsula, as since 1982, numerous accessions
have been added from studies carried out in Portugal. The high
bryological richness of the Iberian Peninsula is patent as it
has about 1,100 species.
In this herbarium, four types and most Iberian endemics are kept.
Some accessions belong to localities or environments that may
be presently lost.
Recently, the herbarium funds have been increased by the donations
of the Herbario Seró, which included the exsiccata Dismier,
and of the Herbario Vives with material mostly from Catalonia.
They have both been incorporated into the general herbarium.
In the last few years, BCB data is being computerized. The herbarium
does not have a Curator but counts on the effort and motivation
of a team of bryologists that with Cruz Casas, emeritus professor,
make possible its operation.
Back to index
THE SPANISH ALGAE
HERBARIA
by TOMÁS GALLARDO
Most Spanish herbaria have algae specimens in their collections,
above all, marine benthic algae. Nevertheless, the number of algae
specimens stored is usually small. The herbaria with the largest
collections of algae are those located in coastal areas or those
corresponding to the eldest Spanish botanical institutions such
as the Real Jardín Botánico (MA) or the Facultad de
Farmacia de la Universidad Complutense (MAF) in Madrid.
Some herbaria hold algae that were collected more than 50 years
ago. These "historical" herbaria were first studied
by Gallardo et al. (1993). Since then, other authors have
also made several contributions to the knowledge of these collections
(Cremades, 1995; Bárbara et al., 1995; Dosil et al.,
1997).
Recent funds held at the Spanish herbaria were collected in numerous
floristic campaigns that have taken place over the last 30 years,
mostly as a result of doctoral thesis. Since 1986, the Dirección
General de Investigación, Ciencia y Tecnología (DGICYT) has
provided financial aid for the publication of a Marine Benthic
Flora of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. This
has allowed for the exploration of little known geographic areas
of the Iberian Peninsula and is responsible for the increase of
marine algae at the Spanish herbaria. We hope that a similar program
will soon be carried out with continental algae.
A non-exhaustive list of the existing algae collections at different
Spanish herbaria is now presented. Data have been, in most cases,
checked with the curators, keepers or owners of the algae collections.
Institutional herbaria are indicated by their Index Herbariorum
abbreviations and private herbaria by the names or abbreviations
used by their owners. The present location of the herbaria is
indicated in parenthesis following the abbreviation of the herbarium.
- BC (Instituto Botánico, Barcelona). The funds from
this institution come, almost exclusively, from the collections
of continental algae carried out by Ramón Margalef. Thus, over
2,000 specimens of continental algae are preserved in formaldehyde
on glass slides and in vials. Moreover, a collection comprising
350 sheets of macroscopic marine algae of Catalonia and the
Balearic Islands and, a folder with 102 sheets of Mediterranean
marine algae sent by J. Rodríguez Femenías, are also kept at
this institution.
- BCC (Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Barcelona)
comprises around 2,500 collected accessions of continental algae
from Spain and several European countries. They are mainly preserved
in formaldehyde in glass vials.
- BCF (Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Barcelona)
comprises around 15,000 sheets of benthic marine algae from
Spain, several European countries, North Africa and Namibia.
Additionally, a collection of continental algae preserved in
formaldehyde or on slides is also kept.
- BCM (Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad de las
Palmas de Gran Canarias) contains around 6,500 sheets of benthic
marine algae, mostly from the Macaronesian region and from the
African coast. It includes the herbarium previously deposited
at the Jardín Botánico Viera y Clavijo.
- BIO (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del País Vasco)
holds 500 sheets of macroscopic marine algae of the Basque Country.
- COA (Jardín Botánico de Córdoba) keeps 100 sheets of
macroscopic marine algae of Spain.
- FCO (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Oviedo) has
500 sheets of macroscopic marine algae of the Cantabric Sea.
- GDAC (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada)
comprises over 5,000 accessions of Spanish continental algae,
preserved in slides and vials with formaldehyde or lugol . It
also contains a collection of macroscopic marine algae of Andalucia
collected at the beginning of this century and 150 sheets of
Characeae.
- HGI (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Girona) keeps
over 3,000 sheets of macroscopic marine algae, mostly Mediterranean.
- JAEN (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Jaén) has
200 sheets of Spanish macroscopic marine algae.
- MA (Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid) contains about 11,000
accessions preserved in sheets or in glass vials with formaldehyde.
The Herbarium Cavanilles can be considered the base of the section
MA-Algae (Gallardo et al., 1993). Initiated by his disciples
Clemente and Lagasca, this collection received a new impulse
50 years later thanks to Comeiro and Lázaro e Ibiza. At the
beginning of this century the funds increased thanks to grant
holders of the Junta de Ampliación de Estudios. Among them,
Pedro González Guerrero should be noted, as he dedicated a great
part of his life to the study and preservation of numerous accessions
of Spanish continental algae (Álvarez Cobelas & Gallardo,
1985). In recent years the new funds correspond to macroscopic
algae from Spanish coasts. Most accessions of section MA-Algae
belong to benthic marine algae and are preserved in sheets.
Only about 250 accessions of mostly continental algae are preserved
in glass vials with formaldehyde. Additionally, around 500 accessions,
coming from a diatom collection of H. van Heurck are preserved
on slides. About 2,000 accessions belong to exotic macroscopic
marine algae.
- MACB (Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense
de Madrid) holds 450 sheets of macroscopic marine algae from
the Iberian Peninsula.
- MAF (Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense
de Madrid). Section MAF-Algae contains a collection of Blas
Lázaro e Ibiza of 230 sheets of Spanish algae; a folder with
150 specimens of Pourret, with algae collected by Antoine Gouan
that may come from the surroundings of Marseille; the personal
herbarium of Faustino Miranda (300 sheets) with marine algae
from Galicia and several localities of the Cantabric Sea; and
finally, a folder holding the exsiccata of fresh water French
algae of C. Rouneguère, M. Dupray and A. Mougeot. Additionally
there are about 400 recently collected sheets of benthic marine
algae of the Iberian Peninsula.
- MGC (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga).
The algae section of this herbarium holds over 3,600 sheets
of benthic marine algae, mostly from Spain. Around 800 of them
come from the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, Europe and Antarctica.
In this section there are also 215 sheets from the Herbarium
of the Sociedad Malagueña de Ciencias collected in the XIX century
with algae from Spain, Tanger and other European countries (Conde,
1992).
- MUB (Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia) contains
350 accessions of continental algae preserved in glass vials
with formaldehyde and 950 microscopic slides mostly of diatoms.
Moreover, it also keeps 485 sheets of continental algae and
macroscopic marine algae of the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
- ORT (Jardín Botánico de la Orotava, Tenerife) holds
150 sheets of macroscopic marine algae from the Canary Islands.
- PAMP (Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Pamplona)
keeps 150 sheets of macroscopic marine algae from Spain.
- SANT (Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Santiago
de Compostela) holds about 12,000 sheets of macroscopic marine
algae from Spain and other European countries.
- SEVF (Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla)
maintains 200 sheets of macroscopic marine algae from Spain.
- TFC (Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Las Palmas,
Tenerife) contains over 8,000 sheets of macroscopic marine algae
mostly from the Canary Islands. The collection also keeps specimens
from the African coast and Europe.
- TFMC (Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Tenerife) keeps
about 200 sheets of macroscopic marine algae, mostly from the
Canary Islands.
- VAB (Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Valencia,
Burjassot) holds over 2,500 accessions of macroscopic marine
algae from Spain, 1,500 as sheets and 1,000 in glass vials with
formaldehyde.
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS.
- Ballesteros (Enrique Ballesteros, Centro de Estudios
Avanzados de Blanes, CSIC). holds 600 sheets of benthic marine
algae from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and 200 sheets
of exotic algae from the Atlantic African coasts and Mauritius.
- Fermín Bescansa Casares (Laboratorio de Ficología,
Dpto. Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de
La Coruña). This historic herbarium of 1,000 sheets of benthic
marine algae has been recovered for Science thanks to the search
carried out by members of the Laboratory.
- Mª Consolación Fernández (Dpto. Ecología, Facultad
de Ciencias, Universidad de Oviedo) maintains 500 sheets of
benthic marine algae from the Cantabric Sea.
- ITAC (Laboratorio de Ficología, Facultad de Biología,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid) holds 2,500 sheets and microscopic
slides of mostly benthic marine algae of the Iberian Peninsula
and a collection of algae of 1,500 sheets from Europe, the Pacific
Ocean and Antarctica.
- Victor López Seoane (Instituto José Cornide de Estudios
Coruñeses, La Coruña). This collection comprises 312 sheets
of benthic marine algae collected between 1856 and 1985 from
the Galician coasts. Some specimens were reviewed by K. Rosenvinge
(Dosil et al., 1997).
- Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid) holds
a collection of diatoms of marine species from Galicia and,
fossil diatoms elaborated by Ernesto Caballero Bellido between
1891 and 1927 . They are stored in microscopic slides and glass
vials. Most accessions have no taxonomic determination. Unfortunately,
a great part of this collection, donated by its author, seems
to have been lost (Sánchez Moreno, 1992; Appendix 47).
- Joan Rodríguez Femenías (Ateneo de Mahón, Menorca).
About 3,000 sheets from the 7,248 sheet collection of this naturalist
carried out at the end of last century is deposited at the cultural
association Ateneo de Mahón. Unfortunately, this implies
a difficult access to this material by Mediterranean ficologists.
Most specimens come from the coasts of the Balearic Islands
and the rest from several European countries.
References:
Álvarez Cobelas, M. & Gallardo, T. (1985)
In memoriam Pedro González Guerrero. Anales Jardín Bot.
42:3-7.
Bárbara, I., Cremades, J. & Pérez-Cirera, J.L.
(1995) La contribución de Fermín Bescansa Casares a la ficología
española. Datos biográficos, estudio de su obra y herbario.
Stvdia Bot. 13:39-45.
Conde Poyales, I. (1992) Sobre la colección
de algas del Herbario de las Sociedad Malagueña de Ciencias
(S. XIX). Acta Bot. Malacitana 17:29-55.
Cremades, J. (1995) El herbario de algas bentónicas
marinas de Antonio Cabrera (1762-1827) en el Real Jardín Botánico
de Madrid. Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 52:139-144.
Dosil, F.X., Cremades, J. & Bárbara, I.
(1997) El herbario de algas de Victor López Seoane (1832-1900).
Actas XII Siposio de Botánica Criptogámica 70-71.
Gallardo, I., Margalef, J.L. & Pérez-Ruzala, I.
(1993) Las colecciones históricas de algas españolas. Int.
Simp. & First World Congress on Presrv. and Conserv. of
Nat. Hist. Col. 2:163-176.
Sánchez Moreno, P.M. (Ed.) (1992) Agustín
Barreiro. El Museo de Ciencias Naturales (1771-1935). Museo
Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid.
Back to index
WEB NEWS*
INTERNET DIRECTORY
FOR BOTANY - SUBJECT CATEGORY LIST
A branch of: Lampinen, R., Liu, S., Brach, A.R.
& McCree, K. (1996-).The Internet Directory for Botany. -
(http://herb.biol.uregina.ca/liu/bio/idb.html)
Anyone who searches the web for botany subjects ends up sooner
or later at the Internet Directory for Botany - Subject Category
List. Its URL address is worth keeping at the bookmark section
of our browser for easy access. The home of the IDB SC List is
at http://www.helsinki.fi/kmus/botmenu.html in the Botanical
Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Helsinki University,
Finland. The subject category list has been maintained by Raino
Lampinen since Autumn 1993. It started as a personal bookmark
list of botanical gopher sites and www sites, and was made available
via WWW in December 1994. In October, 1997, there were about 3,700
botany related links in this index.
The links on this site are divided by subject into the following
18 files: 1. Arboreta and botanical gardens. 2. Biologists’
addresses. 3. Botanical museums, herbaria, natural history museums.
4. Botanical societies, international botanical organizations.
5. Checklists and floras, taxonomic databases, vegetation. 6.
Conservation, threatened plants. 7. Economic botany, ethnobotany.
8. Gardening. 9. Images. 10. Journals, books, literature databases,
publishers. 11. Link collections, resource guides. 12. Listservers
and newsgroups. 13. Lower plants. 14. Other resources. 15. Paleobotany,
palynology, pollen. 16. Software. 17. University departments,
other institutes. 18. Vascular plant families.
There are mirror sites of the IDB-SC in other European servers
(Croatia, Germany, Russia, Spain and Sweden) that can help you
get a faster connection.
The other branch of the Internet Directory for Botany is the
Alphabetical List (http://herb.biol. uregina.ca/liu/bio/botany.html).
The Internet Directory for Botany has received recognition and
awards from 3-Star Site Magellan, Education Index Topsite, Iway
500, Next Guide Gold Site and Look Smart Editor’s Choice.
Back to index
PROJECTS
ANNOUNCING
A TEST AND TRIAL PHASE FOR THE
REGISTRATION OF NEW PLANT NAMES (1998-1999)
by L. BORGEN, W. GREUTER, D. L. HAWKSWORTH, D. H. NICOLSON
& B. ZIMMER
Officers of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy
(IAPT)
INTRODUCTION
From the 1st of January 2000, and subject to ratification
by the XVI International Botanical Congress (St Louis, 1999) of
a rule already included in the International
code of botanical nomenclature (Art. 32.1-2 of the Tokyo
Code), new names of plants and fungi will have to be registered
in order to be validly published. To demonstrate feasibility of
a registration system, the International
Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) undertakes a trial of
registration, on a non-mandatory basis, for a two-year period
starting 1 January 1998. The co-ordinating centre will be the
secretariat of IAPT, currently at the Botanic Garden and Botanical
Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Germany. Co-ordination with present indexing
centres for major groups of plants is being sought, in view of
their possible active involvement at the implementation stage.
The International Mycological Institute in Egham, U.K., has already
accepted to act as associate registration centre for the whole
of fungi, including fossil fungi.
Registration procedure
The co-ordinating registration centre (IAPT secretariat), and
any associated centre operating under its auspices, will register
and make available all names of new taxa, all substitute names,
new combinations or rank transfers that are brought to their attention
in one of the following ways:
- by being published in an accredited journal or serial;
- by being submitted for registration (normally by the author
or one of the authors), either directly or through a national
registration office;
- or (for the non-mandatory trial phase only) as a result of
scanning of other published information by the registration
centres’ own staff.
Registration by way of publication in accredited journals
or serials
For a journal or serial to be accredited, its publishers must
commit themselves, by a signed agreement with the IAPT, to
- point out any nomenclatural novelties in each individual issue
of their journal or serial, either by including a separate index
of novelties or in another suitable, previously agreed way;
- submit each individual issue, as soon as published and by
the most rapid way, to a pre-defined registration office or
centre.
Accredited journals and serials will be entitled, and even encouraged,
to mention that accreditation on their cover, title page or in
their impressum.
A permanently updated list of accredited journals and serials
is being placed on the World Wide Web (http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/registration/).
This list will be published annually in the journal Taxon.
Registration by way of submission to registration offices
Authors of botanical nomenclatural novelties that do not appear
in an accredited journal or serial (but e.g. in a monograph, pamphlet,
or non-accredited periodical publication) are strongly encouraged
to submit their names for registration – and will be required
to do so once registration becomes mandatory – in the following
way:
- all names to be registered are to be listed on an appropriate
registration form, using a separate form for each separate publication;
- the form (in triplicate) must be submitted together with two
copies of the publication itself, either to a national registration
office (see below) or, optionally, directly to the appropriate
registration centre. Reprints of articles from books or non-accredited
periodicals are acceptable, provided their source is stated
accurately and in full;
- one dated copy of each form will be sent back to the submitting
author in acknowledgement of effected registration.
Registration forms can be obtained free of charge (a) by sending
a request to any registration office or centre, by letter, fax
or e-mail, or (b), preferably, by printing and copying the form
as available on the World Wide Web (see above).
Registration offices are presently being established in as many
different countries as possible. They will serve (a) as mailboxes
and forwarding agencies for registration submissions and (b) as
national repositories for printed matter published locally in
which new names appear.
A permanently updated address list of all functioning national
registration offices is being placed on the World Wide Web (see
above). This list will be published annually in the journal Taxon.
Registration date
The date of registration, as here defined, will be the date of
receipt of the registration submission at any national registration
office or appropriate registration centre. For accredited journals
or serials (and, for the duration of the trial phase, for publications
scanned at the registration centres), it will be the date of receipt
of the publication at the location of the registration centre
(or national office, if so agreed).
For the duration of the trial phase, i.e. as long as registration
is non-mandatory, the date of a name will, just as before, be
the date of effective publication of the printed matter in which
it is validated, irrespective of the date of registration. Nevertheless,
the registration date will be recorded, for the following reasons:
- to make clear that the name was published on or before that
date, in cases when the date of effective publication is not
specified in the printed matter;
- to assess the time difference between the (effective or stated)
date of the printed matter and that of registration, since it
is envisaged that the date of registration be accepted as the
date of names published on or after 1 January 2000.
It is therefore in the interest of every author to submit nomenclatural
novelties for registration without any delay, and by the most
rapid means available.
Access to registration data
Information on registered names will be made publicly available
as soon as feasible, (a) by placing it on the World Wide Web without
delay in a searchable database, (b) by publishing non-cumulative
lists biannually, and (c), hopefully, by issuing cumulative updates
on a CD-Rom-type, fully searchable data medium at similar intervals.
A CALL TO
EVERYONE: HELP TESTING THE SYSTEM SO AS TO MAKE IT WORK
To make the test effective and significant, it is important that
everyone publishing nomenclatural novelties on or after 1 January
1998 should participate by registering all new names and combinations
on a voluntary basis. Please help (a) by doing so yourself and
(b) by spreading the message to others!
Do not be put off if shortcomings or errors occur in the initial
months. Remember, this is a test phase. Let us know of any bug
or crinkle in the system, and we will iron it out. What matters
is that everything operates smoothly by the end of 1999, and that
by the next Congress all have satisfied themselves that it will.
We believe that registration of new names, once implemented in
a functional way, will be a great benefit for all concerned with
but little inconvenience for cost – and so did the Nomenclature
Section at Yokohama in 1993 feel. Nomenclature must be fit for
a good start into the next millennium. Let us work together to
make it happen.
Contact address:
IAPT Secretariat
Botanischer Garten & Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem
Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8
D-14191 Berlin, Germany.
E-mail
IAPT page
Back to index
REGISTRATION
AS A POSITIVE STEP
by K. L. WILSON
Registration of nomenclatural novelties seems to me a natural
way to go, heading into the 21st Century. It will enable us to
find quickly what new names have been published, and to be sure
that we have not missed any new name hidden in the paper mountain
of botanical literature that comes out each year around the globe.
This is particularly important for one-off publications (floras,
field guides, etc.), which are notorious for `hiding' new names.
Some people seem to think that registration implies censorship,
but this is wrong. As in the current Index kewensis all
names will be listed, and without comment as to status, and as
soon as received at one of the registration centres. My only caution
to those looking at the mechanisms for making registration effective
is that they should ensure there is a large network of registration
centres or offices spread evenly around the world. This is necessary
to make it easy to submit novelties for registration, given the
apparently worsening state of mail services in all areas.
Contact address:
Royal Botanic Gardens
Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney
N.S.W. 2000, Australia.
Back to index
SEEDS
OF Digitalis atlantica, D. nervosa AND D. subalpina
FROM WILD ACCESSIONS NEEDED
Study of phytogeography and evolution of
Isoplexis (Lindl.) Benth. and Digitalis
L.
by JOSÉ A. CARVALHO & ALASTAIR CULHAM
This project involves the study of the evolutionary processes
and relationships among all species of Isoplexis and Digitalis.
Isoplexis (Lindl.) Benth. is an endemic genus from Macaronesia
with four species. Three of them occur in the Canary Islands,
I. canariensis (L.) G.Don, I. isabelliana (Webb
& Berth) Masf. and I. chalcantha Svent. & O’Shanahan,
and the fourth one occurs in Madeira, I. sceptrum (L.fil.)
Loud.
The genus Digitalis L., owes its name to the digitus (=finger)
flower shape of the species. It is commonly believed to be closely
related to Isoplexis, with an African-Eurasian distribution.
In Macaronesia, a number of genera and species have interesting
disjunctions in their distributions. One of the aims of this project
is to clarify and explain in a better way the Macaronesian / West
Mediterranean disjunctions (Bramwell, 1976), represented in this
study by the Iberian-Moroccan endemics, Digitalis obscura
and Digitalis laciniata, and the species of Isoplexis.
The Isoplexis species are restricted to islands; therefore,
conservation issues are being taken into consideration with a
present study on the micro-scale variation between / within populations.
The analysis of population genetic variability has been carried
out and is an important tool towards the understanding of the
past and present evolution processes within Isoplexis and
in relation to Digitalis.
Seeds from most of the species of Isoplexis and Digitalis
have been gathered with exception of three species :
Digitalis atlantica Pomel, D. subalpina
Br.-Bl.( D. lutea L. var. atlantica Ball.[ non
D. atlantica Pomel]) and D. nervosa Steud.
et Hochst. ex Benth. with a geographical area of occurrence predominantly
in Algeria, Morocco and in Iran, respectively.
In order to complete this study we are requesting seeds of these
two species from wild accessions.
References:
Bramwell, D. 1976. The endemic flora of the
Canary Islands: Distribution, Relationship and Phytogeography.
In: Biogeography and Ecology in the Canary Islands (G.Kunkel,
ed.), 207-240. Monogr. Biol., 30. Junk, The Hague.
Werner, K. 1965. Taxonomie und Phylogenie
der gattungen Isoplexis (Lindl.)Benth. und Digitalis
L. Feddes Repertorium, 70: 109-135.
Contact address:
José A. Carvalho & Alastair Culham
School of Plant Sciences
The University of Reading/ Whiteknights
PO Box 221/ Reading/ U.K.
E-mail: sbrcarva@reading.ac.uk
Back to index
MEETINGS
Le IXème
Colloque OPTIMA - The IXth colloquium OPTIMA
LIEU ET DATES DU COLLOQUE - LOCATION AND DATES
OF THE MEETING
Le IXème Colloque OPTIMA se tiendra à Paris, au
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle du 11 au 17 mai 1998.
Il sera suivi de deux excursions, au choix, d’une durée de
6 jours.
Les Commissions d’OPTIMA, le Comité international et le
Conseil exécutif se rassembleront les 9 et 10 mai.
Les séances plénières se tiendront dans la Galerie de Botanique
du Muséum. Les séances non plénières se tiendront dans l’auditorium
de la Grande Galerie de l’Evolution du Muséum.
The IXth colloquium OPTIMA will be held in Paris,
in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, from the
11th through the 17th of May, 1998. It
will be followed by two excursions of the participant’s
choice, each lasting 6 days.
OPTIMA's commissions, the international board and the executive
council will meet the 9th and the 10th of
May.
Plenary lectures will be held in the Galerie de Botanique
in the Museum. Other talks will be held in the auditorium of the
Grande Galerie de l'Evolution of the Museum.
LANGUES OFFICIELLES.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
Français et Anglais. French and English
ENREGISTREMENT. REGISTRATION
L’enregistrement des participants et des accompagnateurs
aura lieu au Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 rue
Cuvier, 75005 PARIS, de 9h00 à 17h00 le 10 et le 11 mai.
The registration of participants and accompanying persons
will take place at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle,
57 rue Cuvier, 75005 PARIS, from 9 a.m to 5 p.m on May 10th
and 11th.
PROGRAMME SCIENTIFIQUE. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME
Lundi. Monday 11:
Séance d’ouverture. Opening session
|
Allocutions de bienvenue. Welcome
greetings |
| Prof. Francesco di Castri (Montpellier,
France) |
Conférence inaugurale. Plenary
lecture : Biodiversité méditerranéenne dans le contexte
d’une économie globale. Mediterranean biodiversity
in the context of a global economy |
Mardi. Tuesday 12:
Symposium 1 : Les activités françaises en botanique.
French activities in Botany.
Organisateur. Organizer : Prof. J. Moret (Paris).
| Prof. J. Moret |
Introduction |
| Prof. M. Barbero, Prof. R. Loisel,
Dr. F. Medail, Prof. P. Quezel (Marseille) |
Biodiversité et signification biogéographique
des forêts du Bassin méditerranéen. Biodiversity and biogeographical
significance of forests in the Mediterranean basin |
| Dr. J. Gamisans (Toulouse) |
Progrès enregistrés dans les connaissances
sur la flore et la végétation de la Corse durant les 25 dernières
années. Progress in the understanding of corsican flora
and vegetation during the last 25 years. |
| Dr. D. Petit (Limoges), J. Mathez,
A. Quaid (Montpellier) |
Données récentes sur la phylogénie
des Cardueae (Asteracea). Recent data on
the phylogeny of the Cardueae (Asteraceae). |
| Prof. Ch. Boudouresque (Marseille) |
Les algues en Méditerranée :
Combien ? Où ? Quelle origine ? Mediterranean
Algae : How many ? Where ? Where from ? |
| Prof. J. Moret |
Conclusion |
Symposium 2 : Connaissance et conservation de la biodiversité
dans les îles méditerranéennes. Knowledge and conservation
of biodiversity in Mediterranean islands.
Organisateurs. Organizers : Dr. L. Olivier,
Dr. J.-P. Henry, Hyères (France).
| Dr. L. Olivier, Dr. J.-P. Henry |
Introduction |
| Prof. W. Greuter (Berlin, Allemagne) |
Diversité des flores insulaires
méditerranéennes. Diversity of the Mediterranean insular
flora. |
| Dr. I. Aguinagalde (Madrid, Espagne) |
Diversité infraspécifique de la
flore des îles méditerranéennes. Intraspecific diversity
of the Mediterranean island flora. |
| Dr. D. Jeanmonod (Genève, Suisse) |
Conservation de la diversité végétale
en Corse. Conservation of the plant diversity in Corsica. |
| Dr. G. Iatrou (Patras, Grèce) |
Phytodiversité, spéciation et microendémisme
dans les îles et îlots méditerranéens. Phytodiversity,
speciation, and microendemism in Mediterranean islands
and islets. |
| Dr. L. Olivier, Dr. J.-P. Henry |
Conclusion |
Symposium 3 : Taxonomie, distribution et écologie des
Bryophytes méditerranéennes. Taxonomy, distribution and ecology
of Mediterranean Bryophytes.
Organisateur. Organizer : Prof. F.M. Raimondo,
Palermo (Italia).
| Prof. F.M. Raimondo |
Introduction |
| Dr. R. Ros (Murcia, Espagne) |
Le genre Aloina (Pottiaceae,
Musci) dans le Bassin méditerranéen : taxonomie
et distribution. The genus Aloina (Pottiaceae,
Musci) in the Mediterranean Basin : taxonomy
and distribution |
| Dr. C. Sergio (Lisboa, Portugal) |
Investigation bryophytique comme
base pour la validité de la zone isoclimatique méditerranéenne
au Portugal. Bryophytes survey as a basis for the validity
of the Mediterranean isoclimatic area in Portugal |
| Dr. J.-P. Hébrard (Marseille, France) |
Titre non communiqué. Title
to be announced |
| Prof. F.M. Raimondo |
Conclusion |
Mercredi 13. Wednesday 13:
Symposium 4 : Fungal diversity in the Mediterranean
area. Diversité fongique dans la région méditerranéenne.
Organisateur. Organizer : Prof. S. Onofri, Viterbo
(Italia).
| Dr. X. Llimona, Barcelona (Espagne) |
Introduction : Mycodiversity
in the Mediterranean area. Diversité fongique en Méditerranée |
| Dr. G. Zervakis, (Kalamata, Greece) |
Mycodiversity in Greece.
Mycodiversité en Grèce. |
| Dr. W. Rossi (Italia) & Dr.
S. Santamaria (Barcelone, Espagne) |
Laboulbeniales in the Mediterranean
area. Laboulbéniales de la région méditerranéenne. |
| Dr. G. Moreno Horcajada (Madrid,
Espagne) |
L’importance de la diversité
fongique dans la Péninsule ibérique pour l’Europe. Importance
of the Iberian Peninsula fungal diversity for Europe |
| Dr. J. Mouchacca (Paris, France) |
Biodiversité des découvertes fongiques
lors des dernières décades, dans les états arides de l’est
méditerranéen. Biodiversity of fungal novelties in the
arid east Mediterranean states in the last decades. |
| Prof. S. Onofri |
Conclusion |
Symposium 5 : Plantes et formations serpentinicoles
en Méditerranée. Plants and serpentine formations in the
Mediterranean.
Organisateur. Organizer : Prof. N. Tadic, Belgrade
(Yougoslavie).
| Prof. N. Tadic’ |
Introduction |
| Dr. P. D. Marin & Prof. B.
D. Tadic’ (Beograd, Yugoslavia) |
Serpentine soil and plant diversity.
Les sols serpentiniques et la diversité végétale |
| Dr. N. Diklic & Dr. O. Vasic
(Beograd, Yugoslavia) |
The investigation of the flora
and vegetation of the serpentine area in Serbia (Yugoslavia).
Prospection de la flore et de la végétation de la zone à serpentine
en Serbie (Yougoslavie) |
| Dr. Stevanovic (Beograd, Yugoslavia)
& Dr. G. Iatrou (Patras, Greece) |
Endemisme and relicts of the
serpentine flora of the balkan peninsula. Endémisme et
reliques de la flore serpentinique dans la péninsule balkanique |
| B. Stevanovic, B. Petrokovic, O.
Glisic & G. Djelic (Beograd, Yugoslavia) |
Morphophysiological adaptations
of the balkan serpentinophytes. Adaptations morphophysiologiques
des serpentinophytes des Balkans |
| Prof. N. Tadic’ |
Conclusion |
Première séance des posters. Posters session 1.
Organisateurs. Organizers : Prof. F. Ehrendorfer,
Wien (Austria), Dr. S. Siljak-Yakovlev, Orsay (France).
Jeudi. Thursday 14:
Symposium 6 : Phylogénies moléculaires de groupes méditerranéens.
Molecular phylogenies of Mediterranean groups.
Organisatrice. Organizer : Prof. N. Galland,
Lausanne (Suisse).
| Prof. N. Galland |
Introduction |
| Dr. M. Dolores Lledo (Oxford, UK),
M.B. Crespo, M.W. Chase |
Is Limonium monophyletic ?
Evidence from plastid DNA sequence data and morphology.
Le genre Limonium est-il monophylétique ? Evidence
à partir de séquences d’ADN chloroplastique et de la
morphologie. |
| Dr. M. Cerbah (Orsay, France) |
Phylogénie moléculaire et évolution
chromosomique du genre Hypochoeris. Molecular phylogeny
and chromosome evolution of the genus Hypochoeris. |
| Prof. B. Corrias (Sassari, Italia),
Luciano Bullini |
Molecular Systematics of Mediterranean
Orchids. La systématique moléculaire d’Orchidées
méditerranéennes |
| Dr. H. Cotrim (Lisboa, Portugal) |
The use of RAPD and AFLP markers
in the study of genetic diversity within Silene
of the Western Mediterranean. L’utilisation de marqueurs
RAPD et AFLP dans l’étude de la diversité génétique dans
le genre Silene en Méditerranée occidentale. |
| Prof. N. Galland |
Conclusion |
Deuxième séance des posters. Posters session 2.
Organisateurs. Organizers : Prof. F. Ehrendorfer,
Wien (Austria), Dr. S. Siljak-Yakovlev, Orsay (France).
Vendredi. Friday 15:
Excursion du colloque. Meeting excursion.
Samedi. Saturday 16:
Symposium 7 : Les activités françaises en botanique
méditerranéenne. French activities in Botany.
Organisateur. Organizer : Prof. J. Moret (Paris).
| Prof. J. Moret |
Introduction |
| Dr. S. Siljak-Yakovlev (Orsay) |
Etude du genre Reichardia
par des outils de la cytogénétique moderne (C- et fluorochromes
banding, hybridation in situ). Study of the genus
Reichardia using modern cytogenetic tools (C-
and fluorochromes banding, in situ hybridization). |
| Dr. M. De-Bussche, Dr. J. Thompson
(Montpellier) |
Biogéographie, écologie et biologie
du genre Cyclamen. Biogeography, ecology and biology of
Cyclamen. |
| Prof. I. Olivieri (Montpellier) |
Aspects démographiques et génétiques
en biologie de la conservation : l’exemple de la
Centaurée de la Clape. Demographic and genetic factors
in conservation biology : Example of Centaurea
corymbosa Pourret |
| Dr. N. Machon, Prof. J. Moret (Paris) |
Comment sauver Arenaria grandiflora
de la dépression ?. How to save Arenaria
grandiflora from inbreeding depression ? |
| Prof. J. Moret |
Conclusion |
Symposium 8 : Data ressources for Mediterranean
botanists. Les bases de données pour les botanistes méditerranéens.
Organisateur. Organizer : Dr. Walter G. Berendsohn,
Berlin (Germany).
| Dr. W. G. Berendsohn |
Introduction |
|
Short presentations on databases
and projects. Courtes présentations de bases de données
et de projets. |
| Dr. W. G. Berendsohn |
Conclusion |
Symposium 9 : La vie végétale aux limites méridionales
de la Méditerranée. Plant life at the southern limits of
the Mediterranean region.
Organisateurs. Organizers : Prof. K. Müller-Hohenstein,
Bayreuth (Germany), Prof. U. Deil, Freiburg (Germany).
| Prof. K. Müller-Hohenstein, Prof.
U. Deil |
Introduction |
| Prof. R. Bornkamn (Berlin, Germany) |
Allochthonous ecosystems-ecosystems
without producers. Ecosystèmes allochtones-écosystèmes
sans producteurs. |
| Prof. S. Brullo (Catania, Italy) |
Phytogeographical considerations
about the Cyrenaica. Considérations phytogéographiques
sur la Cyrénaique. |
| Prof. L. Boulos (Caire, Egypt) |
Plant life in Egyptian desert
and some adjacent arid regions. La vie végétale des déserts
égyptiens et de quelques régions arides adjacentes. |
| Dr. E. Le Floch (Montpellier, France) |
Intérêt de la gestion pastorale
pour la conservation des ressources phytogénétiques. The
importance of pasture management for the conservation of phytogenetic
resources. |
| Prof. K. Müller-Hohenstein, Prof.
Ulrich Deil |
Conclusion |
Symposium 10 : Mediterranean databases. Les
bases de données méditerranéennes.
Organisateur. Organizer : Dr. Walter G. Berendsohn,
Botanic and Botanical Museum, Berlin (Germany).
| Dr. W. G. Berendsohn |
Introduction |
|
Short presentations of databases
specific to the Mediterranean region or Mediterranean countries.
Courtes présentations de bases de données spécifiques à la
région ou aux pays méditerranéens. |
| Dr. W. G. Berendsohn |
Conclusion |
Dimanche. Sunday 17:
Symposium 11 : Les usages des plantes méditerranéennes.
Usage of plants in the Mediterranean region.
Organisateurs. Organizers : Prof. Uzi Plitmann,
The Hebrew university, Jerusalem (Israel), Prof. Amots Dafni,
Haifa university, Haifa (Israel).
| Dr. J.R. dos Santos (Evora, Portugal) |
Ethnobotanical research.
Les recherches en ethnobotanique |
| Dr. M. Kisley (Ramat Gan, Israel) |
Ancient and modern glues in
the near east. Glues anciennes et actuelles au Proche-Orient |
| Dr. A. Danin (Jerusalem, Israel) |
Ropes of native plants, past
and present. Cordes de plantes indigènes |
| Dr. F. Aubraile-Sallenave (Paris,
France) |
Economic plants of the Cucurbitaceae
in the Mediterranean region. Les Cucurbitacées d'intérêt
économique dans la région méditerranéenne. |
| Dr. M. Nicoletti (Rome, Italy) |
Studies on species of the Solanaceae,
with an emphasis on Withania somnifera.
Etudes d'espèces de Solanacées, et plus particulièrement
de Withania somnifera |
| Prof. U. Plitmann, Prof. A. Dafni |
Conclusion |
Symposium 12 : Mediterranean databases. Les
bases de données méditerranéennes.
Organisateur. Organizer : Dr. Walter G. Berendsohn,
Botanic and Botanical Museum, Berlin (Germany).
Computer demonstration. Démonstration sur ordinateurs.
Séance de clôture. Closing session
| Introduction |
| Exposé des commissions. Reports from the
Commissions |
| Résumé et conclusions. Summary and conclusions |
| Annonce des prix OPTIMA. Announcement of
the OPTIMA prizes |
| Allocution d’adieu. Farewell greetings |
|
| Banquet d’adieu. Farewell party |
|
|
FRAIS D’INSCRIPTION. REGISTRATION FEES
Droits d’inscription
Membres ordinaires d’OPTIMA 1250 FF
Non-membres d’OPTIMA 1500 FF
Accompagnateurs 800 FF
Etudiants (sur justification) 600 FF
L’inscription donne droit à tous les documents imprimés
du Colloque (programme, volume des résumés, guide de l’excursion,
volume des comptes-rendus), le café servi pendant les pauses et
les réceptions. L’inscription au banquet final est en
sus et se monte, pour chaque catégorie de participants, à
450 FF.
Le paiement du droit d’inscription doit être effectué avant
le 31 décembre 1997. Après cette date, les droits seront augmentés
de 30%.
Registration fees
Ordinary members of OPTIMA 1250 FF
Nonmembers of OPTIMA 1500 FF
Accompanying guests 800 FF
Students (proof required) 600 FF
Registrants will receive all documents associated with the
colloquium, including volume of abstracts, excursion guide, and
volume of summaries. Registrants will be entitled to coffee served
during breaks and receptions. Registration for the final banquet
costs an additional 450 FF for all classes of participants.
Payment should be made by December 31, 1997. After this date
the amount will be increased by 30%.
Dates limites. Deadlines
31 décembre. December 1997 : Paiement des
droits d’inscription et inscription pour les excursions post-colloque.
Payment of registration fees and registration for the post-meeting
excursions.
31 janvier. January 1998 : Réception des résumés.
Reception of abstracts
Dédit. Refunds
Sans frais jusqu’au 28 février 1998, 50% de frais retenus
après. No penalty through February 28, 1998, 50% penalty thereafter
VOLUME DES RÉSUMÉS. VOLUME OF ABSTRACTS
Les résumés des communications et des démonstrations seront disponibles
sous forme d’un volume qui sera distribué lors du colloque.
The abstracts of the talks and the posters will be available
in a book provided during the Meeting.
PUBLICATION DES COMPTES-RENDUS
PUBLICATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS
Les communications et les résumés des démonstrations seront publiés
ultérieurement dans le journal Acta botanica Gallica.
Papers and abstracts of the posters will be subsequently published
in the Acta botanica Gallica journal.
EXCURSIONS POST-COLLOQUE
POST-COLLOQUIUM EXCURSIONS
Deux excursions post-colloque sont proposées. Two post-meeting
excursions are suggested.
1. Sites naturels protégés ou non de Camargue et du Languedoc.
Protected or not protected natural sites of Camargue and of
Languedoc. Organisateur. Organizer J. Mathez
Programme prévisionnel. Preliminary programme
Lundi. Monday 18:
Paris-Montpellier par SNCF. Departure from Paris
to Montpellier, by train.
Mardi. Thusday 19:
Flore et végétation de la Camargue. Flora and vegetation
of the Camargue.
Mercredi. Wednesday 20:
La plaine méditerranéenne. The Mediterranean plain.
Jeudi. Thursday 21:
De la plaine méditerranéenne aux Causses. From Mediterranean
plain to the Causses.
Vendredi. Friday 22:
Des Causses à l’Aigoual. From the Causses to the
Aigua.
Samedi. Saturday 23:
Les Cévennes schisteuses. The schistose Cevennes.
Dimanche. Sunday 24:
Fin de l'excursion. End of the excursion.
2. Sites naturels protégés ou non de la catalogne. Protected
or non protected natural sites of Catalogna. Organisateurs.
Organizers A.-M. Cauwet, J. Vallès
Programme prévisionnel. Preliminary programme
Lundi. Monday 18:
Paris-Perpignan par SNCF. Paris-Perpignan by train.
Mardi. Thuesday 19:
Flore et végétation du littoral sableux et rocheux au sud
de Perpignan. Flora and vegetation of the sandy and rocky
coast in the south of Perpignan.
Mercredi. Wednesday 20:
La réserve de la Massane. Hêtraie remarquable
du massif des Albères. Famous beech grove of the massif des
Albères.
Jeudi. Thursday 21:
Le massif du Néoulos. Rencontre avec les forestiers
du versant espagnol qui gèrent la réserve des Albères. Meeting
with the Spanish foresters who manage the reserve des Albères.
Vendredi. Friday 22:
Cap Creu et cap Norfeu (Catalogne espagnole. Spanish
Catalonia).
Samedi. Saturday 23:
Réserve des Aiguemolls. Etang de Pau (Figueras, catalogne
espagnole). Pau's pond (Figueras, Spanish Catalonia)
Dimanche. Sunday 24:
Fin de l'excursion. End of the excursion
.
CORRESPONDANCE. CORRESPONDENCE
Pour tout renseignement, contacter
For correspondence, please contact:
Pr. Jacques MORET
Conservatoire Botanique du Bassin Parisien
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
61, rue Buffon
75005 PARIS - France
Tel: +33 1 40 79 35 54
Fax: +33 1 40 79 35 53
E-mail: optima@ mnhn.fr
Back to index
XVI
INTERNATIONAL BOTANICAL CONGRESS -
SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI (1-7 AUGUST 1999)
The XVI International Botanical Congress is held under the
auspices of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS),
most recently through the International Association of Botanical
and Mycological Societies (IABMS) of the IUBS. The XVI IBC Saint
Louis is being organized by the whole North American botanical
community, including botanical, mycological, and ecological
societies, universities, botanical research institutions, and
other sponsors.
The XVI International Botanical Congress will provide a forum
for presentation and discussion of the latest advances in the
plant sciences among botanists worldwide.
In the tradition of previous IBCs, the Scientific Program of
the XVI IBC will consist of invited oral presentations in Plenary
Lectures, Keynote Symposia and General Symposia as well as contributed
Poster Sessions. The Scientific Program will be subdivided into
the following disciplinary areas:
- Botanical Diversity: Systematics and Evolution
- Ecology, Environment, and Conservation
- Structure, development, and cellular Biology
- Genetics and Genomics
- Physiology and Biochemistry
- Human Uses of Plants: Economic Botany and Biotechnology
Any person interested in plant biology is invited to attend
the XVI IBC. The full registration fee will allow attendees
admittance to all scientific sessions and receptions.
For more detailed information you can
consult
the XVI IBC Web site: http://www.ibc99.org
or write to Secretary general, XVI IBC
c/o Missouri Botanical Garden
P. O. Box 299, St. Louis
MO 63166-0299 USA
FAX: 314-577-9589
E-mail: ibc16@mobot.org
Back to index
ANNOUNCEMENTS
10-15 November 1997
Second World Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
for Human Welfare (WOCMAP II) - Mendoza, Argentina.
Organised by the International council for Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants (ICMAP), the International Society for Horticultural
Science (ISHS) and the Sociedad Argentina para la Investigación
de Productos Aromáticos (SAIPA). The Congress will cover a wide
range of topics related to medicinal and aromatic plants as
biological and genetic resources for human welfare.The program
will include topics such as: phytomedicine, conservation, ethnobotany,
phytochemistry, pharmacology, the search for new components,
quality control, legislation and databases.
Several trips and excursions are available after the Congress.
Contact:
Dr. A. Bandoni
SAIPA, Av. de Mayo 1324 - 1º piso, oficina 36
1085 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tel: (54) 13 832360
Fax: (54) 19 617637
E-mail: postmaster@saipa.org.ar
Complementary information at: http://www.ffyb.uba.ar/congresos/wocmap/wocmap.htm
· · · · ·
16-20 February 1998
Medicinal Plants for Survival: An International Conference
on Medicinal Plant Conservation, Utilization, Trade and Intellectual
and Cultural Property Rights.
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of
Science Campus, Bangalore, India.
Contact:
The Conference Secretariat, FRLHT
No. 50, MSH Layout, 2nd Stage, 3rd Main
Anandnagar, Bangalore - 560024, India
Tel: (91) 80 333 6909/0348
Fax: (91) 80 333 4167
E-mail: root@
frlht.ernet.in
· · · · ·
26 April -1 May 1998
V Symposium of the Ibero-Macaronesian Association of Botanical
Gardens - Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Contact:
Jardim Botânico da Madeira
Caminho do Meio, Bom Sucesso
P-9050 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Tel: (35) 191 200 2000
Fax: (35) 191 200 2006.
· · · · ·
9-13 June 1998
Planta Europa: Second European Conference on the Conservation
of Wild Plants - Uppsala, Sweden.
Contact:
Johan Samuelson, ArtDatabanken, SLU, Swedish Threatened
Species Unit
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
PO Box 7007, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel: (46) 18 67 3409
Fax: (46) 18 67 3480
E-mail: PlantaEuropa98@
dha.slu.se
· · · · ·
14-19 June 1998
The IX International Congress on Plant Tissue and Cell Culture
- Jerusalem
Contact:
IX IAPTC Congress, KENEX, Organisers of Congresses and
Tour Operators, Ltd.
PO Box 50006, Tel Aviv 61500, Israel
Tel: (972) 3 5140000
Fax: (972) 3 5175674
E-mail: PLANT@Kenes.
ccmail.compuserve.com
· · · · ·
6-9 July 1998
Pollen and Spores: Morphology and Biology - U.K.
This conference is organized by the Linnean Society Palinology
Specialist Group in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew and the Natural History Museum, London.
Contact:
Lisa von Schlippe
Conference Administrator, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey, TW93AB, U.K.
Fax: (44) 0181 332 5176
E-mail: l.von.schlippe@
rbgkew.org.uk
· · · · ·
19-25 July 1998
Conservation Biology at the Molecular Level: Identifying
Management and Evolutionary Units - Florence, Italy.
A symposium to be held in association with the VII International
Congress of Ecology-1998.
Contact:
Dr. Tim King or Dr. R. Kent Schreiber
US Geological Survey, Leetown Science Center
1700 Leetown Road, Kearneysville
West Virginia 25430, USA
E-mail: Tim_King@usgs.gov
· · · · ·
10-15 August 1998
VIIth IOPB Symposium: Evolution in Man-made Habitats - Amsterdam
The symposium of the International Organization of Plant Biosystematists
will comprise six non-concurrent plenary sessions and specially
scheduled poster sessions. The topics are: 1. Evolution of disturbed
habitats; 2. Evolution of crops - Domestication: simulating
evolution; 3. Evolution of crops - Mapping of special traits;
4. Evolution of invasive plant species - Adaptation and life
cycle; 5. Evolution of crop-wild relative complexes; 6. Evolution
of invasive plant species - Apomixis: clonal vs. sexual speciation.
A four-day post-symposium excursion will visit a series of dune
habitats along the Dutch coast.
Contact:
Dr. Hans den Nijs
ISP-Hugo de Vries Laboratory
Kruislaan 318
1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tel: (31) 20 525 7660
Fax: (31) 20 525 7662
E-mail: IOPB98@ bio.uva.nl
· · · · ·
23-28 August 1998
Sixth International Mycological Congress - Tel Aviv, Israel.
Contact:
Congress Secretariat
P.O. Box 50006, Tel Aviv 61500, Israel
Tel: (972) 3 5140014
Fax: (972) 3 5175674
E-mail: MYCOL@
Kenes.ccmail.compuserve.com
· · · · ·
14-18 September 1998
Fifth International Botanic Gardens Conservation Congress-Cape
Town, South Africa.
Contact:
Prof. Brian J. Huntley
National Botanical Institute
Private Bag X7, Claremont, South Africa 7735
Fax: (27) 21 761 4687
E-mail: bgci98@nbict.nbi.ac.za.
· · · · ·
21-25 September 1998
XV Eucarpia General Congress "Genetics and Breeding
for Crop Quality and Resistance" - Viterbo, Italy.
The XV Congress of the European Association for Research on
Plant Breeding.
Contact:
XV Eucarpia Congress-Genetics and Breeding for crop Quality
and Resistance
University of Tuscia
01100 Viterbo, Italy
Fax: (39) 761 357256
E-mail: eucarpia@unitus.it
Complementary information at: http://www.unitus.it/confsem/eucarpia/eu.html
· · · · ·
28 - September 1998
Monocots II: The 2nd International Conference on the Comparative
Biology of the Monocotyledons and 3rd International Symposium
on Grass Systematics and Evolution - Sidney, Australia
Contact:
Karen Wilson
Monocots II, Royal Botanic Gardens
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Fax: (61) 2 9251 7231
E-mail: karen@
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Back to index
NOTICES OF PUBLICATIONS
by Werner Greuter
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Index
OPTIMA
-
Werner Greuter
(ed.) – Proceedings of the VII OPTIMA Meeting,
Borovec, 18-30 July 1993. Part two: poster presentations [Bocconea,
5(2)]. – Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum, Palermo,
1997 (ISBN 88-7915-005-7). Pages 395-931, black-and-white
illustrations, paper.
The second, concluding half of the
Proceedings volume of the Borovec Meeting of OPTIMA is devoted
to the poster presentations. On 529 printed pages (discounting
title pages and index), it brings the scientific papers corresponding
to 75 of the 110 posters that were on exhibit during the VII OPTIMA
Meeting. All contributions have been positively reviewed before
being accepted for publication, which vouches for good quality
standards of the contents.
The Meeting itself had been remarkably
successful in offering to botanists of the region an international
stage for presenting their scientific results and, conversely,
in demonstrating to a wide range of participants the astounding
diversity and quality of research that is presently in progress
in the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, the Balkan countries
in particular. The present volume, mirroring faithfully what was
presented at the Meeting, conveys the same positive impression
to an even wider public. For several of the authors represented
this has been the first and may for long remain the unique opportunity
to share their knowledge with a world-wide audience. Besides,
the fact that the flora of the Mediterranean area is still incompletely
known is documented by the presence of no less than six newly
described species of flowering plants (belonging to the genera
Allium, Bellevalia, Bromus, Silene, Thymelaea, and Tulipa),
plus one hybrid subspecies in Verbascum.
Only five of the papers are authored
by botanists who are not residents of a Mediterranean country.
Within the Mediterranean proper, Italy (19 contributions) and
the Iberian Peninsula (6) are well represented, but the Balkan
countries (45!) clearly predominate, with no less than 29 papers
from the host country of the Meeting, Bulgaria, and 11 from the
war-stricken states of the former Yugoslav Federation (but none,
regrettably, from Albania). The English language (68 papers) largely
wins over the French (7). W.G.
- Benito Valdés & Julio Pastor (ed.) –
Proceedings of the VIII OPTIMA Meeting, Sevilla, 25 September
- 1 October, 1995 [Lagascalia, 19]. – Universidad
de Sevilla, Sevilla, 1997. 942 pages, black-and-white illustrations,
paper.
It is tempting to compare the Sevilla Symposium
proceedings volume with the one for the Borovec Meeting, just
mentioned, so as to point out their similarities and differences.
Both were published almost simultaneously, in May and early June,
respectively (the printed dates being somewhat fallacious), and
the overall page number is similar. The Sevilla volume, which
includes the address list of participants as an extra bonus, devotes
421 pages to the lectures and 486 to the poster presentations,
the corresponding figures for the Borovec proceedings being 384
and 529. Also, the Sevilla volume reproduces the symposium programme
as originally printed, so that one may ascertain which authors
have changed their title, and to what extent (in one case, in
fact, the subject has changed completely).
The most striking difference is, of course, the
speed of production. It took Valdés and Pastor one year less than
I needed to edit the texts of the lectures, and a full two years
less for the poster papers. For this they are to be warmly congratulated.
Speed has its price, of course – and I am not alluding to
the few typos that a keen eye may care to spot: many of the notoriously
lazy (or over-committed) potential authors just didn’t make
the deadline and got cut out. The printed volume has one of two
plenary lectures, two thirds (33 of 49) of the symposium and round-table
contributions, and far less than one half (57 of 130) of the poster
presentations. Even so, it is sizeable enough!
The book is truly impressive by its variety and
general interest, which makes it worth while studying it with
care. It is particularly pleasing to note that taxonomy plays
a major role. The three longest papers are in the kind of revisions,
being devoted to the systematics of Ibero-Maghrebine Delphinium
subg. Delphinium (24 pages), Vicia sect. Hypechusa
(25 pages), and Italian Stachys sect. Eriostemum
(no less than 51 pages). There are new subspecies described or
combined in Sicilian Brassica, newly described species
in Arrhenatherum, Delphinium, and Centaurea, and
in the latter genus, several new sections and subsections.
Quite naturally, the location of the symposium
had its bearing on the subjects treated. When in Borovec the clear
emphasis was on Balkan botany, it is here placed on the central
and, principally, western Mediterranean area. The notorious anglophile
unbalance is also slightly alleviated, with as many as 17 out
of 91 papers being written in French.
It is fair to conclude by publicly acknowledging
the dept of gratitude that OPTIMA and its members have towards
Benito Valdés and his colleagues and sponsors in Sevilla. Not
only did they succeed in organising one of the most noteworthy
OPTIMA Meetings ever, but in addition they managed to print the
proceedings volume entirely on their own funds. Once more –
and hopefully not for the last time – our Organisation has
thus profited from substantial, generous sponsorship and support.
W.G.
Index
Dicotyledones
- Magnus Lidén & Henrik Zetterlund –
Corydalis. A gardener’s guide and a monograph of
the tuberous species. – Alpine Garden Society,
Pershore, 1997 (ISBN 0-900048-66-2). 144 pages, 45 black-and-white
figures, 36 maps, 125 colour photographs on 24 extra plates,
coloured frontispiece, boards with dust jacket.
This remarkable product of a symbiosis between
a taxonomist and a horticulturist is well worth mentioning, even
in a purely Mediterranean context. Under Grey-Wilson’s expert
editorship, Lidén and Zetterlund have produced an extraordinarily
appealing book that will doubtless prove their misgivings wrong
when they modestly fear that "it will not be perfect for
either the botanist ... or the gardener".
There are well known trends of fashion in gardening
and horticulture, such as the historically famous "tulipomania",
or later on the rhododendron boom, or much more recently, the
craze for "carnivorous" plants. Among the most striking
of these epidemic explosions, as usual setting off in Britain
and yet to fully hit the continent, is Corydalis. Just
look at the gorgeous pictures in this book, and you will understand
why. Your next move may well be an order to the nearest well stocked
plant dealer.
Corydalis belongs to the Fumariaceae,
here defined as comprising two subfamilies, the Hypecooideae
(watch the double -o-!) and the Fumarioideae,
about 20 genera with 560 species in all. Magnus Lidén has long
acquired justified fame as the world authority on the group; and
the botanical garden in Gothenborg, where both authors are based,
obviously holds the most incredibly diverse collection of its
wild representatives.
Corydalis is a fairly huge genus, with
perhaps 440 species, many of them little known. It is currently
subdivided into 3 subgenera and 34 sections, only 5 of which qualify
as tuber-bearing. [Incidentally, the single most irritating trait
of the book is that sectional epithets (as usual, abusively treated
as single names), contrary to e.g. the subgeneric ones, are never
italicised.] China with its 300-odd mostly endemic species is
the centre of diversity of the genus. However, a majority of the
95 species belonging to the tuberous sections, which are fully
monographed here, are found in S.W. Asia and the eastern Mediterranean
area. It is they that are most popular in gardens, or have become
so since "corydalomania" was set off in 1981 following
Brian Mathew’s lecturing on the topic at a rock garden plant
conference in Nottingham. Yet the Chinese taxa, mostly non-bulbous,
are catching up. A fair selection is mentioned, though not fully
treated, in a concluding chapter.
While I always like good, user-friendly monographs
in a general way, I find the kind here presented outright adorable.
Perhaps it is the light-handed mix of science and friendly talk
that makes the difference. I for one cannot believe that botanists
mind if, in a serious text, they "have to put up with pots
and poetry", as the authors put it. As to the gardeners,
for whom I cannot speak, "the vast amount of petty scientific
data" will do them lots of good. Botanists and gardeners
alike will, at any rate, be fascinated by the thrilling beauty
of the colour photographs that illustrate most of the species
– the best means, for sure, of spreading the Corydalis
"plague". W.G.
- Eugenia Routsê – Biosustêmatikê meletê
tês sectio Acrocentron (Cass.) DC. tou genous Centaurea
L. stên Ellada. – PhD Thesis, Patras University,
Patra, 1993. [2] + vi + 343 pages (some as folded insets, blank
pages unnumbered); black-and-white illustrations, colour photographs;
paper.
Centaurea is arguably the most diverse
genus of the Greek flora, and sect. Acrocentron the second
largest of its sections, after sect. Acrolophus which had
been similarly treated in 1980 by Routsi’s present supervisor,
Theodoros Georgiadis (see OPTIMA Newslett. 12-13: 35. 1982). The
PhD thesis of Evyenia Routsi, being a taxonomic revision of all
31 Greek taxa (23 species) of C. sect. Acrocentron,
is thus a major contribution in terms of Greek phanerogamic botany,
especially if one considers that almost two thirds of the taxa
(20, to be exact) are endemic to the country.
Basically this is a classical revision in the
monographic style, supplemented by special chapters on morphology,
chromosome numbers, numerical phenetics, pollen morphology, and
sesquiterpene lactone chemistry.
The results are perhaps not spectacular, no new
species having been brought to light, but they are well presented,
and the conclusions, convincingly argued. There are a number of
taxonomic and nomenclatural novelties at the secondary ranks,
with none of the new names being correctly indexed in the last
Index kewensis database update, which is why I detail them
here: Centaurea subsect. Atropurpureae Routsi &
T. Georgiadis (type: C. atropurpurea Olivier; p. 14), subsect.
Achaiae Routsi & T. Georgiadis (type: C. achaia
Boiss. & Heldr.; p. 14), and subsect. Graecae Routsi
& T. Georgiadis (type: C. graeca Griseb.; p. 15) [all
apparently validated by a Latin description and type indication
as per Art. 22.5, although perhaps doubtfully so in view of Art.
37.4]; C. laconica var. arachnoidea Routsi (p. 63);
C. redempta var. macracantha Routsi (p. 69) and
subsp. cytherea (Rech. f.) Routsi & T. Georgiadis (p.
70); C. rupestris subsp. parnonia (Halácsy) Routsi
& T. Georgiadis (p. 130) and subsp. kozanii Routsi
& T. Georgiadis (p. 131). The two last-named were again proposed
as "new" in the following year, by the same authors,
in a paper in Candollea (and so listed in Index kewensis),
while in another, parallel 1994 publication (in Nordic journal
of botany) they correctly cited the thesis as validation place,
yet not preventing Index kewensis from misquoting a third
one of their subspecies names.
The habit of validating new names in theses with
a limited printing and distribution, yet published in a technical
sense, is perhaps to be discouraged (although priority considerations
and the risk of never seeing such results published "properly"
must also be borne in mind), but when such validations happen,
authors should at least make sure that the relevant indexing services
can keep track; at any rate, they should carefully avoid republishing
the same names as "new" elsewhere later on. Well, these
admonitions, for what they are worth, will become largely irrelevant
if and when registration of all new names through an apposite
registering mechanism becomes mandatory, hopefully as from the
year 2000.
This being said, let us rejoice in the fact that
the University of Patras continues to produce skilled and gifted
new plant taxonomists worthy of the tradition established by Dimitrios
Phitos and his pupils. Thanks to the Patras team, and to equally
active if less taxonomically orientated Institutes at other Greek
universities, botanical science in Greece manages to keep pace
with the explosive development of the plant sciences that one
observes today in many Mediterranean countries. W.G.
Index
Monocotyledones
- Zoila Díaz Lifante & Benito Valdés –
Revisión del género Asphodelus L. (Asphodelaceae)
en el Mediterraneo occidental [Boissiera, 52]. –
Conservatoire botanique, Chambésy, 1996 (ISBN 2-8277-0068-9).
189 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover.
The title is too modest: this is in effect a world
monograph of Asphodelus, except for the fact that specimen
citations and detailed distribution maps are limited to the western
half of the Mediterranean area (from Tunisia and S. Italy westwards)
plus the Atlantic Islands. Indeed, the analysis of intraspecific
variation, and the resulting infraspecific classification, may
be less elaborate outside that core area, and is certainly most
thorough for the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy, and Morocco,
where field studies have been conducted by the authors on no less
than 800 native populations. The treatment includes full keys,
synonymies, descriptions, and illustrations of habit and analytical
details, plus innumerable, often lengthy comments on various correlated
problems. Special studies on the karyotype, pollen morphology,
etc. have also been used for the purposes of the present revision,
although their results have been published elsewhere in greater
detail.
Although the total range of the genus extends
from the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores throughout the Mediterranean
area and eastwards across S.W. Asia to India, all of its species
are present in the much narrower core area referred to above.
They are 16 in all, comprised in 5 sections: no less than 10 of
them (2 sections) are endemic to the core area, the exception
being the four widespread, well-known Asphodelus ramosus, A.
albus, A. tenuifolius, and A. fistulosus, as well as
the two Saharo-Arabian elements, A. refractus
and A. viscidulus. Not surprisingly, a conspicuous
number of infraspecific taxa (subspecies and varieties) have been
described as new, or had their name and status changed, in the
pages of this revision.
Zoila Díaz Lifante has devoted most of her young
and busy life to the study of her pet genus. Her detailed results
are scattered over no less than 16 different papers, published
alone or with others, so that a synthesis as here presented was
indeed badly needed. She may now breathe more freely, and find
that other plants as well exist in her native Spain that are worth
looking at. W.G.
- Robert Portal – Festuca du Massif
Central. Guide pratique pour leur étude. – Published
by the author, 16 rue Louis Brioude, F-43750 Val-Près-Le Puy,
1996. 116 pages, many drawings, with plastic cover sheets and
clamp back.
Amateur botanist and keen grass fan Robert Portal,
already the author of a compendium of French brome-grasses (OPTIMA
Newslett. 30: (8). 1996), now ventures to introduce his fellow
botanists to the haunted world of fescues. The apparently modest
territory to which he confines his effort does not, in reality,
make this a trivial undertaking: no less than 40 species and subspecies
of Festuca are found within the limits of the French Massif
Central, which is a significant portion of the European diversity
of the genus; and 15 of them, moreover, have been originally described
and named based on material from this area.
When reviewing Kerguélen & Plonka’s monographic
book on the fescues of France, a much more scholarly exercise
on which the present essay largely builds, I wrote [in translation]:
"I believe that with such a book I might chance to succeed
[in identifying my Festuca specimens on my own]" (OPTIMA
Newslett. 25-29: (14-15). 1991). With Portal’s unpretentious
new tool, the chance (time permitting) finds itself greatly improved.
It will become obvious to the reader that initially Portal was
facing exactly the same problems as anyone who for the first time
approaches this unpalatable genus – but having solved them,
he now successfully uses his undeniable didactic skill to help
others do the same. He will tell you – not by long strings
of words but by means of instructive sketches – how to decide
whether a leaf blade is flexible or rigid; how to make a transverse
section of that blade with minimal equipment, on your office desk;
how, having done so, to interpret what you are actually seeing
under the binocular in terms of the usual diagrammatic drawings
of sclerenchyma tissue and vascular bundles found in the literature.
The core of the booklet: the detailed and careful
descriptions of the 40 taxa treated as well as the excellent drawings
of habit and analytical details illustrating them, is a major
asset for anyone studying the flora of the central parts of France.
The general introduction, however, is much more: it may function
as the diving-board for anyone, in Europe or elsewhere, who has
the courage to jump into the cold waters of fescue identification.
W.G.
Index
Floras
- Santiago Castroviejo & al. (ed.) –
Flora iberica. Plantas vasculares de la Península Ibérica
e Islas Baleares. Vol. V, Ebenaceae-Saxifragaceae. Vol.
VIII, Haloragaceae-Euphorbiaceae. – Real Jardín
Botánico, C.S.I.C., Madrid, 1997 (ISBN 84-00-07641-9 & 84-00-07654-0).
lv + 320, lv + 375 pages, map and drawings, cloth with dust-cover.
The enthusiastic reviews of earlier volumes of
this Flora (OPTIMA Newslett. 20-24: (22-23). 1988; 25-29:
(22-23). 1991; 30: (10). 1996) are applicable without restriction
to the present ones. One will notice that between them they leave
a gap in numbering, corresponding to two large and complex families
that will take their time to be completed: the Rosaceae (vol.
6), hopefully to be published at the end of this year, and the
Leguminosae (vol. 7), which might be ready by the end of
1998. Users of the Flora will doubtless appreciate the
thoughtfulness of the editors, not to let them wait for longer
than is necessary for the subsequent family treatments when they
were already finalised.
Both new volumes are thinner than average, which
is partly due to the constraints imposed by the sequence of the
families and their varying size. They are not particularly rich
in treatments of notoriously critical genera, although the larger
ones: Saxifraga with 58 Iberian species (vol. 5) of which
one (S. felineri P. Vargas) is newly described, Euphorbia
with 54 (vol. 8), Sedum with 31 (vol. 5), and to a somewhat
lesser extent Thymelaea with 21 (vol. 8) and Androsace
with 14 (vol. 5), all have their problems and difficulties, showing
centres of diversity, as a whole or in part, in the Iberian Peninsula.
Each of these genera stands for one of the medium-sized families
here treated, to which the Onagraceae (4 genera, 32 species)
and Lythraceae (3 and 14, respectively), both of vol. 8,
may be added. The remaining 22 families (6 in vol. 5, 16 in vol.
8) are either mono- or bigeneric in the territory of the Flora,
and several are not at all native there.
The general presentation meets the highest standards,
be it for the quality of the print and layout, binding, paper,
or – most strikingly – the illustrations; meaning that
it equals what we got accustomed to by the foregoing volumes.
Perhaps the most striking asset of the Flora, at least
for an experienced editor’s eye, is however the rigour with
which it sticks to its elaborate, well conceived and utterly user-friendly
pattern and style. Once achieved, this will be the outstanding
monument of collaborative Flora publishing of our time. W.G.
- Daniel Jeanmonod & Hervé Maurice Burdet
(ed.) – Compléments au Prodrome de la flore corse.
Valerianaceae, par M.-A. Thiébaud. – Conservatoire
et Jardin botaniques, Ville de Genève, 1996 (ISBN 2-8277-0812-4).
116 pages, black-and-white illustrations, laminated cover.
As stated in my last review relating to this Flora
(in OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (11). 1996), "what now remains to
be done are essentially the Rubiaceae and Compositae,
plus a few minor families". The Valerianaceae
are one of those few minor families. The fact that their revision
runs over far more than one hundred pages, while puzzling in itself,
makes one expect to find a critical, thorough treatment with interesting
new insights at its base. Alas, this hope is disappointed.
The Valerianaceae are represented by 4
genera and 13 fairly uncritical species in Corsica. Even Valerianella,
which in the past has posed some riddles to botanists (now
largely resolved), is poorly represented on the island, with 5
widespread representatives plus 3 rare and erratic aliens. Allowing
for the bulky specimen enumerations that are part of the style
of the flora (12 pages in all) and the numerous maps and excellent
illustrations that, as always, greatly enhance its usefulness,
one nevertheless wonders how so many pages could have been filled.
The answer in a nutshell is: badly!
I must leave it to those who are proficient in
French to put my assertion to the test, that Thiébaud’s commentaries
are not only convoluted and difficult to understand, but most
often pointless. Let me just mention the case of Valeriana
rotundifolia where the reader, having coped with one full
page of taxonomic comments, still does not know why and on what
criteria this is maintained as a species separate from V. montana
– when it is not even mentioned as a synonym in Flora
europaea, and when the general distribution, given as "southern
and central Europe" under both recognised varieties, is certainly
less than convincing from a phytogeographical point of view.
But let me get down to concrete points of criticism.
To begin with, the nomenclatural treatment is appallingly inadequate
for a product from the institute that used to be Briquet’s.
True synonyms and mere misapplications are listed indiscriminately,
an example being Valeriana coronata which is cited in synonymy
of both Valerianella discoidea (ascribed to "(L.)
All.", having been so misapplied by Allioni) and Valerianella
coronata (incorrectly ascribed to "(L.) Willd.",
when the real authorship is (L.) Mill.). Illegitimate nomenclatural
synonyms are not designated as such. There is a lengthy discussion
of the status and typification of Valeriana mixta L., in
which that name is "typified" by a description (an option
unavailable under the Code), when there is original material
in the form of two Morison figures on which the name can and must
be typified (and should then presumably be proposed for rejection).
Species recorded from Corsica in error are given
full treatment, with their own descriptions and inclusion in the
keys, thus inducing into error the reader who does not or cannot
read the comments written in French. But the nicest story perhaps
is that of the first Corsican record of Valerianella hirsutissima,
based on two specimens allegedly collected by Boissier near
"Bastia" in May 1842. How can a Geneva staff member
be so careless and naive! It is common knowledge that in May 1842
Boissier collected in and around Athens, and in his Flora orientalis
he mentions V. hirsutissima "in arvis ... Atticae
(... Boiss.!)". It is a safe bet that the labels of the specimens
cited by Thiébaud from Bastia in Corsica have "Bæotia"
inscribed instead.
Last but not least, taxonomy. There is worse,
in this treatment, than the futile attempt to propose a novel
infrageneric grouping based on the random sample of the few Valerianella
species present in or erroneously reported from Corsica. On
one hand, Thiébaud describes and names two new varieties for taxa
of very doubtful value, one being an intermediate between two
named varieties, the other a mere form with hairless fruits. On
the other hand, he uncritically accepts the conclusions from Martin
& Mathez’s (most interesting, and guardedly worded) study
and lumps two generally recognised species as mere "morphotypes"
of a single species. The fact is that Martin & Mathez observed
mendelian segregation of parental fruit characters in hybrids
between the two "morphotypes", which may (but must not
necessarily) mean that fruit morphology is under mono- or oligogenic
control. Still, conclusions are premature (and if they will have
to be drawn, they will likely affect many more species), and as
the two parental taxa are clear cut, breed true, and the hybrid
has but reduced fertility, there is little to be gained by merging
them at this stage.
When starting on this review I proposed to be
kind. I now realise that I have utterly failed, and I offer my
apologies. Let me at least conclude by wishing this Flora that
it may be continued in a way that is worthy of the foregoing instalments,
and of the great tradition of Briquet and Geneva botany. W.G.
- Konrad Lauber & Gerhart Wagner –
Flora helvetica. Flora der Schweiz. Flore de la Suisse.
Flora della Svizzera. 3750 Farbphotos von 3000 wildwachsenden
Blüten- und Farnpflanzen einschliesslich wichtiger Kulturpflanzen.
Artbeschreibungen und Bestimmungsschlüssel. Bestimmungsschlüssel
zur Flora helvetica mit zeichnungen von André Michel. Paul
Haupt, Bern, 1996 (ISBN 3-258-05405-3). 1613 + 267 pages, one
hard cover volume with colour photographs and maps + 1 paperback
with transparent plastic jacket, drawings. – Price (for
both): SFr 128.
Do you need proof of the fact that the Swiss are
perfectionists? zealous? dedicated? well organised? Here it is:
Lauber & Wagner’s new Swiss Flora, resulting from the
work of 10 years and a double lifetime’s experience, sets
entirely new standards in Flora writing. This is the botanical
manual of the future: tailored for the consumer who has but little
time to spare yet wants easy and reliable results; pleasant for
the eye; crammed with shorthand details in minimal type size,
so that you have it ready at hand but need not notice; unobtrusively
scientific to the bone; and of course also available as a CD-ROM
enabling you to get your tailored selection of on-screen images
and texts by using a multitude of criteria (geography, flowering
time, habitat, toxicity ...) or by means of a practical multi-access
key. [This device – same price as the book – has not
however been tested by the present reviewer.]
The authors have settled on the magic number of
3000 taxa (species or subspecies) for their Flora. To end up with
this figure they had to finesse by including some important cultivated
plants as well as a number of frequent casuals, while relegating
38 taxa, for various good reasons, to being treated by a mere
note. They have also, understandably, had to limit to a representative
choice the splits that one tends to recognise in the highly critical
genera Alchemilla, Rubus, Hieracium and Festuca (and
to adopt a wider than usual species concept in others, such as
Taraxacum). Yet, just imagine: 3000 taxa, including the
rarest ones perhaps only found once, and some but recently discovered,
each represented by one or often two colour photographs that do
justice to the claim of being at the same time beautiful, technically
brilliant, and diagnostically valuable! In all, 3750 colour pictures
of which 3749 are from Lauber’s gigantic collection of over
50,000 slides! [Lauber whom you may glance peeping in sideways,
with an impish smile, in the picture of wickedly phototoxic Heracleum
mantegazzianum.]
Treatments include diagnostic descriptions, vernacular
designations in Switzerland’s three main national languages,
flowering period, habitat preferences, Swiss distribution, and
indication of frequency. A special feature are the mini-maps of
distribution in Switzerland, of less than postage-stamp size (use
a hand-lens!), which nevertheless – based on Welten &
Sutter’s chorological Atlas and its published or unpublished
updates – manage to differentiate between recent mapping
data and old herbarium and literature records. The scientific
plant names used are "dernier cri" fashion: for the
first time, new Swiss consensus nomenclature of Aeschimann &
Heitz (see OPTIMA Newslett. 31: (11). 1997) has been applied.
The fact that the identification keys of the printed version are
published in the form of a separate brochure is also a genuine
asset froma user’s (if not a librarian’s) standpoint,
since it eases parallel consultation of keys and images on the
working desk and also enables one to carry along the keys alone
for quick checking or preliminary identification in the field.
The authors of this book are genuine enthusiasts.
The reviewer cannot but share their enthusiasm in view of the
result. W.G.
- Flora e Shqipërisë. Flore de l’Albanie.
– 2 (ed. Xhafer Qosja, Kolë Paparisto, Mustafa Demiri,
Jani Vangjeli & Emin Balza), 1992, 446 pages, 777 figures,
cloth; 3 (ed. Xhafer Qosja, Kolë Paparisto, Jani Vangjeli
& Babi Ruci), 1996, 331 pages, 604 figures, hard cover.
– Akademia e Shkencave e Republikes Shqipërisë, Instituti
i kerkimeve biologjike, Tiranë.
Volume 1 of this new national Flora of Albania
had been published in 1988 under the editorship of Paparisto,
Demiri, Mitrushi & Qosia. It had the same taxonomic coverage
as the first volume of Flora europaea (pteridophytes, gymnosperms,
and dicots up to and including the Platanaceae, in the
Engler sequence). The second volume (Rosaceae to Umbelliferae)
is coextensive with Flora europaea vol. 2, while the third
(Pyrolaceae to Campanulaceae) extends somewhat beyond
vol. 3 of the same work, leaving the Compositae as the
only untreated dicot family. Parallelism between the two Floras
goes so far that even the anomalous position of the Rubiaceae
in Flora europaea has been adopted in the Albanian Flora,
and more importantly, they both so far coincide in their 4-year
rhythm of publication.
The one major asset that is proper to this Flora
are the illustrations. With a few exceptions, every recognised
species is fully illustrated by an obviously original line drawing,
most often showing analytical details to aid identification. These
are relatively simple drawings, but they show a remarkably good
likeness with the plants portrayed and will prove invaluable for
the users, especially those unfamiliar with the Albanian language
(the only French portions of the books being their second title
pages). The text treatment is full and modern, including indication
of Albanian vernacular designations, chromosome numbers, habitat,
phytosociological appurtenance, and overall distribution. Subspecies,
the lowest-level taxa to be recognised, are keyed out separately.
Hybrids are not mentioned. Synonymy is a weak point, being extremely
scanty – which sometimes makes one wonder whether a given
taxon (e.g., Onosma albanica) has been merely forgotten
or is considered to be synonymous (with, e.g., O. arenaria).
It should be mentioned that Albania, together
with Greece, was so far about the only European country not disposing
of its modern national Flora. It is fortunate, and most timely,
that this should now change (as it hopefully will, before long,
also for Greece). Those owning the new Flora will find
it an outstanding work in every sense, including format, since
the transverse quarto volumes, while ideally suited to accommodate
text and figures side by side in parallel columns, are a less
than ideal fit for standard-sized book shelves. W.G.
- A. L. Tahtadzjan (ed.) – Flora Armenii.
Tom 9. Campanulaceae, Asteraceae. – Koeltz Scientific
Books (CR), Havlickuv Brod, 1995 (ISBN 80-901699-7-x). 676 pages,
map, 262 full-page figures, cloth. Price: DM 180.
The economic situation of the Republic of Armenia,
perhaps the hardest up among the heirs of the old Soviet empire,
is not such as to easily permit scientific publication, important
though it may be. It was indeed a great problem to have this last
dicot volume of the Armenian national Flora published, and it
has taken years to find an appropriate solution. Production has
eventually become possible thanks to the combined efforts of Nora
Gabrieljan, the secret driving force behind the whole enterprise,
and the courageous publisher Sven Koeltz who unselfishly provided
funds for preparing and printing the copy. Both can be sincerely
congratulated on the result. Volume 9, printed in the Czech Republic,
differs from its predecessors mainly in its somewhat smaller paper
size as well as the significantly improved quality of paper, print
and binding. The style, general layout and presentation of the
data have remained unchanged. Apart from Armenian vernacular plant
names and the alternative title page, which appear in the beautiful
but unfamiliar Armenian script, the whole text is in Russian.
The plentiful, skilfully drawn original illustrations of plant
habit and analytical details are undoubtedly a major asset of
the book.
Volume 9 comprises the treatments of 101 genera
belonging to just two families, with 478 species in all (this
figure includes 22 species fully treated but unnumbered because
their presence in Armenia has not yet been definitely established).
The acknowledged volume editors are Vanda Avetisjan (who contributed
many of the individual accounts) and Marina Oganesjan (who authored
the Campanulaceae); George Fajvus did the technical editing.
Nora Gabrieljan herself and many of her research team (e.g., Evgenija
Avetisjan, Nasik Handzjan, L. Manukjan, Kamilla Tamanjan, and
Nora’s daughter Marjam Agababjan) wrote major contributions.
Centaurea (46 species), though unnaturally and too narrowly
delimited, is by far the largest genus, followed by Cousinia
(27), Cirsium and Campanula (21 each). Funnily (and
enviably) for a European botanist, Hieracium with its 13
species is but eleventh in order, and Taraxacum (6 species)
lags far behind.
The Compositae are subdivided into two
subfamilies, Cichorioideae (Juss.) Chev. 1828 (incl. Cynaroideae
(Durande) Chev. 1828; here named Lactucoideae (Cass.) Lindl.
1829) and Asteroideae (Cass.) Lindl. 1829 (Astereae
Cass. 1819; here lacking author citations), represented by 5 and
7 tribes, respectively. Among the latter, the Cynareae
Lam. & DC. 1806 (here: Cardueae Cass. 1819) with 181
species, Cichorieae Lam. & DC. 1806 (here: Lactuceae
Cass.; mistakenly attributed to Adanson) with 112 species, and
Anthemideae Cass. 1819 with 61 species predominate. Tribal
and subfamilial classification follow modern standards of synantherology,
but the names used, as demonstrated by the foregoing synonymies,
need correction. No such restrictions apply at the lower taxonomic
levels, where the synonymic treatment is exemplary.
With its beautiful blueprint of that most awkward
among Compositae, Gundelia tournefortii, on the inside
of the cover boards, this volume is a worthy conclusion to the
treatment of the dicotyledons in the Flora of Armenia. Two monocot
volumes are yet to come, and one hopes and wishes with our Armenian
colleagues that they may be produced under equally favourable
circumstances, just perhaps more speedily. Several of the earlier
volumes (the first dates from 1954!) are now out of print and
are becoming extremely rare, yet Koeltz still offers the complete
run (vols 1-8) at moderate DM 810 in his catalogue. W.G.
- 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. 172, Chenopodiaceae, by
I. C. Hedge, H. Akhani, H. Freitag, G. Kothe-Heinrich, D. Podlech,
S. Rilke & P. Uotila. – Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt,
Graz (ISBN 3-201-00728-5, the whole work). 371 pages, 8 figures,
212 extra plates, paper. Price: öS 4482.
The final count-down is on. This is the last but
four of the major steps toward completion of one of the outstanding
monumental Floras of our Century (see OPTIMA Neswlett. 30: (14-15).
1996). On the slightly detached throne of his ninety-plus years,
the general editor, Karl Heinz Rechinger, must be looking with
a pleased smile upon the most recent of his kids, for which Ian
Hedge (doubtless heavily supported by Karl Heinz’s spouse
Willy, familiar to insiders as the vital though anonymous background
actress) has assumed the functions of volume editor.
The Chenopodiaceae are one of the most
important families for the Flora iranica region, not because
they would have a primary evolutionary centre there (in fact,
the rate of endemism is relatively low) but because their representatives
tend to play a dominant role in the arid and saline habitats so
widespread in that area. They are also a notoriously difficult
group, due to vegetative plasticity and late maturity of the diagnostically
essential fruits and seeds. Even the specialist is often at a
loss when asked to identify sterile or immature specimens. The
abundant recent material available to the authors of this account,
collected by the late specialist Aellen, numerous Iranian botanists,
and the principal authors themselves, is at the basis of a much
improved circumscription and diagnostic characterisation of the
critical chenopodiaceous taxa of the region.
Species diversity, if not endemism, is considerable.
there are 44 chenopodiaceous genera with 227 species in the area.
Hedge has authored the treatments of all small and medium-sized
genera (except Spinacia, by Uotila), plus Atriplex
(21 species). The four other major genera were assigned as follows:
Salsola (48 species) to Freitag and (for sect. Salsola)
Rilke, Chenopodium (23) to Uotila, Suaeda (16) to
Akhani & Podlech, and Halothamnus (15) to Kothe-Heinrich.
As a separate index to nomenclatural novelties is (regrettably)
wanting, it may be useful to point out that three of the species
are described as new (Salsola maimanica Freitag, S.
makranica Freiteg, and Suaeda baluchistanica Akhani
& Podlech), and three new subspecific combinations in Salsola
are proposed (on pp. 248, 250, and 252).
As usual, the very generous illustration deserves
a special mention. Most of the extra plates are photographs of
selected herbarium specimens which, while of high technical standard,
are perhaps less useful in this family than in others – especially
when reduced in scale. The scanning micrographs of Chenopodium
seeds (plates 25-26) are therefore particularly welcome, as are
the drawings of habit and detail. Since the overview of illustrations,
announced in the acknowledgements on p. 357, has been omitted
due to some technical oversight, the following digest (including
data kindly provided by Ian Hedge) may be of use:
- Fig. 1 (p. 8) and 2 (p. 10) illustrate the
morphological glossary by Hedge; they are initialled gar, which
stands for Glenn A. Rodrigues, Edinburgh;
- Fig. 3-6 (pp. 158-161) represent details of
Salsola; they are unsigned but due, not to the text author
(Freitag) but to Udo Schradin, Kassel; the same may or may not
apply to plate 212, with similar details;
- Fig. 7-8 (pp. 257-258), with fruiting perianths
of Halothamnus, are reproduced from Kothe-Heinrich’s
monograph (in Biblioth. Bot. 143: fig. 18-19, 21, 23, 26, 33,
35, 43, 47, 55. 1993) and are similarly due, not to that author
but to Udo Schradin;
- Plates 8-24 (Chenopodium) and 27-30
(Spinacia) show general habit and (often) fruiting perianths
and are signed Marja Koistinen, Helsinki;
- The scanning micrographs of plates 25-26 were
made by Vanamo Salo, Helsinki;
- The specimen photographs (Plates 1-7, 31-211)
were made by Debbie White and Phil Hyne, Edinburgh.
Four strides are left: Pteridophyta, Cyperaceae,
Rubiaceae, and (the real giant) Astragalus. One on
each of Rechinger’s successive birthday tables? This would,
for sure, be the best recipe for keeping him active and healthy!
W.G.
- M. Assadi, M. Khatamsaz, V. Mozaffarian
& A. A. Maassoumi (ed.) – Flora of Iran. No. 18:
Mimosaceae, by M. Zaeifi.– Research Institute of
Forests and Rangelands, [Tehran], "1995". 35 + [2]
pages, figures, paper.
I have had repeatedly the opportunity here to
present the successive instalments of Flora of Iran (see
OPTIMA Newslett. 25-29: (31-32). 1991; 30: (15). 1996; 31: (8).
1997), commending it unrestrictedly for use by those who are familiar
with Persian language and Arabic script. The present, new issue,
covering a small but important family of woody plants with three
genera (Acacia, Albizia, Prosopis) and 10 native species
in Iran, makes no exception.
As compared to Rechinger’s Flora iranica
treatment of 10 years before, a number of changes may be noted.
They concern one additional species (Acacia tortilis),
the dismissal of another one (A. farnesiana) as non-native,
and two name changes: "A. hydaspica" to A.
ehrenbergiana, and "Prosopis glandulosa"
reduced to synonymy under P. juliflora. Each of the 10
native species is illustrated on a full page, with a silhouette
drawing of its general habit usefully complementing the careful
drawings of detail. One minor criticism that one might make is
of a technical kind, concerning the rather poor printing quality
(partly too pale, and partly with smeared ink). W.G.
Index
Flower
books
- Peter Schönfelder & Ingrid Schönfelder
– Die Kosmos-Kanarenflora. Über 850 Arten der Kanarenflora
und 48 tropische Ziergehölze. – Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart,
1997 (ISBN 3-440-06037-3). [2] + 319 + [2] pages (incl. inside
back cover), drawings, maps, and colour photographs, hard cover.
Price: DM. 58.
This is not really, as one might at first suspect,
a new competitor for Hohenester & Welss’s recent Excursion
Flora for the Canary Islands (see OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (9-10).
1996) but rather its complement and potential companion in the
field. While similar in size and general appearance, it is not,
as the other book, a complete pocket Flora with keys for identification,
and it does not primarily address the botanical crack but rather
the leisurely plant lover and spare-time wildflower fan. In the
present, new book, identification keys stop at the family level,
and designating the main portion, with its systematically arranged
illustrations and short descriptive texts, as "Bestimmungsteil"
[identification part], as was done in the table of contents (but
not in a subtitle in the book itself), is plainly abusive. Similarly
abusive is the claim, raised via the subtitle, that over 850 wild
species are covered in addition to 48 ornamentals: the number
of species illustrated and fully (if shortly) described barely
exceeds 500 – the difference perhaps pertaining to species
briefly mentioned in the form of notes.
What makes it worth while possessing this book
are clearly the illustrations, most particularly the gorgeous
and excellently printed colour photographs. It is not the first
time that I am compelled to express my admiration for the photographic
skills of this same author team – think of their 1984 guide
to Mediterranean plants published in the same series of "Kosmos
Naturführer" (OPTIMA Newslett. 17-19: 39. 1985), and of their
recent photographic Atlas of Mediterranean and Canary plants
(OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (16). 1996) on which the present book partly
draws. The introductory general chapters, too, are generously
illustrated in colour. Besides, there are minute maps showing
the island-by-island distribution of the illustrated species,
line drawings of leaves to accompany the key to sterile trees
printed on the unpaged cover board insides, and nice but much
too small drawings of (alas, unnamed) representative species to
illustrate the family key. W.G.
- Christopher North – A botanical tour
round the Mediterranean. – New Millennium, London,
1997 (ISBN 1-85845-075-6). xiv + 502 pages, figures and colour
photographs, laminated cover. Price: £ 17.50.
A peculiar book, really. Not a useful one, I should
say, but having that particular charm to it that only the British
can really appreciate. As the cover text puts it, "essentially
a traveller’s guide for amateur plant enthusiasts to be carried
on journeys or browsed through on cold winter evenings".
When the same text goes on to mention "its glorious colour
plates and its mass of excellent line drawings" I feel more
doubtful. The line drawings are plentiful but crude, and the 8
colour plates which, adding frontispiece and front cover, show
18 species in all, are of lower than average quality.
All depends on your expectations. If you want
an account of where a botanically interested traveller may go
in the vast area between southern Portugal and Israel, and what
he or she may see, you will be reasonably well served – the
qualification "reasonably" referring to poor indexing
(although this is not stated, the plant name index refers only
to the figures, of which a single one is cited even if there are
two, and not at all to mere mentions in the text) and to the fact
that Tunisia alone stands for the whole of North Africa. If you
want to recognise or identify plants you find in a given region,
look for some other book. But above all, do not take this to be
a scientifically accurate source of knowledge.
To test reliability I have leafed through the
thirty pages devoted to the island of Crete, with which I am reasonably
familiar. No qualms as to the trips advised, their choice being
a matter of taste and opportunity. But forgetting about misprints
and misspelling of plant names, or use of different names for
the same species ("Precopiana" cretica on p.
343, Symphytum creticum on p. 351), there are some data
that are clearly in error.
Muscari macrocarpum, once doubtfully reported
from the Sitia area, is not to be found near Paleohora (as on
p. 336) where it may have been confused with Bellevalia brevipedicellata.
The White Mountain endemics Chionodoxa cretica and
C. nana are indeed conspecific, and synonymous with Scilla
nana, as discussed on p. 341, but the plant on Mt Psiloritis
(p. 352) is not S. cretica, nor is that of the Dhikti Mts
S. nana (p. 358), since both belong to a second species,
S. albescens. Crocus veluchensis is a spring-flowering
mountain plant of mainland Greece and the Balkans but does not
flower in autumn in the Samaria gorge, where perhaps C. oreocreticus
may have been confused with it. Romulea ramiflora, an inhabitant
of coastal marshlands, may well grow near Paleohora (p. 336) but
not on the Lasithi plateau (p. 357) where R. bulbocodium
is to be expected. Neither Alyssum idaeum (p. 345), an
endemic of Mt Psiloritis, nor Ranunculus "laterifolius"
(p. 346), which has its only Cretan occurrence farther down on
the Omalos plain, occur in the higher parts of the Lefka Ori.
And I could go on almost indefinitely.
Once again: the book has its charm, so do not
lightly dismiss it on the basis of the above shortcomings; but
do not take it too seriously, either. W.G.
- Walter Strasser – Pflanzen des Peloponnes
(Süd-Griechenland). – Gantner, Vaduz, 1997 (ISBN 3-904144-05-7).
–[2] + 321 pages, figures, laminated cover. Price: DM 40.
A practical field vademecum, following faithfully
the model and pattern of the same author’s booklet on East
Aegean plants (see OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (19). 1996). It consists
essentially of simple and unpretentious drawings which however,
having been made by a connoisseur, are faithful and detailed enough
to be truly helpful for identification purposes. Added underneath
are extremely synthetic characterisations of morphology and habitat,
for the purpose of cross-checking. Only for a few polymorphic
groups are identification keys provided in addition, at the end
(Medicago, Trifolium [where T. xanthinum is lacking],
yellow-flowered Compositae) or intercalated in the main
treatment (Bromus). There is a one-page explanation in
English, including translation of the abbreviations used (except
do. = ditto, judged to be self-explanatory), which may come in
handy for the non German-speaking.
The species are again arranged in more or less
artificial groups (pteridophytes, grass-like plants, orchids,
woody plants [except dwarf shrubs], plus six groups defined by
flower colour of which the last, two-coloured flowers, is new).
[By two-coloured, also species in which flower colour changes
during anthesis as well as those with contrasting colours between
corolla and bracts are meant.] While this grouping is rather awkward
at first and may cause difficulties and doubts, it is apparently
less of a repellent to non-botanical users than a natural arrangement
by families.
What is truly impressive is the degree of coverage
attained, with a large majority of the native flora being treated
(very common and extremely rare species being omitted, along with
"hopeless" cases such as Taraxacum agamospecies
and most fescue grasses) and 90 % of those treated, illustrated.
The "extremely rare" category includes species just
recently rediscovered, perhaps not available to the author for
drawing, such as Adonis cyllenea, Biebersteinia orphanidis,
and Helichrysum taenari. Most of the endemics, even when
rare and very local, are however included. A few of the c. 1800
drawings, relating to species with alternative flower colour,
are duplicated. W.G.
Index
Floristic
inventories and checklists
- Toni Nikolic (ed.) – Flora croatica
Index florae croaticae. Pars 2. [Natura Croatica,
6, Suppl. 1]. – Hrvatski prirodoslovni muzej, Zagreb,
1997. 232 pages, laminated cover.
The new checklist of the vascular flora of the
Republic of Croatia is a project that started in 1993 and is making
quick progress towards its completion. The first volume, not available
to us in print, was issued at the end of 1994 as Supplement 2
to Natura Croatica, vol. 3, and is said to comprise 116
pages. It is now accessible online (http://pubwww.srce.hr/botanic/cisb/doc/flora/check/popisFH.html)
and covers the pteridophytes, gymnosperms and first part of the
dicots: subclasses Magnoliidae, Ranunculidae, Hamamelididae,
Caryophyllidae, and the first three families of the Dilleniidae
(Guttiferae, Elatinaceae, Paeoniaceae). The present, second
volume deals with the remainder of the Dilleniidae, the
Rosidae, and the beginning of the Asteridae (orders:
Gentianales, Oleales, and Solanales). The major
three among the 71 families (393 genera) included this time are
the Leguminosae (60 genera), Rosaceae (33), and
Umbelliferae (65).
The treatment is simple and straightforward. Genera
are arranged alphabetically within families, as are species within
genera. The accepted names of species are cited with their place
of original publication, synonyms are merely listed without full
reference to their source and without distinction between homotypic
and heterotypic ones. No distributional data are provided, but
some additional information is given, such as [Balkan] endemic
status and IUCN red data category. The question mark is used freely
but indiscriminately (which is a real pity), to indicate either
doubtful taxonomic status or doubtful presence in Croatia. Vernacular
designations are provided only at generic level, pending further
investigation. The most important and welcome feature are extensive
additional literature references for individual taxa (families,
genera, species), listed alphabetically under the respective plant
name at the end. This very extensive and well researched bibliography,
running over 103 pages, adds considerable weight and value to
the efforts of our Croatian colleagues and makes their inventory
worth consulting for many a European botanist. W.G.
- Lance Chilton & Nicholas J. Turland
– Flora of Crete. A supplement. – Marengo, Retford,
1997 (ISBN 1-900802-45-7). 125 + 47 pages, maps, laminated cover.
Price: £ 10.
An impressive amount of new floristic information
has accumulated in the four years since Turland & al.’s
Flora of the Cretan area was published (see OPTIMA Newslett.
30: (23-24). 1996). The supplementary data were partly found in
(mostly very recent) publications, but a considerable share are
the authors’ own findings, made during no less than 10 campaigns
to Crete and (once) Karpathos in the years 1993 to 1996. New discoveries
of note include a number of species formerly unknown or known
only with doubt from the area; a second European occurrence of
Androcymbium rechingeri, on Karpathos; the first find of
Centaurea lancifolia outside of the White Mountains, in
the Dhikti massif; and conversely, the discovery of the supposed
Dhikti endemic, Vincetoxicum creticum, on W. Cretan Mt
Krioneritis – a particularly good terrain for floristic novelties,
which also yielded the second known locality of Dianthus pulviniformis.
The present supplement, designed for being used
in conjunction with the Flora, includes not only these major novelties
but countless updates of detail, most often concerning habitat
and altitudinal range – fields in which the authors’
growing experience has led to many improvements. No less than
282 distribution maps have either been added or republished in
updated or amended form, which is about 15 % of the total!
The republished maps include those 7 which had originally been
published with a wrong caption, as I had pointed out in my earlier
review – but if the authors’ cursory statements are
to be taken at face value, there must have been a cryptic second
edition of their Flora (they speak of a "second printing"),
nowhere quoted as such and unknown to me, in which 5 of the 7
original errors had already been rectified. Obviously a nice little
riddle for some future bibliographic crack. W.G.
Index
Excursions
- Ina Dinter – Botanische Exkursion.
Zypern – der nördliche Landesteil – vom 10.-24.
März 1996 [Ausarbeitung]. – Privately assembled/duplicated,
D-74348 Lauffen, 1996. 79 numbered sheets, black-and-while illustrations,
paper with plastic front cover sheet.
- Ina Dinter – Botanische Studienreise.
Insel Korfu (Ionische Inseln Griechenland) vom 11.-26. April
1997. – Privately assembled/duplicated, D-74348 Lauffen,
1997. [2] pages + 94 numbered sheets, black-and-while illustrations,
paper with plastic front cover sheet.
Ina Dinter’s botanical excursions are among
the best organised of their kind. Each is obviously preceded by
a full-scale preparatory excursion, which is thoroughly documented
for the benefit of the participants. In addition, as soon as the
excursion is over its results are worked out and distributed among
the members of the group. In other words, two documents may exist
for one and the same excursion, which from the outer look are
almost identical. In the case of the Cyprus excursion, the version
reviewed last time (in OPTIMA Newslett. 31: (12), No. 25. 1997)
was the preliminary one, dated December 1995 in the impressum
and available during the excursion, in which the plant lists and
their cumulation at the end refer to the pre-excursion of March
1995. The new version cited above is dated August 1996 and has
the lists completely re-made, to include only the plants that
were actually seen in 1996 (except that the numerical list of
1995 specimens has been maintained). An entirely new addition
is a list of birds observed by the participants.
The Kerkira excursion guide, dated August 1997,
corresponds to the elaborate post-excursion version. In its make-up
it is very similar to the previous item, with general introductory
matter (including [authorised!] re-publication of an earlier text
by Willing, on the island’s biota and vegetation) preceding
the detailed excursion accounts and cumulative plant list (from
which the two last localities were accidentally omitted). Unexpectedly,
the reader will find an original contribution to German lyrics
at the end (two pages of limericks by one of the participants)
as well as, perhaps more importantly, a hitherto unpublished update
of Borkowsky’s 1994 Checklist of the flora of Corfu, incorporating
that author’s new floristic finds of the last three years.
The orchidophile will rejoice at Ms Dinter’s colour photograph
of Orchis albanica Gölz & H. R. Reinhard, a recent addition
to the Greek flora. W.G.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for El Hierro
[Canary Islands], ed. 2. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1995 (ISBN 1-900802-31-7). 16 pages, paper. Price: £St
3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for La Palma
[Canary Islands], ed. 2. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1994 (ISBN 1-900802-34-1). [20] pages, paper. Price:
£St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for La Gomera
[Canary Islands], ed. 4. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1995 rev. 1997 (ISBN 1-900802-29-5). 20 pages, paper.
Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Tenerife
[Canary Islands], ed. 2. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1994 (ISBN 1-900802-35-x). [30] pages, paper. Price:
£St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Gran
Canaria [Canary Islands], ed. 2. – Marengo Publ.,
Retford, Notts., 1995 (ISBN 1-900802-30-9). 28 pages, paper.
Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Fuerteventura
[Canary Islands], ed. 2. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1994 (ISBN 1-900802-28-7). [16] pages, paper. Price:
£St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Lanzarote
[Canary Islands], ed. 2. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1994 (ISBN 1-900802-32-5). [15] pages, paper. Price:
£St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Madeira
including Porto Santo and Desertas islands. – Marengo
Publ., Retford, Notts., 1995 (ISBN 1-900802-33-3). 28 pages,
paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for the
Pyrenees. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1997 (ISBN
1-900802-56-2). 36 pages, paper.
- Lance Chilton – Provisional plant list
for Corfu (Greece, Ionian Islands), ed. 2. – Marengo
Publ., Retford, Notts., 1995 rev. 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-17-1).
24 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Keith Allen & Lance Chilton – Plant
list for Aghios Georgious (North Corfu), ed. 2. – Marengo
Publ., Retford, Notts., 1995 (ISBN 1-900802-16-3). 24 pages,
paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Stoupa,
Peloponnisos 1992-93. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts.,
1993. 19 pages, paper.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Crete
(Greece: South Aegean). – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts.,
1994 (ISBN 1-900802-18-x). 40 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Georgioupolis,
Kavros & Lake Kournas, ed. 2. – Marengo Publ.,
Retford, Notts., 1995 (ISBN 1-900802-19-8). 16 pages, paper.
Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Plakias,
Crete, ed. 10. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1993
rev. 1997 (ISBN 1-900802-23-6). 24 pages, paper. Price: £St
3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Karpathos
(Greece: South Aegean). – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts.,
1995 (ISBN 1-900802-20-1). 24 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Rhodes
(Greece: East Aegean Islands). – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1993. 24 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Keith Allen & Lance Chilton – Plant
list for Lindos & Pefkos, Rhodes, ed. 3. – Marengo
Publ., Retford, Notts., 1995 (ISBN 1-900802-22-8). [16] pages,
paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Skala
Potamias, Thasos (Greece: North Aegean Islands: Northeast
Thasos).. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1997 (ISBN
1-900802-51-1). 12 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Lesvos
(Greece: East Aegean Islands). – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1997 (ISBN 1-900802-50-3). 24 pages, paper. Price: £St
3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Samos
(Greece: East Aegean Islands), ed. 2. – Marengo Publ.,
Retford, Notts., 1994 rev. 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-25-2). 24 pages,
paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton –Plant list for Kokkari,
Samos (Greece: East Aegean Islands), ed. 2. – Marengo
Publ., Retford, Notts., 1994 rev. 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-21-x).
24 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Cyprus.
– Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1997 (ISBN 1-900802-55-4).
36 pages, paper.
- Lance Chilton – Plant list for Akamas,
Cyprus. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1995 (ISBN
1-900802-27-9). 16 pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
These are checklists in the classical sense of
the word: unpretentious lists on which you may hook off the species
you have found, or underscore those you are looking for. They
are always to be used in conjunction with a flora or field guide
(suggestions are included) where author citations for scientific
names (lacking in the lists) may be found. Companion publications
with routes for suggested trips, in which the area covered is
defined, are available in several cases (see below). Sometimes,
non-exhaustive lists of certain animals (e.g., birds and butterflies)
are appended, and a few of the pamphlets are delivered with updates
on loose inserted sheets. Indication of native or endemic status
and English names are provided routinely where appropriate. W.G.
- Lance Chilton – La Gomera for walkers.
– Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-52-x).
40 pages, maps, 1 folded colour map, paper and plastic pocket.
Price: £St 6.00.
- Lance Chilton – Walks in the Aghios
Georgious area, Northwest Corfu. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-38-4). 20 pages, maps, 1 folded
colour map, paper and plastic pocket. Price: £St 5.00.
- Lance Chilton – Six walks in the Stoupa
area. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996 (ISBN
1-900802-14-7). 20 pages, maps, 1 folded colour map, paper and
plastic pocket. Price: £St 5.00.
- Lance Chilton – Six walks in the Georgioupolis
area. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996 (ISBN
1-900802-02-3). 20 pages, maps on cover insides, 1 folded colour
map, paper and plastic pocket. Price: £St 4.00.
- Lance Chilton – Ten walks in the Plakias
area, ed. 4. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996
(ISBN 1-900802-09-0). 20 pages, maps, 1 folded double-sided
colour map, paper and plastic pocket. Price: £St 5.00.
- Lance Chilton – Seven more – and
more challenging – walks in the Plakias area. –
Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-07-4). 32
pages, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – walks in Northeast
Thasos. Walks in the Skala Potamias area. – Marengo
Publ., Retford, Notts., 1997 (ISBN 1-900802-49-x). 24 pages,
maps, paper. Price: £St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – walks in North Lesvos.
Walks from Anaxos and Petra. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1997 (ISBN 1-900802-48-1). 24 pages, maps, paper. Price:
£St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – walks in the Kokkari
area of Samos. – Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996
(ISBN 1-900802-44-9). 28 pages, maps, 1 folded colour map, paper
and plastic pocket. Price: £St 5.00.
- Lance Chilton – Eight walks in the
Lindos & Pefkos area. – Marengo Publ., Retford,
Notts., 1994 (ISBN 1-900802-04-x). 19 pages, maps, 2 folded
double-sided maps (1 in colour), paper and plastic pocket. Price:
£St 3.00.
- Lance Chilton – walks in the Akamas
area. Includes Polis, Latchi, Neohorio and Drousha. –
Marengo Publ., Retford, Notts., 1996 (ISBN 1-900802-41-4). 24
pages, maps, 1 folded colour map, paper and plastic pocket.
Price: £St 5.00.
Classical hikers’ itineraries, giving detailed
descriptions of paths and sometimes taverns, but little if any
botanical data. Maps and booklets can be obtained separately:
please enquire at the new address of Marengo Publishers: 17 Bernard
Crescent, Hunstanton, Norfolk PE36 6ER, U.K. W.G.
- Ralf Jahn (ed.) – Kreta. Botanische
Exkursion für Fortgeschrittene, 14.-27. April 1996 – Institut
für Botanik, Universität Regensburg, [1996]. 49 pages, black-and-white
illustrations, loose sheets.
A small group of 15 teachers and students of Regensburg
University, headed by Peter Schönfelder, must have spent a busy
fortnight in Crete. They collected or noted 874 taxa in 70 different
localities, corresponding to 5413 floristic records in total.
The core data are concentrated on just over 12 pages. The remainder
of the account essentially consists of descriptions of itineraries
and characterizations of collecting localities, illustrated by
some photographs. Hidden in the general species list and easily
overlooked are three corrections to the captions of the photographs
in Jahn & Schönfelder’s recent excursion flora (see OPTIMA
Newslett. 30: (13). 1996): "Erysimum candicum"
being in fact E. raulinii, "Arum cyrenaicum"
representing A. concinnatum, and "Bellevalia bevipedicellata"
corresponding to a still undescribed, tetraploid vicarious taxon
from eastern Crete. W.G.
Index
Chorology
- Jaakko Jalas & Juha Suominen –
Atlas florae europaeae. Distribution of vascular plants
in Europe, 11, Cruciferae (Ricotia to Raphanus).
– Committee for Mapping the Flora of Europe & Societas
Botanica Fennica Vanamo, Helsinki, 1996 (ISBN 951-9108-11-4,
-09-2). 310, pages, maps, paper.
The newest addition to the mammoth project of
mapping the vascular flora of the whole of Europe is devoted to
the second half of the family Cruciferae. It includes 494
maps, numbered 2434 to 2927, and the usual large amount of critical
corollary matter, based on an incredibly complete survey of the
relevant literature. One more fascicle, and the maps corresponding
to vol. 1 of Flora europaea will be complete. Dare we extrapolate
and predict that the Atlas when achieved will consist of
60 parts, and that completion will take another 120 years? This
might seems a sound prediction, but would fail to take into account
the change that has taken place since my first forecast was made
(3-4 centuries for completion; see OPTIMA Newslett. 10/11: 37.
1980), when fascicle 5 had been published. Comparing fasc. 1-6
with fasc. 7-11, one finds that the average map output has doubled
(to 150 maps per year) and fascicle size has even more strongly
increased (from 170 to 380 maps per fascicle). make your own prediction!
Since, however you count, none alive is likely
to see the end of the venture, quality of the available product
is more interesting than speed, for the time being. Quality is
indeed impressive as far as the taxonomic and nomenclatural frame
is concerned, into which much effort has gone and in which doubtless
much expert advice from the extensive network of collaborators
has been incorporated. One gets the impression that the Atlas
is much more thorough, careful and complete an update than the
second edition of Flora europaea, volume 1, has been. Thanks
to the tabular listing of changes in the Atlas with respect
to both editions of the Flora, this is a testable hypothesis.
Since the time lag between the two editions of the Flora
was 29 years and that between ed. 2 of the Flora and fasc.
11 of the Atlas, 3 years, our null hypothesis must be that,
quality standards being equal, at least 90 % of the changes
of the Atlas with respect to ed. 1 of the Flora
will have been implemented already in the latter’s ed. 2.
For the purpose of the present comparison, I shall make a distinction
between taxonomic changes (synonymisation or resurrection of taxa,
transfer in rank or position), floristic changes (disagreement
on presence or absence, for Europe as a whole), and nomenclatural
changes (but discounting mere changes in spelling or authorship);
for the purpose of this comparison, I have counted newly described
taxa as belonging for one half to taxonomy (newly distinguished
taxa) and one half to floristics (newly discovered ones).
The results are quite significant. Of 186 taxonomic
changes in the Atlas with respect to the Flora,
ed. 1, only 66 (35 %) had been effected in ed. 2. one may
argue that taxonomy is often a matter of opinion, and that it
is natural that the Flora was reluctant to incorporate
changes unless they were demonstrably needed. But how about the
other categories of change, for which there are factual reasons?
Well, the situation there was found to be even worse: only 31 %
(15 out of 48) of the floristic changes, and merely 25 %
(6 of 24) of the nomenclatural changes had entered the 2nd
edition of Flora europaea. These figures do not even yet
include cases such as Thlaspi rotundifolium (see OPTIMA
Newslett. 31: (11). 1997), in which the Atlas corrected
an error introduced by ed. 2 with respect to ed. 1 of the Flora.
I dare say that the original hypothesis has been proved beyond
possible doubt. Yet, do not take this result as disparaging for
Flora europaea: it is fully to the credit of the Atlas,
and demonstrates how much is to be gained in such a project by
involving the greatest number possible of people (as was done
for the first but not the second edition of Flora europaea).
While the taxonomic and nomenclatural judgement
on the Atlas can use but the most flattering terms, it
is more difficult to form an opinion on the maps themselves. Too
much depends on the quality of the data delivered by the individual
correspondents and country co-ordinators, on which the secretarial
team at Helsinki can take but little influence. Fortunately, the
days when whole countries failed to submit data and had to be
left blank on the maps are past. But there is still at least one
case in which, obviously, a country just assumes that a "widespread"
taxon occurs in each and every square, irrespective of the existence
of concrete data supporting such presence. When you look at the
odd distribution patterns in the maps of, e.g., Camelina, Neslia,
and Raphanus taxa, each with a solid black island covering
the whole of Bulgaria, you will see what I mean. Perhaps some
educational effort might, in such blatant cases, be appropriate.
W.G.
- Oriol de Bolòs i Capdevila, Xavier Font
i Castell, Xavier Pons i Fernández & Josep Vigo i Bonada
(ed.) – Atlas corològic de la flora vascular dels Països
Catalans. Vol. 5, 6 [ORCA: Atlas corològic,
5, 6]. – Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Secció de Ciències
Biològiques, Carme 47, E-08001 Barcelona, 1995, 1997 (ISBN 84-7283-301-1
& -361-5). [375], [713] pages, maps 619-800, 801-1145 +
816bis, 863bis, 981bis; paper.
The floristic mapping scheme for Catalonia, governed
by the Organisation for the Mapping of plants of the Catalan Countries
(ORCA; see OPTIMA Newslett. 20-24: (45-46). 1988; 30: (28). 1996;
31: (13-14). 1997) appears to have attained its full cruising
speed. In less than two years 530 maps have been published, as
compared to 618 in the preceding ten years.
Whereas the presentation of data in the early
volumes was apparently random, the new volumes (as already vol.
4 and most of vol. 3) are arranged strictly in conformity with
the sequence and numbering of the taxa in Bolòs & al.’s
Flora manual dels Països Catalans. There is a single exception:
map 619 is a replacement for map 537 (Ranunculus muricatus)
where there had been a trascription error. Otherwise, vol. 5 is
entirely devoted to the two families Saxifragaceae and
Rosaceae, and vol. 6 to the legumes. A few of the numbered
taxa of the Flora are missing, but this is apparently due,
either to there being no reliable data on native occurrence available
(in the case of some very rare, doubtfully recorded or doubtfully
native plants), or to difficulties in distinguishing between taxa
(as in Rubus, where in three cases series are mapped rather
than species, or in Alchemilla, where some of the subspecies
[or microspecies] are missing). In other words, mapping of the
first 650 numbered species of the Flora manual (with four
possible exception mentioned in OPTIMA Newslett. 31: (14). 1997,
and disregarding possible future updates) is now complete.
Among the maps, there are six that deserve being
mentioned as presenting new additions with respect to the inventory
of the Flora manual: Nos 638, Saxifraga cotyledon L.;
644, S. carpetana Boiss. & Reut.; 816bis, Genista
lobelii DC. subsp. lobelii; 863bis, Astragalus alopecuroides
subsp. grosii (Pau) Rivas Goday & Rivas Mart.; 981bis,
the recently described Ononis rentonarensis M. B. Crespo
& L. Serra; and 1045, Trifolium phleoides Pourr. ex
Willd. Not surprisingly, the increased floristic activities resulting
from the mapping project bear fruit. W.G.
- L. Delvosalle – Dixième série de précartes
de l’Institut Floristique Franco-Belge. [Documents
floristiques, 5(4)]. – Institut Floristique Franco-Belge,
Lille, & Centre régional de Phytosociologie / Conservatoire
Botanique National, Bailleul, 1995. [1] + 94 sheets, paper.
Price: FF 140.
This is not a self-contained publication. Not
even through the title may one guess what it is about, nor is
there any introductory material deserving that designation. What
the pamphlet consists of is a series of 59 grid maps of vascular
plants (numbered 794-850, 51 bis and 83 bis, the two last being
updates) covering Belgium, Luxemburg, northern France (roughly
from Saint-Malo at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula east to
Strasbourg), the southern half of the Netherlands, and a strip
of north-western Germany. The selection of taxa is completely
arbitrary, and the order, alphabetical by Latin species names.
Almost one third of the volume consists of a double (!) cumulative
index of the ten published map series.
In his introductory statement, Delvosalle announces
the publication of a complete Atlas in the near future. That’s
good news. It also means that the money used for printing these
interim maps could have been saved. Rather than encumbering our
book shelves where they are difficult to access and to use, these
preliminary maps should have been made available on the internet
for easy consultation and with continual updating. If you look
for an example in which electronic publication is largely superior
to traditional print, here it is. W.G.
- Kazimierz Browicz – Chorology of trees
and shrubs in South-West Asia and adjacent regions. Phytogeographical
analysis. – Bogucki & Institute of Dendrology,
Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznao, 1997 (ISBN 83-86001-39-9).
18 pages, 6 maps, paper.
This is not just one further addition to Browicz’s
monumental Chorology (see OPTIMA Newslett. 31: (14). 1997),
but rather a synthesis of its published 575 (plus 25 unpublished)
distribution maps. Browicz assigns the mapped species to six major
phytogeographical elements on the basis of their predominant distribution
(excluding 33 bi- or pluriregional species): Euro-Siberian s.str.,
Euxino-Hyrcanian (often included among the former by other authors),
Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian, Sino-Japanese, and Afro-Sindian.
He then presents grid maps of species diversity for the various
elements.
The synthetic picture conveyed by these maps,
which show very clearly the extension of the various phytogeographical
domains in S.W. Asia, the southern Balkans, and N.E. Africa, gains
in importance by the fact that they are based on concrete data
not extrapolations or guesses. It is the first time to my knowledge
that the phytogeography of the area has been appraised on such
a solid and broad basis. My only (minor) regret is that the western
end of the map relating to the Euro-Siberian element, essentially
Greece, has been chopped off by some accident. W.G.
Index
Regional
studies of flora and vegetation
- Matías Mayor López – Indicatores ecológicos
y grupos socioecológicos en el Principado de Asturias (Sierra
del Aramo). – Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, 1996 (ISBN
84-7468-921-x). 133 pages, 10 figures, flexible cover.
The Sierra del Aramo (1782 m) is a massif belonging
to the Cordillera Cantábrica and situated S.W. of Oviedo. This
booklet describes its vegetation in terms of "socio-ecological
groups" (no formal syntaxa are recognised), lists its vascular
flora, and characterises each taxon by its ecological indicator
value: a 6-digit index in which each digit stands for an ecological
parameter (light, temperature, climate continentality, moisture,
soil acidity, and nitrogen content) of which the required or preferred
degree is indicated within a range of values scaled from 1 to
5. The problem, it seems to me, is that it remains unclear how
exactly these values have been assessed for each individual species;
they cannot possibly have been just estimated!?
Curiously the indicator value list, which is arranged
systematically, starts with one of the four "absolute average"
species, scoring 33333: Equisetum arvense; the three other
being Anemone nemorosa, Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, and
Vicia sepium. Has anyone yet seen the four of them growing
associated in nature? W.G.
- Josep Vigo i Bonada – El poblament
vegetal de la Vall de Ribes. Les comunitats vegetals i el
paisatge. Josep Vigo i Bonada & Ramon M. Masalles i Saumell
– Mapa de vegetació 1:50 000. – Institut
cartogràfic de Catalunya, Barcelona, 1996 (ISBN 84-393-3986-0).
468 pages, 15 figures, tables, separate folded colour map, paper
in protective plastic pouch.
This is the second half of a general botanical
study of a Spanish (sorry: Catalan) border area in the high Pyrenees,
of which the first half, dealing with the flora, was published
13 years ago as volume 35 of the Acta botanica barcinonensia
(see OPTIMA Newslett. 17-19: 57-58. 1985). That first portion
also includes general chapter on physical environment and human
geography, not repeated here.
The entire volume is thus devoted to a thorough
study of the vegetation of the high mountain valley that takes
its name from the village Ribes de Freser situated at its centre.
There are descriptive and analytical chapters, and a section considering
vegetation dynamics. The folded vegetation map (1 . 50,000)
has smaller inserts showing the topography and geological substratum.
The vegetation neatly reflects the duality of the mother rock,
which consists of schist in the high frontier chain to the north
but of limestone in the lower ridges delimiting the river basin
to the south. On the two final pages, Vigo presents us with a
(second) update to his earlier floristic inventory. W.G.
- Llorenç Sáez i Goñalons & Josep Vicens
i Fandos – Plantes vasculars del quadrat UTM 31S DE80 Puig
Major (Mallorca) [ORCA: Catàlegs floristics locals,
8]. – Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Secció de Ciències
Biològiques, Barcelona, 1997 (ISBN 84-7283-367-4). 77 pages,
4 figures, paper.
This is but the eighth out of a total of 848 possible
similar pamphlets, each treating of one mapping grid unit area,
that would fit in this series of ORCA publications (see also item
58, above). Earlier publications of this series were previously
reviewed in some detail (see OPTIMA Newslett. 25-29: (35). 1991;
31: (15-16). 1997). This one is the second study of an island
territory in this series (after No. 4, on the Columbretes), and
the first on the Balearic Islands, of which it encompasses the
two highest peaks (Puig Major, 1447 m, and Puig de Maçanella,
1367 m), while reaching down almost to the shoreline in the north.
The area, situated in the highly karstified limestone range of
northern Mallorca, is notoriously rich in insular endemics, some
very rare and local. Yet the total number of recorded taxa, 750,
is just about average for a square of this size at middle altitudes.
W.G.
Index
Applied
botany
- Karl Hammer, Helmut Knüpffer, Gaetano Laghetti
& Pietro Perrino – Seeds from the past. A catalogue
of crop germplasm in southern Italy and Sicily. – Institut
für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Gatersleben
& Istituto del Germoplasma, Bari, 1992. [4] + ii + 173 pages,
2 maps, 2 tables, paper.
The interest of the well-known Gatersleben research
institute of the former Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic
Republic in the cultivated plants of southern Italy goes back
to an early collecting expedition by R. Maly to Calabria and N.E.
Sicily, in 1950. Since 1980, exploration has been intensified
and widened to the whole of southern Italy (Campania, Basilicata,
Apulia, Calabria) and Sicily, under a bilateral co-operation agreement
between Gatersleben and the germplasm institute in Bari. To the
535 seed samples collected by Maly, mostly still kept at Gatersleben,
1622 samples collected between 1980 and 1988 have been added,
preserved at Bari and duplicated elsewhere. Most of these samples
concern major crops and their land-races, where genetic erosion
has progressed catastrophically in the last few decades, but minor
crops and potential wild progenitors of cultivated plants were
also collected.
This book is not however an inventory of samples
in seed-banks (which are mentioned only in statistical terms).
It is essentially a catalogue of the cultivated plants of the
area, including potential wild progenitors but excluding ornamentals.
541 taxa belonging to 522 different species are listed, each with
its (cultivated) distribution, usage, local vernacular appellations,
wild origin, and often notes on its history. There is a voluminous
bibliography to document the sources of the data, and an impressive
index to vernaculars, with almost 3000 entries. The catalogue
is thus a convenient source work for a vast amount of information
that is often neglected in floristic literature and thus difficult
to access. It is also a vivid demonstration of the importance
of southern Italy and Sicily as source areas for the gene-pools
of our cultivated plants, with just over 200 among the discussed
taxa being members of the indigenous flora. W.G.
- Bice Bellomaria & Clementina Berdini
– Piante officinali in erboristeria. – Dipartimento
di Botanica ed Ecologia, Università degli Studi, Camerino, 1995.
206 pages, 76 figures, paper.
Leafing through this booklet one starts wondering:
is it the last offshoot of renaissance herbalist tradition or
is it early testimony for a renewed fashion? I suspect the latter
to be true, yet resemblance with a 16th Century herbal
is obvious, especially if one contemplates the simple charm of
the crude drawings of Paolo Ortolani that recalls, without matching
them, the primitive woodcuts of old. It is hardly by accident
that the cover is embellished by two coloured illustrations reproduced
from Mattioli’s Discorsi, first published in 1555.
The selection of the officinal plants to be treated
was avowedly based on actual public demand. Each of the 76 plant
portraits is faced by an explanatory text by the authors, a university
professor of pharmaceutical botany and a pharmacist specialising
in plant drugs. There are some botanical details, including provenance
and the scientific name. However, the stress is clearly on medicinal
properties and the preparation of simples for the purpose of self-medication.
Yet this is not the modern counterpart of one of those booklets
popular in Italy two centuries ago, published anonymously as Farmcopea
ad uso de’ poveri (Milano 1793): it does not primarily
address the needful but those distrustful of the modern medical
sciences, those in quest of the pristine sources of health. May
it fulfil its purpose without causing harm. W.G.
Index
Conservation
topics, red data books
- Olivia Delanoë, Bertrand de Montmollin &
Louis Olivier – Flore des îles méditerranéennes 1.
Stragtégie d’action. Conservation of Mediterranean island
plants 1. Strategy for action. – International Union
for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland &
Cambridge (U.K.), 1996 (ISBN 2-8317-0351-4). ix + 106 pages,
black-and-white illustrations, paper.
As a follow-up to the international conference
on the knowledge and conservation of the flora of Mediterranean
islands, held in Corsica in October 1993 (See OPTIMA Newslett.
30: (57). 1996), a Mediterranean Islands Plant Specialist Group
became established within the Species Survival Commission of IUCN.
This group has commissioned an action plan and strategy for the
safeguard of Mediterranean insular floras, now published as a
professionally designed and tightly written, entirely bilingual
(French and English) document.
There has been much ado about Mediterranean conservation
lately, with little concrete action so far. That botany should
raise its head and claim to be heard is a timely move indeed –
and one may be rightly pleased at the way in which it is done.
Not only did the authors manage to provide their text with an
impressively saleable make-up, they did also put their finger
on the really weak spots. They are obviously trained, not only
in P.R. techniques but in botany as well, so they know where the
real problems lie. Well aware of the dreadful deficit of knowledge
that hampers any rational approach to conservation problems, in
the Mediterranean as elsewhere on the globe, they do not shy back
from asking support for research. That they link this request
with other agenda that are less unfamiliar to politicians and
funding agencies is a clever move, and a fully justified one.
Island floras (and faunas) are known to be particularly
vulnerable. They are the result of evolution under isolation,
in small natural laboratories so-to-say, and are also the matrix
in which old relict species could survive, screened off from the
harsh and merciless competition that prevails in large mainland
areas. Man has torn down the screen; man disrupts the delicate
balance in which insular communities could develop. Man, therefore,
has a heavy responsibility in trying to understand what he is
menacing, and to save as much as possible of it before it is too
late. W.G.
- Helios Sainz Ollero, Fátima Franco Múgica
& Julio Arias Torcal – Estrategias para la conservación
de la flora amenazada de Aragón. – Consejo de Protección
de la Naturaleza de Aragón, Zaragoza, 1996 (ISBN 84-920441-2-8).
221 pages, colour maps and photographs, hard cover.
The greater part of this luxurious volume is devoted
to the detailed presentation of case histories of 16 phanerogamic
taxa, all considered to be threatened to various degrees. About
half of them are endemic to Aragón (defined to comprise the three
Spanish provinces of Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel), only three
(Cypripedium calceolus, Halopeplis amplexicaulis, Krascheninnikowia
ceratoides) having a wide extra-Iberian distribution. For
two taxa considered to be under immediate threat of extinction,
Borderea chouardii and Vella pseudocytisus subsp.
paui, detailed action plans for their conservation have been
prepared. Three dozen additional threatened species, including
a few bryophytes, are briefly mentioned.
The book is superbly printed on heavy white satin
paper, and most of the species dealt with in detail are shown
in full-page colour photographs. Distribution and locality details
are given by means of maps at various scales, including large-scale
topographical maps. The information assembled includes herbarium
and literature data but also, and most prominently, the results
of new field studies. For all 16 taxa together, there were known
documented occurrences in 101 squares of 1 km2; field
work has now extended the known ranges to 166 additional such
squares. Yet, further studies in the field of the most threatened
populations are – rightly as I believe – listed among
the most urgent priority measures envisaged for their safeguard.
Let us hope that the authors will, by their work, convince the
political leaders and the general public of the pressing need
for action. W.G.
- Gérard Arnal – Les plantes protégées
d’Ile-de-France. – Collection Parthénope, Paris,
1996 (ISBN 2-9510379-0-2). 349 pages, colour maps and photographs,
laminated cover.
The region of Ile-de-France, or Paris basin, comprises
the French departments of Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine, Seine-et-Marne,
Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, and Val-d’Oise, and is certainly
the most heavily urbanised area of France. Yet it still has a
diverse flora and vegetation in many of its parts. Since 1991
there is a regional list granting legal protection to 167 higher
plant taxa, to which 35 may be added that are protected by law
on a national level. To these 202 vascular plants the present
book is devoted.
There are 13 main chapters, each dealing with
one major habitat type: water (chapter 1), various types of wetland
(2-4), grassland and heath (5-8), rocks, walls and screes (9),
and woodland (10-13). Colour illustrations abound, with habitat
pictures heading the chapters, after which each protected species
is shown on one or two photographs. There is of course explanatory
text, which concentrates on the past and present occurrence of
each plant in the Paris region – an aspect further illustrated
by a distribution map in which pre-1980 records are set off against
the confirmations of occurrence within the last 15 years (in red).
Sadly, no less than 35 among the protected taxa have not been
recently observed at all and may have become extinct in the region.
This is a beautiful book, and a useful one; one
of those one is pleased to possess and show around as a good example
of what skill and devotion, combined with modern technique, can
achieve. W.G.
- Fabio Conti, Aurelio Manzi & Franco
Pedrotti – Liste rosse regionali delle piante d’Italia.
– Dipartimento di Botanica ed Ecologia, Università degli
Studi, Camerino, 1997. 138 pages, drawing, graphs, paper.
A complement and update to the recently published
Italian Plant Red Data Book (see OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (42-43).
1996), this new publication essentially consists of a huge tabular
overview, listing 3179 vascular plant taxa (species, subspecies
and a few varieties) considered to be threatened in one or more
of the 20 regions of Italy. For each such taxon and region, the
appropriate red data category is indicated, updated to conform
to the definition as recently revised by the IUCN. This gigantic
exercise has, as a corollary, led to a complete overhaul of the
national red list for Italy, which now comprises 1011 vascular
plant taxa, more than twice the number (458) treated five years
before in the Red Data Book! Sadly, 6 Italian endemics must now
be considered extinct (whereas no such extinction had yet been
documented in 1992): Allium permixtum, Anthemis abrotanifolia,
Carduus rugulosus, Kleinia mandraliscae, Limonium catanense,
and Salvia ceratophylloides. The five first had all been
described from Sicily and the last, from Calabria; one is left
wondering what the causes and consequences of such a blatant geographical
imbalance might well be. W.G.
Index
Gardens
- Sandro Scalia – Ispirandosi all’Orto
botanico. Fotografie dal 1870 al 1996. – Ariete, Palermo,
1997. 119 pages, colour and black-and-white photographs, paper.
Price: Lit. 30,000.
"Getting inspired at the botanical garden"
was the title of a jubilee exhibit commemorating, among several
other events, the Palermo Botanical Garden’s bicentenary.
The exhibition consisted of various sections illustrating the
links between the garden and its human environment, its influence
on history, music, art, and photography. The book at hand is not
a guide to the exhibit, not even to its photography section, but
a loose assemblage of the impressions that the latter conveyed.
Historical photographs alternate with examples of modern artistic
photography by several of the leading artists in the field (short
biographical sketches of them are given at the end). Two introductory
texts, by Bruno Caruso and Marcello Faletra (the latter himself
a photographer) set the scene. Otherwise this is a sheer picture
book, with a citation from Goethe’s Palermo diary to serve
as its motto (poor Goethe, who happened to be a few years early
with his visit, just missing out the Garden’s foundation!).
W.G.
Index
Bibliography
and documentation
- Heinz Kalheber – Index ad iconographiam
florae europaeae. Heft. 3: Dicotyledones (Convolvulaceae-Labiatae).
[Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 177]. –
Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Frankfurt a.M.,
1994 (ISBN 3-929907-18-6). 187 + 14 pages, paper bound with
loose insert. Price: DM 48.
The index to published illustrations of European
plants follows Med-Checklist closely in its publication
pattern, which is why, not only does its 3rd volume
coincide in coverage with vol. 3 of Med-Checklist but,
as for that work, it is not the third but in effect the second
to be published. It is fairly safe to predict that (since vol.
2 of Med-Checklist, to comprise the Compositae,
is still in the early embryonic stage) the next volume of the
index to be published will be vol. 4.
The first issue of this Index has been
revised rather fully (in OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (52-53). 1996),
and what I wrote then is equally valid for the present volume.
The families are arranged alphabetically so that the contents
can be inferred from the title. One detail I forgot to mention
last time: the explanatory material in the introduction is fully
bilingual (German and English) so that the Index can be
used by the non-German-speaking as well. The loose insert provides
the key to the extremely condensed and otherwise unintelligible
text references, and I found it very practical indeed to be able
to use both side by side.
This is one of those tools that every working
plant taxonomist in the Old World should have ready at hand, and
the moderate price can be no obstacle for this to happen. But
for inadequate marketing by the publisher, this would deservedly
be a botanical best-seller. W.G.
Index
Biography
and historical subjects
- Jesús Izco & Olga Álvarez Villaverde
– P. A. Pourret. Un botánico francés canónigo en Ourense
y Santiago. – Universidade, Santiago de Compostela, 1996
(ISBN 84-8121-475-2). 86 pages, 10 figures and graphs, paper.
While much has been written on the life of Abbé
Pourret, the famous clergyman and botanist from Narbonne who was
one of the fathers of Pyrenean botany, his life and work are nevertheless
still incompletely known. Timbal-Lagrave’s 1875 classical
biography of Pourret was written with the twofold bias of a fellow
botanist and Frenchman. The present booklet complements and partly
rectifies the previously known data on the last part of Pourret’s
life, following his brief stay in Madrid where he had been appointed
honorary deputy director of the botanical garden by Ortega to
be dismissed soon after by Cavanilles his successor. Based on
unpublished documents in the clerical archives of Orense and Santiago
de Compostela in Galicia, the authors retrace Pourret’s days
in those two cities, where he dwelt, respectively, from 1799 to
1809 and from 1815 until his death in 1818. They made a special
enquiry has been made into the mysterious years of his hide, during
the Napoleonic wars and subsequent to the looting of his house
in Orense by the French troops (and not by the local populace,
as Timbal had claimed). As a result, it emerges that the mysterious
"Vieiro" often cited for that period as Pourret’s
residence is in fact an error for El Vierzo in the Province of
León, and that the plants he collected in "S. P. de Mtes:",
transposed by Willkomm & Lange to San Pablo de Montes in the
Toledo Province, originated in fact from around the Benedictine
abbey of San Pedro de Montes in the Vierzo area. W.G.
- Enrico Baldini – L’atlante citrografico
di Giorgio Gallesio. [I Georgofili, 172 (ser. 7,
43), Supplemento]. – Accademia dei Georgofili, Firenze,
1996. 32 pages, 31 extra plates in colour, paper.
Those fortunate enough to be granted access to
the private archives of the old families of Italian nobility are
likely to make phenomenal discoveries. Did the descendants and
heirs of Count Giorgio Gallesio, the well known pomologist, ever
fancy what their attics hold? In his first published work, the
Traité du Citrus of 1811, Gallesio had announced an Atlas
of 30 plates, originally due to be intercalated among the text
but which, having experienced how difficult, time-consuming and
expensive the operation would be, he now hoped to publish in due
course at his leisure. He never managed to do so – but the
preparatory work had in good part been completed. The famous French
artists Poiteau and Turpin, whom he had originally commissioned
for the job, sent him to Florence what they had done by 1817,
and there the work was continued by local painters, Del Pino in
particular, until about 1834. What is left today, apart from various
preparatory sketches (also partly reproduced here), are 31 beautiful
paintings on vellum of various species and varieties of Citrus,
including 16 by Poiteau and one by Turpin, which are here published
for the first time, at about half their original size. There is
also an updated version of Gallesio’s curious (long pre-Darwinian!)
evolutionary tree, first published in the Traité of 1811, showing
the four recognised Citrus species and correlated cultivars
in their presumed natural relationship. Baldini has prepared careful
explanatory texts for each of the plates, plus a historical introduction,
to serve as a frame for this new jewel of botanical artistry and
history of pomology. W.G.
- Franco Pedrotti – Mariano Gajani e
l’Orto botanico di Camerino. [L’uomo e l’ambiente,
17]. – Dipartimento di Botanica ed Ecologia, Università
degli Studi, Camerino, 1995. 99 pages, 4 figures, flexible cover.
- Lucia Cardona – L’epistolario
di Vincenzo Ottaviani, fondatore dell’Orto botanico di
Camerino. [L’uomo e l’ambiente, 20]. –
Dipartimento di Botanica ed Ecologia, Università degli Studi,
Camerino, 1996. 17 + (12) + [2] pages, 1 extra plate, flexible
cover.
A few years ago a special symposium had been devoted
to the Camerino Botanical Garden, founded in 1828. Its proceedings
(see OPTIMA Newslett. 30: (58). 1996) were published in 1989 in
the same series as the two present items, which by their subject
are closely connected with it and with each other, since they
are devoted to the two first prefects of the Garden. Neither of
those two has achieved major fame in the domain of botany, a field
in which both were knowledgeable, since their botanical writings
were either few or remained largely unpublished.
Vincenzo Ottaviani (1790-1861), upon whose forceful
initiative the Camerino Garden was founded, was a correspondent
and friend of Bertoloni. He was an assiduous explorer of various
areas of central Italy, where he collected many plants mentioned
in Bertoloni’s Flora italica, now to be found in the
herbarium at Bologna. His main (unpublished) work was a treaty
on the edible fungi of the Vatican State whose manuscript, together
with no less than 620 mycological plates, is still kept at Bologna.
Recently, letters and draft manuscripts of Ottaviani came to light
in the state archives at Urbino, and Ms Cardona, librarian at
the botany department of Camerino University, has undertaken to
transcribe and publish a selection of these texts: several letters
and documents relating to the Camerino period of Ottaviani (1826-1841),
where he was professor of chemistry and botany at the medical
faculty, as well as to the circumstances of his subsequent move
to Urbino and to his later botanical activities. Also reproduced
are manuscripts perhaps intended for publication: a supplement
to a catalogue of woody plants of Camerino and the Marche, of
which the catalogue itself has apparently not survived, and various
texts on medicinal plants. A short biographical sketch, absent
from the publication proper, is included in the preface by Franco
Pedrotti.
Mariano Gajani (1810-1878) would certainly not
have been Ottaviani’s own choice as his successor, since
the latter qualified him as "an impudent arrogant" in
writing to a friend. He was prefect of the Camerino Garden, where
he also held the chair of what we would now call pharmaceutical
botany, from 1841 until 1850, when he was expelled from the University
as a result of the Italian Restoration and of his having been
politically committed on the wrong side. He was to end his days
in Ancona, where he published a now exceedingly rare journal,
Rivista farmaceutica, between 1857 and 1867, in eight volumes
(of which vol. 6 presumably never appeared). The present booklet
includes a bibliographical analysis of this journal, based on
the few surviving copies, and also a facsimile reprint of the
single genuinely botanical publication by Gajani, a 12-page inventory
of the Camerino Garden dated 1849, which is the first surviving
list of that Garden’s holdings (an index of 1835, by Ottaviani,
is mentioned in the literature, but no copy could be traced).
It also brings what must be considered the first biography of
Gajani ever published. W.G.
Index
Reprints
- Paolo Boccone – Museo di piante rare
della Sicilia, Malta, Corsica, Italia, Piemonte, e Germania,
dedicato ad alcuni nobili patritii veneti protettori della botanica,
e delle buone lettere, con l’Appendix ad libros de plantis
andreae Caesalpini, e varie osservazioni curiose. – Facsimile
reprint: Edizioni Grifo, Palermo, 1996. [Original publication:
Giovanni Battista Zuccato, Venezia, 1697]. xv [11] + 196 pages,
[1] + 131 extra plates of drawings, cloth with gilt imprint.
Paolo Boccone, or Silvio as he was renamed when
vowing himself a monk of the Cistercian order, is claimed by Palermo
botanists as one of their own since he was born in their city,
but is in fact a personality of European rank. Naturalist and
physician of great erudition, traveller in many countries from
Sicily and Malta to England and Poland, Boccone was a botanist
at heart and has profoundly influenced botanical science through
his writings, his correspondence, and his pupils. His greatest
and most famous work, here reprinted, was among those assiduously
used by Linnaeus and many other botanists as one of the early
sources of knowledge on Mediterranean plants.
The book itself has a complex structure and is
not easy reading, not only because of its archaic Italian language
and convoluted style. The easiest of its problems is a pagination
anomaly, which has misled Christiane Garnero Morena and Pietro
Mazzola, the authors of an otherwise most useful and informative
introductory chapter on Boccone’s personality and writings,
to give the actual number of text pages as 186 only. In fact they
are 196 indeed, as pagination has it, only that pages 113-128
are mis-numbered 123-138 (or, if you prefer, page numbers 113-122
are lacking while 129-138 occur twice). The text consists of an
apparently haphazard mixture of twelve numbered "decades"
(each dedicated to a prominent "protector" of the arts
and sciences and describing a variable number – but never
10 – of different plants, or rarely drugs), eleven "observations"
(mostly in the form of letters), various individual unnumbered
letters to or by Boccone, and some larger inserts such as 18 medical
"propositions" by David Abercrombie and the "appendix"
to Cesalpino mentioned in the subtitle. There is an index to plants
and persons mentioned in the text, but none to the plates, nor
any cross-reference from the text to the figures. Also, I have
been quite unable to figure out a rationale or red thread of any
kind as to how the book was supposed to be organised. Just an
example: in the midst of the index, between the letters S and
T, there is an additional note on the ginseng root linking on
to another one, 20 pages ahead.
Among the most notable features of the book, those
that were most influential in scientific terms, are its illustrations.
Apart from the frontispiece showing Saint Rosalie and a shoot
of Ballota hispanica above a plan of the city of Palermo,
and a portrait of Boccone himself at age 64, there are 132 copper
engravings by the author, showing about 375 different plant species:
one unnumbered plate facing page 6 (lacking in many of the known
copies of the book) and 131 numbered ones at the end. Just have
a go at them and test yourself: how many of the plants can you
identify offhand? W.G.
- Antonino Borzí – Studi algologici.
Saggio di ricerche sulla biologia delle alghe (fascicoli i e
ii – tavole i-xxxi). – Facsimile reprint: Edizioni
Naturama, Palermo, 1996. [Original publication: Gaetano Capra,
Messina, 1883; Alberto Reber, Palermo, 1895.] vii + vi + 1-117
+ [4] + 119-379 pages, 9 + 22 extra plates of drawings, hard
cover with gilt imprint.
The last published of the Palermo reprints of
classical botanical texts is, for once, not devoted to an export
from but an import to Palermo. Antonino Borzì (1852-1921) was
born in the Messina Province and first became professor at Messina
University before succeeding Todaro on the chair of botany at
Palermo University and as director of the Palermo Botanical Garden,
in 1892. The work now reprinted was written entirely, and for
its first half printed, during Borzì’s Messina period.
Borzì was one of the great old Sicilian botanists
who achieved European fame. His interests ranged from phanerogams
(trees in particular) to fungi and algae, especially cyanobacteria,
and were by no means confined to classical taxonomy in which he
however also excelled. He was not only a brilliant scientist but
an efficient organiser, who conceived and realised the idea of
transforming the Palermo Garden into a venue for the acclimatisation
of tropical plants, under the heading "Giardino coloniale".
The volume chosen for being reprinted to commemorate
Borzì illustrates his work on the eukaryotic algae. When reading
it, one immediately perceives where Borzì’s importance in
this field lies: he was a pioneer in culturing the organisms he
was to study, so that he could observe their different stages
and often very different looking generations throughout their
life cycle. The studies here described and illustrated involve
19 different species of "green" algae, representing
as many genera – mostly Chlorophyceae but in a few
cases (the first five of the second half) today placed in the
Xanthophyceae. No less than 11 of these genera were Borzì’s
own, and 7 were first described and named in this very publication.
The fact that all these eleven generic names of his are, without
exception, still in current use today well illustrates Borzì’s
qualities of keen observer and perspicacious taxonomist. W.G.
Index
Symposium
proceedings
- Benito Valdés, Vernon H. Heywood, Francesco
M. Raimondo & Daniel Zohary (ed.). – Proceedings of
the Workshops on "Conservation of the Wild Relatives of
European Cultivated Plants". Faro (Portugal), 8-11
November 1992, Neuchâtel (Switzerland), 14-17 October 1993,
Gibilmanna-Palermo (Italy), 21-27 September 1994. [Bocconea,
7]. – Herbarium Mediterraneum Panormitanum,
Palermo, 1997 (ISBN 88-7915-007-3). 479 Pages, black-and-white
illustrations, paper.
As the subtitle tells, this is the proceedings
volume not for one but for a series of three workshops, or small
symposia, held at yearly intervals on one and the same topic and
with a similar organisational frame. They have their common root
in the initiative of one person: Daniel Zohary, who fathered the
idea of the precursory 1989 Strasbourg Colloquy on the "Conservation
of wild progenitors of cultivated plants" that in turn triggered
the set-up, by the Council of Europe, of the "Group of specialists
on biodiversity and biosubsistence", responsible for the
collaborative programme of which these workshops were the backbone.
Funding ran out before the originally planned workshop series
could be completed, but then, the hospitality of Palermo botanists
and the liberality of their sponsors made up for that deficiency.
The volume includes most of the papers presented
at the three workshops, 46 in all, integrating them in a novel
and coherent context. Not only has the original order of presentation
been abandoned: not even the workshop or year in which each paper
was presented is recorded (and there are no lists of participants
to assist in reconstructing it). This confers a new quality to
the whole, which is decidedly more than the sum of its individual
parts – due among other things to the fact that the introduction
and conclusions framing the core of the proceedings, with the
papers proper, are both authored by Vernon Heywood who, as on
previous occasions, shows himself a master of informative synthesis.
The topics presented are too varied to permit
their full enumeration. Genera discussed represented vegetables
(Brassica), cereals (Triticum, Avena), pasture grasses
(Dactylis), fruit (Prunus, Olea) and timber trees
(Fagus, Abies, Populus). Aspects considered are, among
others, genetics, reproductive biology, and other types of study,
mostly of populations, as well as the various in-situ and ex-situ
conservation techniques, including sampling, monitoring as well
as legal options. The overall picture is one of great complexity
and urgency of the problems outlined and, to address them, considerable
deficits of know-how, resources, and concerted action. W.G.
Index
New
periodicals
- Parlatorea. Rivista aperiodica del Laboratorio
di Fitogeografia, Dipartimento di Biologia vegetale dell’Università
di Firenze – Vol. 1 (1996), 72 pages, 1 couloured,
folded map in pouch, paper.
The publication of a new scientific journal in
our domain is always a momentous event. Expectations are enhanced
by the fact that the journal’s name commemorates one of the
most prominent Italian botanists ever, Filippo Parlatore: author
or a Flora of Italy, of numerous monographic and floristic papers
as well as, albeit posthumously, an early study on Italian plant
geography; founding father and first manager of what was and still
is Italy’s internationally renowned national journal of botanical
sciences, the Giornale botanico italiano. The choice of
name, definitely, implies a commitment to the highest scientific
and editorial standards. So does the fact that it is the botanical
institute long directed by Parlatore himself that is publishing
the review.
The purpose and coverage of the journal is made
explicit in its first Editorial: it shall publish full-scale monographic
works, including sizeable ones, in the domains of plant taxonomy
and geobotany. It intends to avoid lengthy publication delays
and high costs by being published at irregular intervals, printed
from electronically produced copy [nothing original nowadays,
I should say] and by the application of "agile editorial
procedures" – whatever this may mean. And then the excellent
news for the user: at least for the launching period, the journal
is being made available free or by exchange to all interested
persons and institutions.
As a first issue designed to launch a new journal,
the present "volume" is, frankly, both puzzling and
disappointing. It is amazingly unilateral in its contents, with
four papers all dealing with the vegetation of defined areas in
Sardinia, all with one and the same person as their sole or senior
author, who is in the same time Director, Chief Editor and Advisory
Board member of the journal. A one-man show if there ever was
one! The advisory board is a group of five, with no foreigner
included and a majority of members (3) from the publishing institute.
I may be wrong, but the whole context suggests that the journal
is little more than the factual expression of dissent of its Director
with the editorial policy of the (well established and internationally
renowned) journal Webbia, published next door in the same
building. If so, and unless the next volumes are substantially
different from No. 1, I am rather sorry for Parlatore. W.G.
- Bulletin of the Museum of Natural History
of the University of Florence. – No. 1 (1997),
4 pages, no cover.
Don’t be cheated by the title: this is not
a journal but an unpretentious Newsletter, mainly for in-house
use (avowedly so, despite the fact of being written entirely in
English!) but also distributed to other museums. It is to be published
four times per year, and is also being placed on the internet
under the Museum’s homepage (http://www.unifi.it/unifi/msn/),
where however I looked for it in vain. If you are interested in
special exhibitions or collection news, or need the direct phone
dial of a staff members or a departmental e-mail address, this
is where you may look them up. W.G.
- The Mediterranean garden. – The
Mediterranean Garden Society, P.O. Box 14, GR-19002 Peania,
Greece (ISSN 1106-5826). No. 1 (1995), iv + 58 pages;
No. 2 (1995), iv + 58 pages; No. 3 (1995-1996),
iv + 58 pages; No. 4 (1996), iv + 58 pages; No. 5
(1996), iv + 58 pages; No. 6 (1996), iv + 58 pages; No.
7 (1996-1997), iv + 74 pages; paper. Price £St 4 per
No.
The Mediterranean Garden Society is a new-born
child, founded at the beginning of 1995 with Niki Gouladris and
William Stearn kindly smiling down on the cradle in their assumed
role of god-parents. It was one of those timely initiatives destined
for immediate success, spreading forcefully into an empty ecological
niche. Within two years from its founding date, and without much
publicity and ado, it has won over 500 members and keeps growing
exponentially. It provides a new home for all those interested
in gardening under a Mediterranean climate, whether as residents
or owners of a part-time or holiday home. It promotes timely ideas
such as irrigation-free gardening under summer drought and the
use of local plants in Mediterranean gardens; but it is equally
interested in all sorts of problems faced by the Mediterranean
garden fan, from landscaping to pest control and exotic plants.
The Society’s journal, The Mediterranean
garden, is an admirably well edited quarterly published in
Greece, where the Society was founded and has its permanent Secretariat
on a domain owned by the Goulandris Natural History Museum and
situated at the eastern foot of Mt Imittos in Attica. Caroline
Harbouri in Kifisia is the journal’s editor and deserves
unrestricted compliments for the varied and interesting contents
as well as for the flawless, elegant English of all contributions,
which include commissioned features as well as book reviews and
member correspondence. The Society’s first President, Sally
Razelou, is also Greek, but the President-elect, Heidi Gildemeister,
author of a most successful book on Mediterranean gardening
(also translated into Spanish and German), resides on the Balearic
Islands. It is hoped that OPTIMA can establish good and mutually
beneficial contacts with the Mediterranean Garden Society, with
which it has many interests in common while being largely complementary
in scope. W.G.
- MEDUSA Newsletter. – Mediterranean
Agronomic Institute at Chania, P.O. Box 85, GR-73100 Hania,
Greece. Issue 1 (1997), 28 pages, no cover.
When leafing through this palatably looking first
Newsletter issue, the reader may wonder what MEDUSA actually
stands for. Well, perhaps everyone is supposed to know. Anyhow,
the information to be found on this new network project in the
Newsletter itself is more than scanty. Let me therefore
quote from a separately distributed information leaflet, to show
how highly relevant MEDUSA is likely to become for OPTIMA and
its members.
"A network on the ‘Identification, Conservation
and Use of Wild Plants in the Mediterranean Region’ called
MEDUSA, was formally established during the workshop on ‘Identification
of wild food and non-food plants of the Mediterranean Region’
held on 28-29 June 1996 at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute
of Chania (MAICh).
"The eventual aim of the network is to propose
methods for the economic and social development of rural areas
of the Mediterranean Region, using ecologically-based management
systems that will ensure the sustainable use and conservation
of plant resources of the area... The particular goal of the Network
is the exploration of possibilities for the sustainable utilisation
of such resources as alternative crops for the diversification
of agricultural production and improved product quality.
"The objectives of the Network are:
- "The identification of native and naturalised
plants of the Mediterranean Region, used as: [follow 13 usage
categories, from food via bee plants and poisons to gene sources].
- "The creation of an Interactive Regional
Information System [IRIS] that will include: scientific plant
name and authority, vernacular names, plant description, chemical
data, distribution, habitat description, uses, conservation
status, ... including references to literature sources.
- "Preliminary evaluation of the conservation
status and potential utilisation of these plants in agriculture
as alternative minor crops.
"The Network includes members who are Representatives
of International Organisations (CIHEAM-MAICh, IUCN, IUBS, ICMAP,
FAO, IPGRI-WANA, LEAD) and form the Steering Committee, and representatives
of Institutions from countries of the Mediterranean Basin (initially
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France,
Spain and Portugal)..."
No doubt some of the points yet unclear in the
structure and mandate of MEDUSA have been left purposely vague.
In particular, while under rigorous logic the equation "wild
food and non-food plants = wild plants" is evidently true,
the restriction of the scope of MEDUSA to plants belonging to
a defined while all-embracing set of use categories implies that
something different than "all wild plants" is being
meant. Or is it the (sustainable) surmise that each and every
wild plant is in its way useful to Mankind? If so, MEDUSA-IRIS
will be a gigantic undertaking indeed!
Back to the newsletter from where we started,
which is skilfully edited by MEDUSA chairman and OPTIMA Council
member Vernon Heywood. It includes a number of columns such as:
activity reports, country news, country presentations, news from
organisations, book reviews, announcements of forthcoming and
reports of recently held meetings. Since as I initially stated
MEDUSA and OPTIMA are closely related by their interests, while
complementary in their immediate purpose, it is not surprising
to see an account of our Organisation included. Many other relevant
items of information can be found on almost every page, to name
but reports of the IUCN Mediterranean Island Group and on the
Flora iberica project (see Nos 7 and 66, above). The MEDUSA
initiative, of which funding is currently secured until the end
of 1997, is important and should go on. Let us wish it every possible
success. W.G.
[author: Werner Greuter]
Please send all items for review directly to the
author of this column:
Prof. Dr. Werner GREUTER,
Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem
Freie Universität Berlin
Königin-Luise-Straße 6-8
D-14191 Berlin, Germany.
Phone: (+4930) 83850-132 or 8316010, Fax: (+4930) 83850-218
E-mail: wg@zedat.fu-berlin.de.
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