Recent floras

370

Bookreviews

Recent floras P. Sell & G. Murrell: FLORA OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Volume 5. B u t o m a c e a e - O r c h i d a c e a e ; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, etc., 1996, 30 + 410 pp., Price GBP 60.-, USD 100.-, ISBN 0-521-55339-3 "This new, critical flora provides a definitive account of the native species, naturalised species, frequent garden escapes and casuals found in the British Isles. Planned in five volumes, its full keys and descriptions should enable the user to name all plants occurring in the wild, plus some ornamental trees and shrubs. For the first time full accounts of all the large apomictic genera and many infraspecific variants are included." is stated on page i of the book and it is unquestionably an extremely difficult task even for authors as proficient as E Sell and G. Murrell. Time and the experience of future users of this work will show if they succeed. Let us look at the book. The opening chapters fill less than 30 pages. In the Preface P. Sell says why he decided to write this flora, what was the background of this decision, and why he invited G. Murrell to take part in writing. They began their field work on 13 May 1987, by describing Ceratocapnos claviculata, says the preface. This statement provides a fundamental message: we are dealing with a flora in which plant descriptions were compiled not from various literature sources but were generated by the authors themselves while observing and measuring living plants or herbarium specimens! The volume under review was written in 1992-1994. The treatments of some critical genera were commented upon or written by several specialists. The genus Potamogeton can serve as a good example the account of which is based on the excellent book by PRESTON (1995). In the Introduction, a historical background to British and Irish floras, a delimitation of the contents of the flora, geographical area (including 2 maps and a list of counties), classification and nomenclature, variation of plants intended to be covered by the book as well as the working base of both authors (herbaria and literature consulted for each species) is given. The Conspectus of families is based on CRONQUIST(1981). Volume 5 covers the class Liliopsida of which 28 families occur as native or aliens in the British Isles. The systematic part of the book begins with the descriptions of Liliopsida and an artificial key to families of the class which probably nobody will ever use. The following text contains descriptions of particular taxa including subclasses, orders, families, and genera. Where useful for the understanding of the taxonomy and identification, subfamilies and tribes, as well as sections and series are used and are characterised by brief descriptions. The most important part of the book are the species entries. After the accepted scientific name, common name and selected synonyms, a detailed description of the species follows, which includes information on flowering time and chromosome number(s). If necessary, infraspecific variations are described further, including subspecies, varieties and formae. The closing part of each species entry contains information on its status, ecology and distribution (both in the British Isles and general). With very rare native species and aliens, particular localities (and sometimes even years) are given. Where it is useful, descriptions are supplemented by black and white line drawings of plant parts carrying important diagnostic features. New taxa and combinations are listed in a special chapter presenting 6 descriptions of new taxa (2 nothosubspecies in Narcissus, 2 varieties and 2 formae) and 43 new combinations which resulted from the treatment used in the flora. Among them, 3 cases should be mentioned here as those which will probably provoke the most attention. The psammophytic Koeleria glauca (SCHRAD.)DC. is combined (and treated) here as Koeleria macrantha (LEDEB.) SCHULT. subsp, glauca (SCHRAD.) ED. SELL. The autogamic Epipactis leptochilla (GODFERY) GODFERY became Epipactis muelleri GODFERY var. leptochilla (GODFERY) P.D. SELL. Another 6 combinations concern the Carexflava aggregate, one of the most intricate groups of the genus. All its 8 British members are treated as subspecies of C. flava L. It is questionable whether this is the best solution possible. One could argue that completely sterile hybrids between C. flava and C. lepidocarpa TAUSCH (C. ×pieperana E JUNGE) as well as between C.flava and C. demissa HORNEM. (C. ×alsatica ZAHN) are known at least from Central Europe where these taxa sometimes occur together. This does not support its treatment at the subspecies level. The following glossary contains explanations of many terms used in the book and it is supplied by 4 pages of line drawings. Accepted scientific names, synonyms and common English names used in the book are included in the Register which forms the last part of the book. As far as I can judge the book seems to meet at least some of the aims set out on its first page. It summarises recent knowledge about the British and Irish floras into several volumes and if completed it might become a standard reference book. The most important merits are the original descriptions, information about hybrids,

Bookreviews

371

aliens, crops and ornamental plants (including trees and shrubs) in one book which field botanists will surely appreciate. Fundamental references concerning particular families, genera and species, some of them very recent, are also very important. The last important thing is the consistency of the authors. Even though written by two people, their working method enabled them to produce a one-man-work in the positive meaning of the word. On the other hand, the contemporary state of knowledge of plant systematics and geography makes it impossible for one outstanding personality to keep up with it. Just as a single example: in the treatment of infraspecific variation in Luzula multiflora (EHRH.) LEJ., subsp, frigida (BUCHENAU)V.I. KRECZ. is given as occurring in Scotland. Probably, the authors' concept is different from that of KIRSCHNER (1993). It would be possible to list several similar inaccuracies but they do not impair the value and importance of the book. Another thing which should be stressed here is the typography of the book, which is both nice and space saving. The reviewed volume of Flora of Great Britain and Ireland will prove to be of great use for professional and amateur botanists, conservationists, gardeners, specialists in agriculture and other people interested in nature. After completion it will become an important standard flora of the British Isles and a valuable handbook, at least for European botanists.

REFERENCES CRONQUISTA. (1981): An integrated system of classification of flowering plants. Columbia University Press,

New York. KIRSCHNER J. (1993): Taxonomic survey of Luzula sect. Luzula (Juncaceae) in Europe. Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 28: 141-182. PRESTON C.D. (1995): Pondweeds of Great Britain and Ireland. BSBI, London.

Jffi Danihelka

Clive Stace: NEW FLORA OF THE BRITISH ISLES. Second Edition; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997, xxx+1130 pp. Price GBP 28.50, ISBN 0-521-58933-5 The first edition of Stace's New Flora of the British Isles appeared in 1991. Since that time, it has become a well-known work not only to British botanists but also to those from the Continent. It is a very useful guide, designed to enable identification of plants that are found in the wild in the British Isles, including naturalized and frequently occurring aliens. As a first step in this review, the arrangement of the Flora should be reviewed. All vascular plants are placed in classes, subclasses, families, genera, species, and subspecies (if distinguished). All interspecific and intergeneric hybrids are also included. The most up-to-date and accurate classification and nomenclature is used. Both Latin and English names are given for all the species and commoner hybrids. The subspecies, hybrids and rare mentioned varieties are named only in Latin. All species and infraspecific taxa and the commoner hybrids are briefly described with only the most important comparative diagnostic characters being mentioned. In order to avoid the repetitions of errors in literature sources, most of the measurements and other characters have been checked by the author on actual plant specimens. Apomictic microspecies are covered in full in most genera except for Rubus, Taraxacum, Hieracium and Ranunculus sect. Auricomus. A separation into relatively easily recognized groups of microspecies (sections) is provided instead in the first three named genera. Sporophytic chromosome numbers are given for all taxa where known. The distribution of each species, subspecies or hybrid is outlined, together with a brief list of the most characteristic habitats. The range of rare and scattered plants is often referred to vice-counties that are mapped and listed on the end-papers. Endangered, endemic or extinct taxa are also indicated. There are illustrations for over half of the taxa described. The purpose is to provide drawings of mostly alien species for which other literature sources may not be readily available and to illustrate diagnostic parts of more critical groups of taxa. The illustrations are either line drawings or photographs mostly taken via the light microscope or scanning electron microscope. The identification keys are elaborated into families, species and subspecies. The great majority of them are dichotomous keys. Couplets are slightly indented to effect visual separation. In a small number of genera and complicated species groups (e. g. Epilobium, Cotoneaster, Limonium binervosum agg., Sorbus intermedia agg., Sorbus aria agg.) multi-access keys are used instead of dichotomous keys. The keys are intended for use both indoors and in the field, and with both fresh and dried material.

372

Bookreviews

The second edition, that was published only six years after the first, is in no way a mere reprint. The text has been revised thoroughly and many new additions and corrections have been added. Approximately 320 additional taxa, including 129 fully treated at species level, bring the total number of taxa covered to over 4500. Newly treated taxa include for the most part recently introduced and/or naturalized species, e. g. Parietaria officinalis L., Cardamine corymbosa HOOK. f., Saxifraga paniculata MILL., Euphorbia oblongata GRISEB., Carex buchananii BERGGR., and Cabomba caroliniana A. GRAY, by which the flora of the British Isles has been enriched with the family Cabombaceae. Among recently detected native taxa, Huperzia selago (L.) BERNH. ex SCHRANK et MART. subsp, arctica (GROSSH. ex TOLM.) ,~. LOVE et D. LOVE, Sorbus domestica L., Luzula multiflora (EHRH.) LEJ. subsp, hibernica KIRSCHNER et T.C.G. RICH, Carex ×sooi JAKUCS, Potamogeton xschreberi G. FISCH., and P. xbottnicus HAGSTR. are found (the last mentioned hybrid is presumably a postglacial relict, and one of its parents, P. vaginatus TURCZ., has never been found in the British Isles). As a result of a new monograph, Arctium nemorosum LEJ. has been upgraded from subspecies level. Several corrections are made also in nomenclature, especially regarding correct names and correct authorities citations. Thus, the former Anthyllis vulneraria L. subsp, polyphylla (DC.) NYMAN has been altered to subsp. polyphylla (SER.) NYMAN, Stellaria pallida (DUMORT.) PIRI~ [nom. inval.] to Stetlaria pallida (DUMORT.) CRt~P. The name Quercus xcrenata LAM. has been used instead of Q. xpseudosuber SANTI,Silene quadrifida (L.) L. replaces S. alpestris JACQ., Persicaria mitis (SCHRANK)OPIZ ex ASSENOV beating the epithet of the earliest legitimate name takes the place of P laxiflora (WEIHE) OPIZ, and Crataegus laciniata UCRIA is substituted by C. orientalis PALL. ex M. BIEB. A nomenclaturally incorrect operation was, however, made when the later name Drosera anglica HUDS. [ 1778] was adopted, with the earlier name D. longifolia L. [ 1753] cited as its full taxonomic synonym. (To follow the Code, the name D. longifolia has to be either accepted or cited as a synonymum "pro parte".) Some former errors in distribution have been corrected. Records of Quercus castaneifolia C.A. MEY. have been excluded as they related to abnormal-leaved samples of Q. ilex L. Even though the work is very precise, I have located several errors or inaccuracies. Some of them I have decided to mention here in order that they be eliminated from the next edition. The name Potentilla neumanniana RCHB. cannot be used for the Spring Cinquefoil as its nomenclatural type is a hybrid with stellate hairs admixed on the lower side of the leaves (a character never occurring in true plants of the species). The identity of Viola persicifolia SCHREB.is still uncertain and that is why the use of the name V. stagnina KIT. would be more suitable. The name Cardamine matthiolii MORETYI ex COMOLLI [correct authorship C. matthioli MORETI'I], claimed as a synonym of C. pratensis L. [s.1.], relates to a well defined diploid (2n=16, 18) species, having its distribution range in the southern part of Central Europe, which cannot reach as far as the British Isles. The correct name for Cardamine dentata SCHULT. [1809] (its synonym C. palustris (WIMM. et GRAB.)PETERM. [ 1846] mentioned in the Flora is a later name), when treated at subspecies level, is C. pratensis subsp, paludosa (KNAF) (~ELAK. [ 1870], not C. pratensis subsp, dentata (SCHULT.) CELAK. [1875]. Seven of Smejkal's hybrids of an expansive alien Epilobium ciliatum RAF. with other native species of the genus, three of which were used by him provisionally in 1981 and claimed as being nomina nuda in the reviewed Flora (E. xiglaviense SMEJKAL,E. xnutantiflorum SMEJKAL,and E. xfossicola SMEJKAL),have been recently validated in Acta Mus. Morav., Sci. Nat., 79: 81-84, 1995. The correct name for Euphorbia waldsteinii (SOJAK) CZEREP. is E. tommasiniana BERTOL. Plants of Galium spurium L., with fruits covered with hooked bristles, should bear at varietal level the name G. spurium var. echinospermum (WALLR.)HAYEK,not "var. vaillantii (DC.) GREN.". (The authorship of this latter name should be correctly ascribed to Kosteletzky who, for the first time, validly combined the epithet: G. spurium var. vaillantii (DC.) KOSTEL. [ 1844]). The earliest valid name available for the hybrid Potamogeton gramineus L. x P. lucens L. is P. xangustifolius J. PRESL, not P. ×zizii W.D.J. KOCH ex ROTH. These notes, however, in no way devalue the reviewed work! It has to be admitted that a few inaccurate details will always appear in any work which contains such an extensive amount of data. The book under review is often commented upon as having fulfilled almost all expectations of British botanists. I can recommend it to everyone who looks for an outline of the plant diversity in the British Isles, a quick tool for identification of British plants and a model work for a synoptical treatment covering floristic and taxonomic knowledge. I believe that botanists in every country would like to have such a manual for determination of their plants, and some recent projects (e.g.J. Holub's "Key to the determination of the flora of the Czech Republic") raise hopes that further similar works will appear soon also for other regions of Europe.

Zden~k Kaplan

Bookreviews

373

D. Benkert, F. Fukarek, H. Korsch et al. (eds.): VERBREITUNGSATLAS DER FARNUND BLUTENPFLANZEN OSTDEUTSCHLANDS; Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1996, 615 pp., 1998

maps. Price D E M 98.-, ISBN 3-437-35066-8

Plant distribution atlases covering large areas are of rather rare occurrence. They are laborious and require many years' preparation. The present atlas of distribution of vascular plants of Eastern Germany was published in 1996. Within the project of Central European mapping it is the third (following the Swiss atlas of 1982 and the West German atlas of 1988) complete national atlas coveting the former German Democratic Republic. Thus all of united Germany is now mapped. This Atlas has resulted from about 25 years' intensive activity (though the very beginning of the project goes back to 1922) organized from several places in Eastern Germany (mainly Halle, Greifswald and Berlin). Besides professional botanists about one thousand amateurs have also participated. The area, coveting about 108,000 square kilometres, was divided into 3,625 MTB-quadrants 5'× 3', coveting over 30 square kilometres each. The West German atlas used a base area four times larger (10'× 6'), 2,084 of which covered an area of 248,000 square kilometres (the Bavarian atlas of 1990 is, however, based on MTB-quadrants). Only a few quadrants contain less than 200 species; in the richest areas (e.g. Harz) there are 1,000 species per quadrant. Absence in some quadrants seems to be due rather to insufficient knowledge (a conspicuous hiatus is often seen in the vicinity of Erfurt). About 2,200,000 data points were processed. They were collected both in the field (using the so called Gel~delisten, e.g. predominantly in Mecklenburg) and from floristic literature (to various degrees). Herbarium material was used only in the case of very rare species and critical taxa. In the boundary area use was made of data for West German quadrants. There are in all 1998 phytocartograms depicted on coloured physical maps arranged alphabetically by the species (in the West German atlas they were arranged using the Flora Europaea system - both have their advantages and disadvantages), nomenclature follows Rothmaler's Exkursionsflora von Deutschland (1996). The symbols used show status, both for natives (indigenous plants and archaeophytes) and synanthropic plants (neophytes). Old data not verified since 1950 are shown using a different symbol. (In the West German atlas the dividing line was 1945). In some species symbols are used indicating a marked decline after 1950, insufficiently known distribution (vernal species, historical data) and degree of threat according to the Red List. The introduction contains an outline of the history of floristics and mapping in Eastern Germany, information on the organization and methods of mapping and observations on selected species. Nine folio maps are attached showing important habitat factors. Only experience can decide when a map is ready for publication. Few maps showing the distribution of common species can be said to be complete. A map with all quadrants filled can serve as a standard. In the present atlas, the highest degree of completeness was attained, e.g., in Aegopodium podagraria (3.1% of vacant quadrants), Anthriscus sylvestris (3.5%), Arrhenatherum elatius (4.4%), Artemisia vulgaris (1.2%), Dactylis glomerata (0.5%), Urtica dioica (0.6%). Opinions as to the status of certain species can differ; e.g. in Malva moschata many, if not all, quadrants might be designated with the symbol for synanthropic occurrence, similarly with Dorycnium herbaceum. The occurrence of Geranium phaeum in Bohemia (except the north-east, linked via Moravia with the Carpathians) is considered to be secondary (also in the north near the Bohemian-German boundary). Similar to the situation in this country, the species of Montia and Ophrys, Monotropa hypopitys, Neottia nidus-avis and others should have the symbol for distinct decline since 1950. Unlike the West German atlas, some species are missing, e.g. Rosa pendulina and Vicia sativa, and only two species of Alchemilla are recognized. The East German atlas is a work of the highest merit, prepared to high levels, both professional and technical. It will be necessary not only for botanists but also for those working in applied branches of science related to the environment.

Bohumil Slav~