ASPT News 41
People 45
Awards and Funding 47
Job Opportunity 47
Institutions 47
Desiderata 48
Symposia and Meetings 48
Workshops 51
Internet News 51
Deaths 52
Book Reviews 55
New Books 70
New Maps 72
New CD-ROM 72
Newsletters 72
ANNUAL MEETING:
The 1995 Annual Meeting of the ASPT will be held from 6-10 August in San Diego, CA, USA in conjunction with the AIBS Meetings. Information on registration has already been distributed to members of the ASPT. The Society is sponsoring a symposium entitled "Translating phylogenetic analyses into classifications." The symposium, organized by Richard Olmstead (University of Colorado), will be held on Monday morning, 7 August 1995. It will include the following speakers (and topics): Kevin De Queiroz and Jacques Gauthier (Translating phylogenies into classifications: Basic principles); Philip D. Cantino, Richard G. Olmstead, and Steven J. Wagstaff (Phylogenetic classification of Labiatae and Verbenaceae: Coping with poor resolution); Richard G. Olmstead (Phylogeny and Classification in the Solanaceae); Robert A. Price (Familial and generic classification of the conifers); David R. Morgan (Molecular data and the subfamilial classification of Rosaceae); Douglas E. Soltis (Molecular systematics and taxonomic changes in Saxifragaceae sensu stricto), Kathleen A. Kron (Classification of the Ericaceae, Empetraceae, and Epacridaceae: A preliminary evaluation of the Linnean hierarchical and phylogenetic systematic approaches); Michael J. Donoghue (Phylogeny and phylogenetic taxonomy of Dipsacales); and Walter S. Judd (On the need to expedite the transfer of results of phylogenetic analyses into botanical instruction and floristics).
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE:
The ASPT Membership Directory 1994 was distributed earlier this year. Since it was printed the following changes in telephone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses have been reported:
Akiyama, Shinobu (Japan)
telephone: [81] 3/3364-7137
fax: [81] 3/3364-7104
Anderson, Andrea
telephone: 915/837-8112, 915/837-2057
fax: 915/837-8046
Antonio, Thomas
fax: 708/835-5484
e-mail: tom4bot@aol.com
Bailey, Donovan
telephone: 607/255-8916
e-mail: cdb3@cornell.edu
Barrington, David
telephone: 802/656-0431
fax: 802/656-0440
e-mail: dbarring@moose.uvm.edu
Bates, David M.
e-mail: dmb15@cornell.edu
Bayer, Randall (Canada)
e-mail: r_bayer@biology.ualberta.ca
Beilschmidt, Brent B.
telephone: 618/529-4067
Benz, Bruce
e-mail: bbenz@udgserv.cencar.udg.mx
Brunsfeld, Steven
e-mail: sbruns@uidaho.edu
Bye, Robert A., Jr. (Mexico)
telephone: [52] 5/616-1297, [52] 5/622-9046 or 9057
fax: [52] 5/622-9046, [52] 5/616-2326
Caister, Erin
telephone: 919/684-3715
fax: 919/684-5412
e-mail: ecaister@acpub.duke.edu
Calvin, Clyde L.
fax: 503/725-3864
e-mail: calvinc@pdx.edu
Cannon, Chuck
telephone: 919/684-3715
fax: 919/684-5412
e-mail: chc2@acpub.duke.edu
Case, Martha
telephone: 804/221-2223
fax: 804/221-6483
e-mail: macase@mail.wm.edu
Choi, Hong-Keun (South Korea)
telephone: [82] 331/219-2618
fax: [82] 331/216-5115
e-mail: hkchoi@ajou.madang.ac.kr
Clark, Carolyn A.
telephone: 409/321-4592
fax: 409/321-4594
Clement, John S.
e-mail: clement@mail.utexas.edu
Coile, Nancy
fax: 904/955-2300
Colacino, Carmine (Italy)
telephone: [39] 971/474172
fax: [39] 971/474256
e-mail: colacino@pzvx85.cisit.unibas.it
Cox, Patricia
e-mail: pcox@utkvx.utk.edu
Dehgan, Bijan
e-mail: bd@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu
Egan, Todd
telephone: 614/593-1126
e-mail: egan@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu
Estes, James R.
e-mail: jestes@uokmvsa.edu
Estrada-Loera, Enrique (Mexico)
telephone: [52] 99/81-3966/3943/3923
fax: [52] 99/81-3900
e-mail: estradal@redvax1.dgsca.unam.mx
Fantz, Paul
telephone: 919/515-1186
e-mail: paul_fantz@ncsu.edu
Fetzner, James W.
e-mail: fetznerj@adfg.state.ak.us
Fiedler, Peggy
e-mail: fiedler@sfsu.edu
Floyd, Sandra
telephone: 303/492-0780
e-mail: sandra.floyd@ucsu.colorado.edu
Freeman, John D.
telephone: 334/844-1630
fax: 334/844-1645
Friar, Elizabeth
e-mail: friar@joplin.biosci.arizona.edu
Frodin, David G. (England)
telephone: [44] 81/332-5294
fax: [44] 81/332-5278
e-mail: d.frodin@rbgkew.org.uk
Funston, Michele
telephone: 513/532-6619
Gauthier, Robert
fax: 418/656-7176
e-mail: robert.gauthier@rsvs.ulaval.ca
Gemmill, Chrissen
fax: 303/492-8699
e-mail: gemmill@spot.colorado.edu
de Geofroy, Isabelle
telephone: 510/486-2665
e-mail: isabelle@mercury.sfsu.edu
Ghazanfar, Shahina
e-mail: martinf@squ.edu
Goetghebeur, Paul W. (Belgium)
telephone: [32] 91/264-5055
fax: [32] 91/264-5334
Goodwillie, Carol
telephone: 206/685-4850
fax: 206/685-1728
e-mail: goodwill@botany.washington.edu
Hapeman, Jeffrey R.
telephone: 608/262-4422
fax: 608/262-7509
e-mail: jhapeman@macc.wisc.edu
Harms, Abbe
telephone: 708/489-1101
fax: 708/489-1103
Henderson, Andrew
telephone: 718/817-8973
fax: 718/220-1029
e-mail: ahenderson@nybg.org
Henderson, James E.
telephone: 704/541-2605
Hilger, Hartmut (Germany)
telephone: [49] 30/838-6512
fax: [49] 30/838-5434
e-mail: hahilger@fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de
Hoot, Sara
telephone: 414/229-2654
fax: 414/229-3926
e-mail: hoot@csd.uwm.edu
Hsiao, Ju-Ying (Taiwan)
telephone: [886] 4/ 2840417
Hufford, Larry
e-mail: hufford@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu
Humphress, Glenn O.
telephone: 402/423-6769
fax: 402/472-2083
e-mail: goh@unl.edu
Hunter, Kimberly
e-mail: k0unter@ccmail.nevada.edu
Jimenez, Concepcion Rodriguez (Mexico)
telephone: [52] 91/53-41-2455
fax: [52] 91/53-963503
Kellogg, Elizabeth
e-mail: tkellogg@oeb.harvard.edu
Knapp, Sandra
e-mail: s.knapp@nhm.ac.uk
Koch, Stephen (Mexico)
fax: [52] 595/4-2873/5723
Lemos, Rosalinda Medina (Mexico)
telephone: [52] 5/6-22-56-93/94/95
fax: [52] 5/550-1760
Les, Donald
e-mail: les@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Levin, Donald
telephone: 512/471-4685
Lewis, Louise A.
telephone: 919/684-4314
Lowrey, Timothy K.
e-mail: tlowrey@hydra.unm.edu
Loza-Cornejo, Sofia (Mexico)
telephone: [52] 595/4-2873
fax: [52] 595/4-2873
Mayer, Michael
telephone: 619/260-4081
e-mail: spike@acusd.edu
McClellan, Tracy (South Africa)
telephone: [27] 11/716-2161
fax: [27] 11/403-1733
e-mail: 108trm@cosmos.wits.ac.za
Miller, John M.
telephone: 408/335-6819
Mingo, Kendra A.
telephone: 303/492-4658
e-mail: mingo@ucsu.colorado.edu
Morrell, Peter
telephone: 909/625-8767
e-mail: morrellp@cgs.edu
Morse, Caleb
e-mail: cmorse@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
Nevling, Lorin
e-mail: nevling@denr1.igis.uiuc.edu
Nishimoto, Angela
telephone: 808/956-3938
e-mail: anishimo@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu
Oliphant, James M.
telephone: 503/737-5302
e-mail: oliphanj@bcc.orst.edu
Paris, Cathy
telephone: 802/656-0426
fax: 802/656-0440
Pedrola-Monfort, Joan (Spain)
fax: [34] 72/330826
Phipps, James
telephone: 519/679-2111 ext. 6484
Pickering, Jerry L.
fax: 412/357-5700
e-mail: jlpicker@grove.iup.edu
Pires, J. Chris
telephone: 608/262-6041
e-mail: jcpires@students.wisc.edu
Ramanath, Seemanti
telephone: 217/244-5928
e-mail: seemanti@uiuc.edu
Ramsey, Gwynn W.
telephone: 804/237-1768
Read, Robert
fax: 813/643-7275
Roalson, Eric
telephone: 505/646-5002
Robart, Bruce
telephone: 309/438-3076
e-mail: bwrobar@ilstu.edu
Rodriguez, Aaron
telephone: 608/262-6041
e-mail: tigridia@vms2.macc.wisc.edu
Ross, Timothy
fax: 909/626-7670
Saar, Dayle E.
telephone: 815/753-1753
e-mail: z912128@wpo.cso.niu.edu
Salisbury, Benjamin A.
e-mail: salisbur@umich.edu
Sawyer, Neil
fax: 203/486-6364
Schultheis, Lisa
e-mail: lschult@violet.berkeley.edu
Small, Randall
telephone: 515/294-4035
e-mail: rsmall@iastate.edu
Suh, Youngbae (South Korea)
telephone: [82] 2/740-8934
fax: [82] 2/762-8322
e-mail: ysuh@alliant.snu.ac.kr
Testolin, Raffaele (Italy)
telephone: [39] 432/558601-02
fax: [39] 432/558603
Todzia, Carol
e-mail: ctodzia@uts.cc.utexas.edu
Utech, Frederick
e-mail: utechf@clp2.clp.org
Valdes-Reyna, Jesus (Mexico)
telephone: [84] 17-30-22 ext. 431
fax: [84] 17-12-39
Walker, Peter J.
telephone: 802/656-3221
fax: 802/656-0440
e-mail: pwalker1@moose.uvm.edu
Wallace, Gary
e-mail: wallaceg@cgs.edu
Whitlock, Barbara
telephone: 617/496-1566
fax: 617/495-9484
e-mail: whitlock@fas.harvard.edu
Whitten, Wm. Mark
telephone: 904/392-5934
e-mail: whitten@flmnh.ufl.edu
Whitton, Jeanette
fax: 812/855-6705
e-mail: jwhitton@sunflower.bio.indiana.edu
Wipff, Joseph
e-mail: jkw0518@tamvm1.tamu.edu
Yancey-Jackson, Tanya
telephone: 217/244-1331
fax: 217/244-7246
e-mail: tanya_jackson@qms1.life.uiuc.edu
Yen, Alan
telephone: 303/492-5805
e-mail: yen@ucsu.colorado.edu
Zamluk, Anne
telephone: 604/655-4314
e-mail: azamluk@uvvm.uvic.ca
Zardini, Elsa
e-mail: zardini@mobot.edu
Zuloaga, Fernando
e-mail: postmaster@darwi2.edu.ar
PEOPLE
Dr. Victor Albert has been appointed Assistant Curator in the Institute of Systematic Botany of The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). Dr. Albert's research focus is molecular systematics, particularly of the Orchidaceae, and he will be the lead scientist for the NYBG in a new joint program with the American Museum of Natural History ("The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematic Studies"). Dr. Albert received his PhD in 1992 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is currently serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. His appointment at NYBG begins on 1 June 1995.
Dr. Ted Delevoryas, well-known as a paleobotanist and coauthor of Morphology of Plants and Fungi, retired in August 1994. He now holds the title of Professor Emeritus, Department of Botany, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
Dr. W. Hardy Eshbaugh, Professor of Botany, Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, OH, USA, will preside over the American Institute of Biological Sciences' (AIBS) Board of Directors this year. Dr. Eshbaugh has also served as president of the Botanical Society of America, the Society for Economic Botany, and the ASPT.
Francesca T. Grifo joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA, as director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (see "Institutions"). Prior to this appointment, Dr. Grifo served, from 1993-present, as program manager for the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups Program, Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 1992-1993, Dr. Grifo served as a senior program officer for the Biodiversity Support Program, a consortium of the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, and the World Resources Institute, for which she designed and supervised biodiversity projects in Eastern Europe.
François Lutzoni (see Kathleen Pryer, "People").
Dr. Paul S. Manos has accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Dr. Manos was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke from 1992-1994 studying the systematics, evolution, and biogeography of Nothofagus (Fagaceae). During the last year he has been a Lecturer in the Department.
Peter M. Mazzeo, botanist in the herbarium at the United States National Arboretum (NA) retired on 30 April 1995 after 31 years at the Arboretum. He also retired from the faculty of the U.S.D.A. Graduate School in Washington, DC, USA, where he taught plant identification classes for 25 years. Any future correspondence regarding loans, exchanges, etc., should be addressed to: Curator of the Herbarium, United States National Arboretum, USDA/ARS, 3501 New York Ave., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, USA.
Dr. Willem Meijer, was forced on 30 June 30 1993 to retire as Professor and Curator of the KY Herbarium. After a summer's explorations for bryophytes and vascular plants in the Peruvian Amazon area he started to move some of his books and archival materials to the Library of the University of Kentucky. During 1994 he went on another collecting tour for the National Cancer Institute in Sabah Borneo where he was offered a position as a staff member of the Elopura Natural Resources Data Center of the new Sabah Minister of Tourism and Environmental Resources. In June of this year he plans to return to Borneo for another visit of four months. The Vice Chancellor of Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Kentucky is now supporting with an offer of new office space for further work on Rafflesiaceae publications and Meijer's involvement with conservation, plant diversity, and biochemical testing of Bornean plants. Meanwhile, Meijer has already started, during a January visit to West Java and Western (Indonesian) New Guinea, to return to taxonomic, biogeographical, and morphological studies of mosses and liverworts, his old hobby, which will give him another lease on life. His proposal Christmas Eve 1992 to create a New Institute of Plant Resources to replace the old cramped herbarium could not catch the fancy of the members of the campus-wide committee set up by the Dean of his College to decide on the future aims and prospects of taxonomic botany at this university. Since 1992 the old herbarium has been kept afloat with the use of volunteers, members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, and some workers of the Nature Preserves Commission and the Nature Conservancy.
Rob Paratley was appointed curator of the New Herbarium of the Forestry Department of the University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture, effective 15 January 1995. This herbarium will be housed in the old Forestry Building opposite the Biological Sciences' Hunt Morgan Building. By 1 July 1995, all of the North American specimens of the Herbarium of the School of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences will be moved to their new (smaller) location. By discarding all tropical collections of herbarium specimens, fruits, wood samples, and bryophytes the College of Agriculture plans to carry out its mandate to restrict its teaching and public service function to the conceived needs of the rural population of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and apparently a majority of the biological faculty could not be convinced that this herbarium still could play a great role in research and graduate education on biodiversity of the rich North American as well as tropical floras. As a result of this, after 1 July the Biological Sciences herbarium will no longer exist in the global form it had from 1968-1993. All correspondence and loan requests related to the flora and vegetation of Kentucky should be sent to the Cooper Building (telephone: 606/ 257-1824). Dr. Robert Muller, Chairman of the Forestry Department, will be the new director of the KY herbarium.
Kathleen Pryer (Pteridology) and François Lutzoni (Mycology, Lichenized Fungi) have been appointed Assistant Curators in the Department of Botany, The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA. Following the completion of their PhDs from Duke University, Durham, NC, USA, this summer. Kathleen and Fran[çois will take up one year positions at Indiana University with Jeffrey Palmer and Miriam Zolan, respectively. They will start at The Field Museum in the Fall of 1996. Kathleen continues the strong pteridology program at the Museum started with Robert Stolze (retired 1993). François joins the expanding mycology program at the Museum, which includes Greg Mueller (Associate Curator), Qiuxin Wu (Collections Manager), Sabine Huhndorf (Resident Research Associate) and Jack Murphy (Postdoc). Opportunities exist for graduate studies in pteridology with Kathleen and mycology with Fran[çois and Greg Mueller through local universities, including the University of Chicago.
Last February, Ivan A. Valdespino successfully defended his doctoral dissertation entitled "A monographic revision of Selaginella P. Beauv. subg. Heterostachys Baker in Central and South America." Dr. Valdespino was a graduate student under the direction of Dr. John T. Mickel in the City University of New York/ New York Botanical Garden Graduate Program. Prior to coming to the USA, Dr. Valdespino did his Bachelor degree thesis on the ferns of Cerro Jefe, Panama, under the guidance of Professor Mireya D. Correa A. at the University of Panama in Panama. He has joined the staff of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California as the 13th Tilton Postdoctoral Fellow, where he is continuing his revisionary studies on Selaginella. He is willing and will be pleased to receive material of Selaginella sent to CAS as gift for determination. His new address is: Department of Botany, California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118-4599, USA. (telephone: 415/750-7198; fax: 415/750-7186; e-mail: ivaldesp@cas.calacademy.org).
AWARDS AND FUNDING
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is pleased to announce that Ing. Nelson Zamora, of the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), Costa Rica, is the recipient of the 1994 Rupert Barneby Award. Ing. Zamora will be working on several groups of Mimosoid and Caesalpinioid Legumes for Costa Rica. The NYBG also invites applications for the 1995 Rupert Barneby Award. The Award of $1000 is to assist researchers planning to come to the NYBG to study the rich collection of Leguminosae. Anyone interested in applying for the award should submit their curriculum vitae, a letter describing the project for which the award is sought, and how the collection at the NYBG will benefit their research. Travel to the NYBG should be planned between 1 January 1996 and 31 January 1997. The letter should be addressed to: Dr. Enrique Forero, Director, Institute of Systematic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA, and received no later than 1 December 1995. Announcement of the recipient will be made by 15 December 1995. Anyone interested in making a contribution to The Rupert Barneby Fund in Legume Systematics, which supports this award, may send their check, payable to "The New York Botanical Garden," to Dr. Forero.
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Systematic Botanist—The California Academy of Sciences (CAS) is reopening its search for an Assistant Curator of Botany. Applications are solicited from individuals with primary interest in and commitment to active, field- and collection-oriented research in vascular plant systematics and the curation, operation, and development of a major herbarium. Candidates must have a PhD, an active research program with demonstrated interest and competence in a particular group of vascular plants, and be prepared to participate in a variety of curatorial, administrative, and public educational activities at the Academy. Information about the Academy and its research departments is available on the Academy's gopher server (gopher.calacademy.org) or WWW server (http://www.calacademy.org). Applicants should forward a curriculum vitae, description of research goals, copies of significant publications, and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references to: Human Resources, No. ACB, California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118-4599, USA. Deadline for applications is 15 September 1995. EOE.
INSTITUTIONS
The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation was established by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA, in June 1993. The Center's mission is threefold: to provide an organizational framework for coordinated research in biological diversity; to provide an expanded program of international scope for advanced training in systematics, the primary science of biodiversity; and to develop new programs and multilateral collaborations effecting environmental policy and conservation action. Dr. Francesca T. Grifo (see "People") was recently appointed Director of the Center.
Botany is about to return to Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. After a virtual absence of almost three decades from the academic departments of the campus, the discipline is about to be reinvigorated there. The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC), a unique multi-institutional, interdisciplinary entity that will address environmental issues with broad resources and a perspective unmatched by any other institution, has been established by the university. CERC is a consortium of five organizations; Columbia itself, the American Museum of Natural History, The New York Botanical Garden, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wildlife Preservation Trust International. For further information, please contact: Robert M. DeMicco, Jr., Assistant Director, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, 405 Low Memorial Library, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. (telephone: 212/ 854-8186; fax: 212/ 854-8188).
The renovation of the University of Michigan Herbarium (MICH) is now complete. The combination of significant support from the University and a grant from the Long-Term Projects in Environmental Biology of the National Science Foundation permitted the installation of a new heating and air-conditioning system (including controls to maintain low humidity during the summer months), a new laboratory equipment room, new lighting and flooring, and an electrically controlled compactor system. The 940 cabinets mounted on the 29 40-foot compactor carriages now house all of the MICH collection except the fungi and type specimens of vascular plants. We welcome visitors to use our facilities and can now provide prompt service for any loan requests—Richard K. Rabeler (MICH). (e-mail: rabeler@umich.edu).
DESIDERATA
Request for Botanical Literature—The Association of Systematics Collections (ASC) is embarking on a second round of obtaining biosystematic literature for the Biodiversity Information Exchange with Cuba Project. This time, literature acquired will be distributed to institutions outside of Havana. Cuban research institutions trying to build information resources have a great need for current and back issues of Systematic Botany, Brittonia, Economic Botany, Mycologia, and the Botanical Review, and other biosystematic and ecological literature. To donate and for more information, please contact: Elizabeth Hathway, ASC, 730 11th St., NW, Second Floor, Washington, DC 20001-4521, USA. (telephone: 202/347-2850; fax: 202/ 347-0072).
Mr. Shri Dhar, 20, Ballygunge Park Rd., Calcutta 700019, India (fax: [91] 033/ 2477834) is a gardening enthusiast interested in exchanging seeds from various countries. His particular interests are in palms (Arecaceae), cycads (Cycadaceae), Heliconia (Heliconiaceae), and Sterculia mexicana (Sterculiaceae).
SYMPOSIA AND MEETINGS
A symposium entitled "The evolutionary mechanisms in plants, from genes to clades," will be presented at the annual meeting of the Mid-Continent Section of the Botanical Society of America at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA. It is scheduled for Monday afternoon, 22 May 1995, during a joint meeting with the Southwestern and Rocky Mountain (SWARM) region of AAAS, which occurs from 21-24 May 1995. For additional information, please contact: Wayne Elisens (e-mail: elisnes@uoknor.edu) or Donald Nash (e-mail: dnash@lamar.colostate.edu). The Symposium includes the following speakers (and topics): John S. Heywood (Introduction); Robert K. Jansen (Chloroplast DNA variation in land plants: Structural evolution and phylogenetic utility); Timothy P. Holtsford (Phylogenetic population genetics: The evolutionary history and population genetic consequences of mating system evolution in Clarkia); Pamela K. Diggle (Development and evolution of phenotypic plasticity); and Jonathan F. Wendel (Phylogenetic incongruence: A window into genomic history and speciation).
The XII Congreso Venezolano de Botanica will be held in Ciudad Bolivar from 21-27 May 1995. One of the principal events of the congress will be the inauguration of the Jardin Botanico del Orinoco. Registration is US$ 120 (students US$ 60). For more information, please contact: Comite Organizador XII Congreso Venezolano de Botanica, Oficina I, mezzanina edificio Tamanaco II, calle Cuchivero, Altavista, Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar, Venezuela. (telephone: [58] 86/ 620325 or 622745; fax: [58] 86/ 622546 or 85/ 20823; e-mail: fungyn@dino.conicit.ve).
Reminder—A conference entitled "Measuring and Monitoring Forest Biological Diversity: The International Network of Biodiversity Plots," sponsored by the Smithsonian/Man and the Biosphere Biodiversity Program (SI/MAB) will be held from 23-25 May 1995 at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA. For additional information, please contact Olga MacBryde. (telephone: 202/ 357-4793; fax: 202/ 786-2557; e-mail: ic.ohm@ ic.si.edu).
Reminder—"The New Morphology: Integrative Approaches" is the title of the 11th Annual Southwestern Botanical Systematics Symposium, which will be held 26 & 27 May 1995 at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, 1500 North College Ave., Claremont, CA 91711, USA. (telephone: 909/ 625-8767 ext. 251; fax: 909/ 626-7670).
The 1995 Association of Systematics Collections (ASC) Annual Meeting will be hosted jointly by the University of California, Berkeley, California, USA, and the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, on 30 June-2 July 1995. The meeting will feature a workshop on "Natural History Collections on the Information Superhighway." Partnerships among systematics collections of various kinds, and state and federal agencies will be the topic of another session. Finally, ASC members and friends will discuss ASC's strategic planning initiative, in light of these partnerships.
Representatives of the NSF, the National Biological Service, and the EPA have been invited to talk about government partnerships and information superhighway issues. Speakers will address efforts to create a National Biodiversity Information Infrastructure or Center for Biodiversity Information, and the role of systematics databases therein. A representative of CONABIO, Mexico's biodiversity center has also been invited. Community-wide projects to develop data networks including SMASCH (California botanical database), NATURENET (a consortium of large, freestanding US museums), the North American fish database, and IOPI, an international botanical database, will be discussed. For registration and hotel information, please contact: ASC, 730 11th St., NW, Second Floor, Washington, DC 20001-4521, USA. (telephone: 202/347-2850; fax: 202/347-0072). The Tree, Biology and Development is the title of the 3rd International Symposium on this topic, which will be held from 11- 16 September 1995 in Montpellier, France. The symposium has three purposes: 1) to promote overall concepts of the tree, by bringing together several fields of knowledge, which usually remain isolated from each other; 2) to enhance contacts between scientists working in temperate and tropical regions: botanists, foresters, plant-anatomists, plant-physiologists, horticulturists, agronomists ... 3) to provide everyone with an opportunity to get in-depth knowledge on the various aspects of current research on woody plants. Information may be obtained from: Colloque "L'Arbre", Institut de Botanique, 163, rue A. Brousonnet, 34000 Montpellier, France. (telephone: [33] 67/ 63 17 93 ext. 120; fax: [33] 67/ 04 18 70).
1995 TDWG Annual Meeting and Symposium will be held from 4-6 October 1995 at the Real Jardin Bot nico-CSIC, Madrid, Spain. TDWG, or Taxonomic Database Working Group, was begun in 1985 as an international working group to explore ideas on standardization and collaboration between major plant taxonomic database projects. It since has expanded to include all biological disciplines. For additional information on TDWG and/or the annual meeting, please contact: Francisco Pando, Vice Chairman, Real Jardin Bot nico-CSIC, Plaza de Murillo 2, Madrid, Spain E-28014 (fax: [34] 1/ 420-0157; e-mail: pando@ma-rhb.csic.es) or TDWG Secretariat, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Botany, NHB-166, Washington, DC 20560, USA (fax: 202/ 786-2563; e-mail: mnhbo005@sivm.si. edu).
"Southern Alpines `96" is the title of the International Alpine Garden Conference, which will be held 5-10 January 1996 in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is being hosted by the New Zealand Alpine Garden Society, Inc. Presentations by authorities from around the world on alpine gardening and flora will be complemented by displays of living plants. The conference will include two field trips to see extraordinary and breathtaking alpine flora of the Southern Alps. Pre- and Post-Conference tours have been arranged for alpine plant enthusiasts. To register or obtain further information, please contact: The Secretary, Southern Alpines `96, 1/37 Augusta St., Redcliffs, Christchurch, New Zealand. (telephone or fax: [64] 3/ 384-2170).
The Fifth International Organisation of Paleobotany Conference (IOPC-V) will take place on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), Santa Barbara, CA, USA from 30 June_5 July 1996. The theme of the conference is floristic evolution and biogeographic interchange through geologic time. The program will include eight morning symposia and four afternoons of contributed papers and posters, followed by two optional 7-day field trips. The first circular, containing detailed description and registration information is available from: Bruce Tiffney, Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. (fax: 805/893-2314; e-mail: tiffney@magic.ucsb.edu).
The Linnean Society of London will be holding a conference in Northern Ireland, based in the Ulster Museum, 27-30 August 1996 on the theme of "Systematics and Biological Collections." The conference will examine the increasing importance of biological collections including museum collections, zoological and botanical gardens and arboreta, culture collections, seed banks, illustrations and photographic collections, and archival material. There will be a number of keynote speakers. Please direct inquiries and offers of papers and posters to: C. R. Tyrie, Department of Botany, Ulster Museum, Botanic Gardens, Belfast BT9 5AB, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. (telephone: [44] 1232/ 381251; fax: [44] 1232/ 665510; e-mail: crt@belumreg.demon.co.uk).
Reminder—A conference titled World Heritage Tropical Forests: Science for Better Conservation Management will be held in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia from 2-6 September 1996. The conference will be hosted by the Wet Tropics Management Authority. For further information, please contact the Conference Secretariat (telephone: [61] 7/ 369 0477; fax: [61] 7/ 369 1512). Please note that the telephone number for the Conference Secretariat that was cited in the last issue of the ASPT Newsletter was incorrect— Editor.
WORKSHOPS
A Workshop on Tropical Plant Families for Systematics/Ecology Instructors will be held 20-28 May 1995. This workshop is open to college instructors, knowledgeable plant enthusiasts, and graduate students not seeking course credit, who wish to gain first-hand experience with major tropical families, primarily: cycads, palms, gingers and their kin, Annonaceae, Guttiferae, Sapotaceae, Sterculiaceae, Bombacaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Rutaceae and kin, and Bignoniaceae, as well as the tropical members of the Moraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Leguminosae, Apocynaceae, and Rubiaceae. Because the major goal is to facilitate instructors in incorporating tropical plant materials in their courses, emphasis will be on collecting forays in the living collections and ample opportunities to photograph collected materials and to make herbarium and pickled specimens will be available. Short lectures each morning and extensive handouts will provide orientation to the families observed. For information on the class, please contact: Dr. Roger Sanders (Instructor) (telephone or fax: 817/598-1154). Class fee: $450. (Local housing is extra). For an application, please write: Education Department, Fairchild Tropical Garden, 11935 Old Cutler Rd., Miami, FL 33156, USA. Application and payment must be received before 5 May 1995.
Workshop: Preparing the Next Generation of Biology Instructors—A one-day workshop will be held in San Diego on Sunday, 6 August 1995 (8 am-5 pm) to help prepare new PhDs to teach undergraduate biology courses by introducing participants to contemporary pedagogical strategies and concerns. Because graduates of research institutions frequently receive little training in biology education or experience in developing their own course, first-year faculty members often face a task for which they are poorly trained. The workshop is designed for finishing or recently-finished PhDs who have accepted or are applying for a position at a post-secondary institution where their main responsibility will be teaching biology to undergraduates. It is also appropriate for PhDs who are in their first years of a position that emphasizes teaching. Workshop participants will be introduced to inquiry instruction, assessment techniques, and critical thinking skills by the workshop leader and through a draft of a handbook being developed for new PhDs. Instructors also will exchange comments with participants about concerns, problems and pitfalls during the first years of teaching. Participants are expected to evaluate a syllabus for a biology course they will teach with respect to information gained from the workshop. There is no registration fee, and each participant will receive $100 for their attendance and completion of the syllabus, review of the handbook draft, and return of a follow-up questionnaire. The workshop is limited to 30 individuals. Participants should send their inquiries directly to and request applications from: Gordon Uno, Department of Botany-Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA. (telephone: 405/ 325-6281; e-mail: unobotany@ uoknor.edu).
INTERNET NEWS
The Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza (TAN), and the Centre National de la Recherche Applique au Developpement Rural (TEF), are pleased to announce the expansion of the Madagascar Web on the World Wide Web. The Madagascar Web links specimen-vouchered images with their corresponding specimen and nomenclatural records in the Madagascar Conspectus database, a subset of the TROPICOS database at the Missouri Botanical Garden (MO). The Madagascar Conspectus database currently holds over 25,000 nomenclatural records, 2000 bibliographic records, and 50,000 geo-referenced specimen records. The newly-expanded Madagascar Web now encompasses 200 images, representing 75 families (including six endemic families), 130 genera, and 180 species. The Madagascar Web can be accessed directly at the following URL: http://straylight. tamu.edu/MoBot/madagasc/welcome.html. Comments, questions, and corrections are welcome, and should be directed to: George E. Schatz, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA. (e-mail: schatz@mobot.org).
The Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium (US), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA recently posted a new version of their World Wide Web home page. It can be found at the following URL: http://nmnhwww.di.edu/departments/ botany.html. This new home page contains collections and program information; staff lists and e-mail addresses; collections management policy and loan regulations; information for visitors, including a Metro map and travel times from Metro stations to the museum; ASPT and Mycological Society of America newsletters; recent staff publications; and links to Botany resources on the net. Please direct all constructive comments to: Rusty Russell, Collections Manager, U.S. National Herbarium, NHB-166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA. (e-mail: mnhbo005@sivm.si.edu).
DEATHS
Stanley Adair Cain (1902-1995), noted ecologist and conservationist, died of pneumonia on 1 April 1995 in Santa Cruz, California, USA. Dr. Cain, a native of Indiana, was a 1924 graduate of Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, USA. In 1930 he received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He taught at Butler, Indiana University, and the University of Tennessee. In 1950 he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan and founded the university's Department of Conservation. During the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Cain served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. After his government service, Dr. Cain returned to the University of Michigan, where he became the head of the Institute for Environmental Quality until he retired in 1972. He later taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Remarkably, in 1927 for a paper on ecological mapping he took photographs from a biplane and thereby became the first biologist to use aerial photography for research. He is survived by a son and seven grandchildren—Abstracted from: The Washington Post (3 April 1995) and The New York Times (3 April 1995).
Jan B. Gillett (1911-1995), one of the foremost figures in East African botany, died in his home, at Kew, 17 March 1995, at the age of 83. Named for Boer general Jan Smuts, a friend of the family, Gillett's first experience in African botany came at the age of 17 when he was invited to join Kew botanist John Hutchinson on a collecting trip to South Africa. The next year, in 1929, he, his parents, Smuts, and Hutchinson collected plants in the Rhodesias. In 1932 he joined the British Somaliland Ethiopia Boundary Commission and made valuable collections from this poorly known region. After completing his degree at Cambridge in 1934 he abandoned botany and became a teacher, while pursuing radical politics as a member of the Communist Party. In 1941 he joined the army and was sent to India. After the war he was appointed botanist to the Iraq Department of Agriculture and made extensive collections there. He returned to England and took up a post at Kew in 1949 on the newly started Flora of Tropical East Africa (FTEA). His principal work during this period was on legumes, including his 1958 monograph of Indigofera in tropical Africa. In 1952-53 he participated in another Boundary Commission, finding many new species along the Kenya/ Ethiopia border, including Aneilema gillettii (Commelinaceae). In his detailed ecological notes and descriptions, consistent use of latitude and longitude, and collection of liquid preserved flowers, he was well ahead of his time.
In 1963 Gillett was appointed Botanist in Charge of the East African Herbarium in Nairobi, Kenya, the largest herbarium in tropical Africa. He was to serve in that position until his retirement in 1971. Although not a natural administrator or prolific author, Gillett influenced East African botany in many ways: teaching and encouraging his African staff members, such as Christine Kabuye, his eventual successor; collecting plants in the drier, poorly known parts of Kenya; checking FTEA type-scripts for Kew against collections in the East African Herbarium; helping authors, such as Sir Michael Blundell, working on popular books about East African plants; and encouraging people who brought interesting specimens to the herbarium to continue collecting.
I was in the last category when, as a young Peace Corps Volunteer, I met Jan Gillett in 1966. His warmth and kindness inspired me to learn and collect the plants that grew in the vicinity of Thika, where I lived and taught. Three years later he was instrumental in arranging my transfer to the herbarium staff.
It was during his time in Nairobi that Gillett developed his passion for the genus Commiphora (Burseraceae), ecologically important, but awkward to collect and exceeding difficult to identify from herbarium specimens. After he retired he began doing more field work on these plants, which culminated in his 1991 treatment of the Burseraceae for the Flora of Tropical East Africa. Another significant contribution was his 1980 paper that definitively separated the neotropical Bursera from Commiphora, which many botanists thought might have to be merged. Gillett returned to England in 1984 because of failing health. He was a regular visitor to Kew thereafter, although increasingly slowed by angina. In 1989 bypass surgery gave him a new lease on life. He is survived by his wife Gertrude, three sons and a daughter. He is commemorated by at least 33 specific plant names, mostly based on collections made during the two Boundary Commission surveys—Robert B. Faden, Department of Botany, NHB-166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 20560, USA.
David Daniels Keck (1903-1995)—Born in Omaha, Nebraska, 24 October 1903, Dave Keck soon became a Californian, acquiring his grade school and high school education in Riverside, then moving on to Pomona College where he earned his BA in 1925 and his MS in 1926 working on Orthocarpus (Scrophulariaceae) under the direction of Philip A. Munz. He received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1930 with a major in systematic botany (Penstemon sect. Saccanthera, Scrophulariaceae) under the direction of W. L. Jepson, and a minor in genetics under E. B. Babcock. He married Marjorie Birdelle Stacy, of South Pasadena, California, in 1928, and they raised three daughters. In 1926, Keck became part-time assistant to Harvey M. Hall of the Division of Plant Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, which was then housed on the Berkeley campus. In 1934 he began working with Jens C. Clausen and William M. Hiesey at the Carnegie Institution in their new laboratory building on the Stanford campus. The famous trio worked together until 1950 when Keck moved to New York to be Head Curator at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). He soon became Assistant Director of the NYBG, and in 1958 he served as Director following the retirement of William J. Robbins. Later that same year he took a leave of absence to serve as program director for systematic biology at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He resigned from the NYBG when he moved into higher administrative roles at the NSF, where he remained until 1970. In retirement, he and his wife lived in New Zealand until 1976 and in Oregon until 1994. The team of Clausen, Keck, and Hiesey produced the famous series on "Experimental Studies on the Nature of Species." During those years at Stanford he produced revisions of several sections of Penstemon (Scrophulariaceae) and Potentilla (Rosaceae), of the rosaceous genera Horkelia and Ivesia, and of several groups within the Asteraceae. At the time he moved to New York, he was working with Munz on A California Flora and with LeRoy Abrams and Roxanna S. Ferris on parts of volumes III and IV of Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States. Dr. Keck was a master of all modern techniques in plant systematics, using genetics, cytology, and cytogenetics in his research. He died 10 March 1995, soon after suffering a stroke. He lived 92 productive, heathy, and happy years—Noel H. Holmgren, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA.
Hugh S. MacKee (1912-1995), an important collector in Australia, New Guinea, and New Caledonia, died in New Caledonia on 14 February 1995. Beginning in 1983, he also served as coeditor of the Flore de la Nouvelle-Caledonie et Dependances (1967-x), which is published by the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
Mildred Esther Mathias Hassler (1906-1995), Professor Emerita of Biology at UCLA, left a remarkable record of accomplishments and honors in plant systematics, horticulture, tropical biology and education, and in conservation. She was the first woman president of the ASPT (1973), recipient of the Merit Award of the Botanical Society of America the same year, and its president in 1984. Born near St. Louis into a family of educational achievers, she attended local schools before entering Washington University. There she earned the AB, MA, and PhD degrees, the last at the startlingly early age of twenty-two. She was named Alumna of the Year in 1966. Her graduate work was conducted at the Missouri Botanical Garden under the direction of Jesse M. Greenman, who introduced her to "the carrots," as she referred to the objects of her special interest, Umbelliferae (Apiaceae). With the death of John M. Coulter and Joseph N. Rose both in 1928, the year in which she published her first paper, she quickly became the uncontested New World expert on the plant family. Overwhelmed by requests from authors of floras and others, she invited me to join her at the end of the 1930s. Our first co-authored item appeared in 1941 and we issued approximately 60 papers together in the next 40 years. During most of that time, we were located in different areas, and learned to collaborate by shipping notes and material back and forth and resolving rare disagreements by correspondence. Her participation was conditioned by her role as the wife of Gerald Hassler, physicist-inventor-engineer, whom she married in 1930, and eventually as that of the mother of four children.
Once the family had established itself in southern California after the war and Gerald accepted an appointment in Engineering at UCLA, Carl Epling seized the opportunity to attract Mildred to a paid position as Herbarium Botanist. This title was quickly augmented by that of Lecturer, so she could participate in teaching, and she rapidly ascended the academic ladder to full professor and important roles not only in Los Angeles but in the state-wide University as well. She directed the graduate work of several PhD candidates, notably David M. Bates, William L. Theobald, and Charles C. Tseng.
She was an enthusiastic gardener and the exotic subtropical cultivated flora of southern California was an immediate challenge. Her voluminous writing, speaking, and exhibiting on horticultural subjects had a major influence on the diversification of nursery stocks and the quality of landscape development in southern California. She won a host of local and national awards, including the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award of the American Horticultural Society and the Medal of Honor of the Garden Club of America. The UCLA garden is appropriately named for her. Not surprisingly, given her dedication and boundless energy, Mildred played a very active role in conservation, both within the University as chair of the Natural Reserve System, and outside it as president of the Southern California Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. The list of her connection and activities within the whole range of botanical, horticultural, and conservation organizations is virtually endless. Her interest in subtropical plants led to major continuing involvement with the Organization for Tropical Studies. This, in turn, opened the way to a largely post-retirement career as leader of natural-history trips under the auspices of UCLA Extension which spanned the world, but probably were most popular and memorable for her concentration on the Peruvian Amazon. She had expected to be in Costa Rica again this spring and to go back to the Amazon in the fall. Few have done so much to introduce so many to the fascinating world of plants and to infuse them with her love of the Earth's fragile biota. Gerald died in 1992; she is survived by her sister Helen M. Sanders, three of the Hassler children:
Jane Hill (Tucson), Julia Taylor (Denver), John (San Diego), and eight grandchildren—Lincoln Constance, University Herbarium, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Bldg. #2465, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-2465, USA.
Dr. Joao Mur[Omega]a Pires (1917-1994) died on 21 December 1994. He collected extensively in Amazonas and Par (Brazil) and was a specialist in the Quiiniaceae. According to John Wurdack (pers. comm.), Pires had the broadest knowledge of the Amazonian flora of any contemporary botanist.
BOOK REVIEWS
Chadwick, Derek J. (organizer) & Joan Marsh (eds.). 1994. Ethnobotany and the Search for New Drugs. Ciba Foundation Symposium 185, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158-0012, USA. (telephone: 908/ 469-4400). ISBN 0-471-95024-6. Cloth. Pp. ix + 280, illus. $76 (plus shipping & handling). This volume is the proceedings of a symposium held in Forta leza, Brazil from 30 November-2 December 1992. At first glance, it seems to be an only slightly modified update of the proceedings of a similar symposium held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1990, Bioactive Compounds from Plants, published in the same series as number 154. The first three authors are the same, although Farnsworth's article had been moved to third after Balick and Cox. Even the titles were almost the same as four years earlier; Farnsworth's changed from "The Role of Ethnophar macology in Drug Development" to "Ethnopharmacology and Drug Development." However, while a cursory examination might lead to the conclusion that the 1994 volume was merely a rehash of the 1990 work, a closer look reveals that the two volumes are snapshots in time, which chronicle the changes that have taken place in one branch of a very rapidly changing field of research, the search for new botanically-derived drugs. The quest for new natural products, particularly programs aimed at the discovery of new drugs from plants, has grown tremendously since the mid-1980s. Recent advances in molecular biology, computer science, and the mechanization of the drug discovery process now allow the rapid evaluation of large numbers of samples in a very short period of time. These technological breakthroughs, coupled with concerns about a rapidly vanishing resource, have led a variety of pharmaceutical research programs to reconsider plants as a discovery resource. The 1994 volume, Ethnobotany and the Search for New Drugs, provides a modern update and a useful overview of ethnobotany and natural products drug discovery, but much of this has been published elsewhere. The real value of the volume, however, lies with three subtle themes that received little attention in the 1990 volume, but recurring reference to them in many of the 1994 papers documents the significant changes that have taken place in the field and make this a very interesting book. They are the role of ethnobo tany in drug discovery, how intellectual property rights and related ethical issues affect the international transport of plant material for commercial development, and the potential impact of natural products drug discovery on the conservation of the threatened biological and cultural resources upon which it depends.
Three papers in the 1990 symposium (those by Farnsworth, Balick, and Cox) examined and compared the various strategies for gathering plant samples asking whether the paradigm under which samples were collected might effect the rate of discovery of new drugs. Comparingethnobotanical collecting with other strategies, they attempted to show that a history of medicinal use of certain plants by indigenous groups would facilitate identification of novel, therapeutically useful compounds. However, given the extremely low discovery rate of new medicines from natural sources, comparing the relative merits of different collecting strategies is statistically meaningless. As modern pharmaceutical research methodologies have evolved to the point where evaluation of thousands of samples takes only weeks, the intensive labor required to document carefully the ethnomedical use of small numbers of species has become less essential to the process. The strategy which King and Tempesta outline in this volume most effectively uses indigenous knowledge to facilitate the discovery of novel bioactive substances: Shaman Pharmaceuticals relies on gathering information on as many plants as possible used for the same therapeutic target by diverse groups from many places. In contrast, the most efficient means of capturing and documenting cultural information, and the way ethnobotanical research is generally conducted, is through long-term studies with a single indigenous population. However, it is Berlin and Berlin who recognize that the most important consequence of interaction between ethnobotanists and the pharmaceutical research community is not that ethnobotany is essential to the drug discovery process, but rather that support from bioprospecting can promote the capture of rapidly disappearing cultural information, and codification and promotion of traditional health care systems, which will be lost forever without the research attention of the ethnobotanical community.
Paul Cox presented the only discussion of ethical obligations of ethnobotanists in the 1990 Bioactive Compounds from Plants, but since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the resulting Convention on Biological Diversity, which entered into force on 29 December 1993, ethics in bioprospecting has become a major topic of discussion. More than a third of the papers in the 1994 volume address this issue and John Barton's paper is devoted entirely to this subject. It is a broad and complex subject, brought to the forefront of the bioprospecting community by the question of how the relatively poor countries, which are home to the richest biodiversity, can benefit from commercialization of products developed from their plants. It is interesting that a subject that received almost no attention five years ago is a recurring theme in this volume, and the literature cited provides a window into the large amount of literature published in just a few years.
Another subject that received no attention in 1990 is how bioprospecting can promote conservation of the very resources upon which it depends. This topic is addressed to some extent in the majority of papers in the 1994 volume and is a major focus of the contributions by Balick, King and Tempesta, Martin, and Berlin and Berlin. Throughout the papers are impassioned pleas for conservation, not only of biological organisms, but also of the cultural information developed over centuries by indigenous groups that is in danger of vanishing today as the pressure of westernization increases.
Overall, a careful reading of the sixteen papers that comprise this volume will provide the reader with an up to date summary of a rapidly evolving field of research. While a few of the papers focus on very specific topics, the majority are set in a broad enough context to be of interest to a wide variety of readers. In particular, the discussions of the ethical ramifications of ethnobotany and the search for new drugs and the impact that bioprospecting can have on conservation should be of interest to all botanists. Understanding these issues is important to all of us who must continually justify the importance of biological research and conservation—James S. Miller, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA.
Ferguson, I. K. & S. C. Tucker (eds.). 1994. Advances in Legume Systematics. Part 6. Structural Botany. Publication Sales, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, England. (telephone: [44] 81/ 332 5219; fax: [44] 81/ 332 5278). ISBN 0-947643-78-8. Paper. Pp. xii + 259, illus. [ogonek]15, plus 15% postage & handling (Visa, M/C, & Amex accepted).
Structural Botany comprises a series of papers that focus on anatomical and ultrastructural characters that are potentially phylogenetically informative at the level of subfamily, tribe, and genus in the family Leguminosae, with little attempt to evaluate the familial relationships of legumes. The volume begins with a series of papers devoted principally to the developmental aspects of anatomical or ultrastructural characters and how such ontogenetic characters are empirically used in phylogenetic analysis. These three are followed by the remaining seven chapters that are devoted to the development of phylogenetically informative characters derived from studies of floral secretory glands, megagametophytes, seeds and fruits, endothecial thickenings, and wood anatomy.
Judith Thomas begins the volume with a review of classical developmental biology of plants. Among legumes, such studies have included principally Glycine max, Phaseolus vulgaris, and Pisum sativum. Thomas claims that such knowledge of plant development in these species could serve as a model for all legumes, and though this may be true, no mention is made of developmental studies of woody legumes. Regardless, Thomas' chapter provides a good review of apical meristem activity during vegetative and reproductive growth, heterochrony, phenotypic plasticity, light quality on development, and floral organogenesis and reversion. In the next chapter by Tucker and Douglas, a cladistic analysis is preformed on all of the floral characters elucidated by Shirley Tucker and collaborators during the last decade. As such, this paper provides an excellent summary of mainly floral morphology, which has always been the keystone for legume classification. With a careful sampling of exemplar legume taxa, and the development of a data set with 19 well defined ontogenetic characters and character states, the authors confirm that Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae are each monophyletic, and that Caesalpinioideae is paraphyletic. Genera such as Dialium, Ceratonia, and Gleditsia represent the earliest offshoots in the legume lineage. As to the data set that is developed in this paper, Tucker and Douglas find that characters such as "the position of the median sepal" and "suppression versus absence of organs" are some of the most phylogenetically informative. The third chapter by Kantz and Tucker focuses more narrowly on just the floral ontogenetic characters that are useful for phylogenetic analysis of the caesalpinioid tribe Caesalpinieae. The sort of characters that show promise for phylogenetic analysis include whether the carpel is opened during ovule initiation (which marks a subset of Caesalpinia sensu stricto), overlapping initiation between the petal whorl and outer stamen whorl (Poincianella and Hoffmannseggia groups), and whether the opening to the stigmatic chamber is derived from the suture at the distal end of the developing carpel (Mezoneuron). The authors demonstrate how traditional data are woefully lacking in phylogenetic resolution and thus the urgent need to find additional data if cladistic classification is to proceed in this legume group.
Caesalpinia and related genera are further studied in the fourth chapter by Rudall et al. This time, the focus is on three types of floral secretory structures and their ecological and systematic significance. The authors detail the great amount of morphological variation that is found among glandular hairs, secretory idioblasts, and nodular secretory ducts. Rudall et al. suggest that because glandular hairs and secretory idioblasts are nearly mutually exclusive, that may share a similar ecological role in reducing herbivory. Secretory idioblasts are absent from all putative outgroups of the Caesalpinia alliance, but occur in many of the species that represent the earliest offshoots of the group (e.g., C. velutina, C. bahamensis, and others). The loss of secretory idioblasts thus marks the more derived subgroups, which in turn possess glandular hairs. The authors also find that the presence of nodular secretory ducts marks the monophyly of a subgroup of the Poincianella assemblage. One of the authors of this paper, Gwilym Lewis, has been amassing diverse types of data for his forthcoming phylogenetic analysis of Caesalpinia. This current paper will no doubt serve as one of the important sources of data for that impending phylogenetic study. Pollen ultrastructure in the tribe Sophoreae is the subject of the next paper by Ferguson et al. Fourteen phylogenetically informative binary characters derived from just pollen morphology in the Sophoreae are enumerated and subjected to a cladistic analysis. Exine ornamentation, which comprises six of these characters, is scored by additive binary codings. Using just this data set, the most strongly supported relationships are typically pairs or small subgroups of genera, such as the Panurea-Bowdichia, Alexa-Castanospermum, and Baphia (B subgroup)-Leucomphalos sister groups. Successive weighting achieves a level of resolution that, as it turns out, is consistent with recent phylogenetic analyses of other data sets. For example, the tribe Swartzieae is shown to be derived from at least two distantly related sophoroid lineages. Ferguson et al. are quick to point out the inconsistencies of their findings with the results from recent molecular investigations and correctly suggest that the homology of the 14 well described binary characters will be best determined in the context of an analysis of a larger more diverse phylogenetic data set.
The legume megagametophyte is discussed in an evolutionary context in the next chapter by Cameron and Prakash. Beginning with an excellent introduction to studies of this structure, the article puts forth the main point that the Polygonum type is the most common and perhaps original type found in legumes as it is almost invariably found throughout the family. The principal exceptions are the endemic Australian sister-tribes Mirbelieae and Bossiaeeae. All of Bossiaeeae and Mirbelieae have a Polygonum type megagametophyte in which the antipodals are greatly enlarged. The rest of Mirbelieae have two kinds of very distinct megagametophytes, the newly described Mirbelia- and Jacksonia-types. They differ collectively from the Polygonum type in being derived from other than just the megaspore located at the chalazal end, having other than the uniform 8 nuclei per megagametophyte, and in numbering often more than 1 per ovule. It is suggested that part of the driving force behind megagametophyte variation seen in these tribes is apomixis. Notably, the recent taxonomic segregation of the Templetonia group from the Mirbelieae-Bossiaeeae alliance is supported by megagametophyte data, for the species of this group have the Polygonum type megagametophyte typical of most legumes. A phylogenetic analysis of the Caesalpinioideae and Mimosoideae using seed and fruit characters was undertaken by Kirkbride et al. Levels of resolution were extremely low and any resolution that was obtained was dependent on the outgroup, thus suggesting the data set was highly sensitive to the slightest levels of perturbation. Kirkbride et al. introduce a quantitative measure of congruence between traditional classification and cladistic classification, and point out that it is dependent on how clades are rotated on the resulting cladogram. For this reason, and especially because of the often uncertain quality of traditional classifications, this quantitative measure seems to have little value. The really good point of this paper is the enumeration of 98 binary and multistate characters derived from fruit and seed morphologies. It is unfortunate that the elucidation of this character set was not the focal point of this paper; the parsimony analysis of the data matrix which had many missing data or multistate taxa resulted in a resolution too poor to be meaningful.
An excellent introduction to the study of endothecial thickenings by Manning and Stirton in the next chapter. While no morphologies unique to Leguminosae were discovered, it appears that most Mimosoideae are marked by the development of a complete baseplate, which based on outgroup comparisons is apomorphic within the family. The other types of baseplates, palmate and incomplete, are found variously throughout the Leguminosae and related families. However, within the Leguminosae, the incomplete baseplate occurs in all Caesalpinioideae and in the Swartzieae and Sophoreae of the Papilionoideae. The palmate type predominates in Dipterygeae and Millettieae and related tribes (e.g., Robinieae, Phaseoleae, Desmodieae, Galegeae, etc.). Thus, the palmate baseplate could be considered derived in the family. In essence, Manning and Stirton provide evidence of two shared derived characters that potentially will resolve phylogenetic relationships at higher taxonomic levels in Leguminosae. The final two chapters develop phylogenetic data sets derived from wood anatomical characters. The entire tribe Sophoreae is treated by Gasson, who in addition to detailing 12 phylogenetically informative wood characters, furnishes an excellent overview of the taxonomically and ecologically important wood anatomical characters in the legume family. The pattern of variation is typical of most character sets. Certain genera, like Monopteryx, are extremely variable, whereas others, like Ormosia, are very uniform with regard to wood anatomy. Even so, Gasson outlines many instances where wood anatomy is useful for revealing relationships, as in the case of Sweetia and Leutzelburgia, which have essentially identical wood anatomy. Immediately following is the chapter by Fugii et al., which focuses on just the Sophora-group of the Sophoreae. This particular group is distinctive for its world-wide distribution that includes both temperate and tropical regions. Possibly because of this, the Sophora-group also displays wood anatomical variation that nearly rivals that of the entire tribe Sophoreae. The authors provide a good discussion of characters that are most likely ecologically as opposed to phylogenetically constrained. However, their cladistic analysis based on eight binary and multistate wood characters suggest that the genera distributed at least in part in temperate regions are generally most closely related to each other, and more distantly related to those that are exclusively tropical. Thus, it will take independent data to resolve the question about how malleable wood anatomical traits have been during legume evolution.
Each of the chapters in Structural Botany develops a partial phylogenetic data set that is derived from a specific source, from floral ontogeny to pollen or wood anatomy. The authors clearly demonstrate how much work goes into defining the characters and character states of even a small set of potentially phylogenetically informative characters. Detailed character discussions that are routinely augmented by excellent illustrations render Structural Botany an invaluable source of cladistic data. The separate cladistic analyses of each of these partial data sets, however, provides only small amounts of phylogenetic resolution, as is indicated by, among other things, the common use of majority rule consensus trees. Ultimately, much reconciliation is needed, for many of the individual data points discussed in Structural Botany are conflicting. According to Tucker, Ateleia is part of the tribe Swartzieae based on `floral parts missing from inception,' but according to Manning and Stirton, Ateleia represents a derived element of Sophoreae and is perhaps sister to Millertieae based on endothecial thickenings that have a palmate baseplate. These data sets, though individually well developed in the present volume, will have to be integrated into larger data sets that comprise characters from diverse sources so that hypotheses of homology and phylogenetic relationships can be best evaluated. The overriding emphasis of the contributions in this volume is on the subfamily Caesalpinioideae and the tribes Swartzieae and Sophoreae of the subfamily Papilionoideae. This is presumably because of an implicit assumption that the study of these particular taxa will best illuminate some general underlying pattern about legume evolution. Though I doubt this assumption has much merit, the phylogenetic approach taken by all of the authors in the development of their data sets has laid the foundation for future workers to incorporate these data into larger sets that combine diverse types of data. It is in this aspect that the Structural Botany volume makes its greatest contribution—Matt Lavin, Department of Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
Genin, Andre=. 1990. Application of Botany in Horticulture. 4th Ed. (English translation, 1994). Science Publishers, Inc., 52 LaBombard Rd. North, Lebanon, NH 03766-1400, USA. (telephone: 603/448-0037; fax: 603/448-2576). ISBN 1-886106-00-2. Cloth. Pp. xiii + 208, illus. $39.50, plus shipping & handling.
This small, quaint book, which provides a very elementary introduction to botany, is divided into nine chapters: making a herbarium, the morphology of plants, cells and tissues, anatomy of the vegetative parts of plants, plant physiology, plant reproduction, genetics, systematics, and plant geography and ecology. The main text occupies the right two-thirds of the pages while horticultural notes are placed in the left one-third. The text is illustrated with numerous, simple line drawings and a few black-and-white photographs. Cultivated plants are used as examples throughout.
This book is so old-fashioned and out-of-date that one has to wonder why it was translated from the original French. The translation is much too literal, thus most of the English is awkward. In many places it is misleading or incorrect. Strange terms abound, such as "somation" for somatic mutation and "chlorophyll assimilation" for photosynthesis. The book lacks an index and has very few references. I can find no reason why anyone would want to own this book, let alone purchase it—Robert B. Faden, Department of Botany, NHB-166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0001, USA.
Griffiths, Mark. 1994. Index of Garden Plants. Timber Press Inc., 133 S.W. Second Ave., Suite 450, Portland, OR 97204-3527, USA. (telephone: 800/ 327-5680 or 503/ 227-2878; fax: 503/ 227-3070). ISBN 0-88192-246-3. Cloth. Pp. lxi + 1298, illus. $59.95, plus postage & handling.
Anyone who makes an attempt to garden has probably already received his or her share of seed catalogs these past few months. While I find them to be pleasant reminders of the end of winter, they often subtly irritate me in that all too frequently they employ archaic scientific names or vernacular and cultivar names that I have trouble finding in the nomenclatural references I have accumulated near my desk. I can quickly trace generic synonymy by flipping through Willis' A Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns (8th ed., 1973) or Mabberley's The Plant-Book (1987), but unfamiliar common names and cultivars often force me to make a pilgrimage to the library to consult either The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening (4 volumes, 1992), The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture (10 volumes, 1980-1982), or Hortus Third (1 volume, 1976). I would love to have any one of these encyclopedic references at my fingertips, but none of them is within my budget. Happily, the Index of Garden Plants is affordable and nicely fills the horticultural reference void on this plant taxonomist's book shelf.
The Index is based on The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening (RHS Dictionary), which cost $795 at publication. (By contrast, the Illustrated Encyclopedia originally was priced at $525 and Hortus at $99.50). In the Index's parent work there is an historical introduction by William T. Stearn, who traced the ancestry of the RHS Dictionary back to Philip Miller and The Gardeners and Florists Dictionary (1724), which is perhaps the earliest dictionary of horticulture. It's a pedigree anyone would be proud to claim. Some of the other introductory material in the RHS Dictionary is carried over into the abridged version, notably an essay on using the dictionary/index, abbreviations, and a botanical glossary/glossary.
The Index is worldwide in scope and claims to provide names for over 60,000 ornamental and economic plants as well as 30,000 cultivars and 12,000 common names. Given the scope of the Index, it is perhaps unfair to criticize fine details. I was pleased to find the "Madagascar periwinkle" listed under Catharanthus roseus since many seed catalogs continue to list it as Vinca rosea. However, while "Madagascar periwinkle" is identified as C. roseus and the entry for Catharanthus pointed me back to Vinca, nothing under the entry for Vinca would have helped me find the correct name. This seems to have been an editorial slip since the entry under Vinca in the RHS Dictionary does point one back to Catharanthus.
In a few instances, I noted that the estimates for the size of genera were at variance with standard taxonomic references such as Willis and Mabberley and there seemed to be no rationale for selecting one of these over the other when they disagreed. Also, while the Index embraced some relatively recent taxonomic innovations, it seemed hesitant to endorse others. As an example, Bohm et al. (J. Arnold Arbor. 59: 311-341. 1978) argued convincingly that the unispecific Elliottia (Ericaceae) should be expanded to include Cladothamnus and Tripetaleia. Mabberley accepted this, but while the Index provides cross-references that suggest this new taxonomy the Index continues to recognize all three genera.
I have hopes that future editions of the Index (and the RHS Dictionary) will come closer to the nomenclatural and taxonomic concepts utilized by plant systematists. I have my doubts, however, that the seed companies will ever come around to our way of thinking, but if you keep a copy of the Index near your copy of Willis or Mabberley you should be able to translate any of their advertising copy into intelligible taxonomy—Laurence J. Dorr, Department of Botany, NHB-166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0001, USA.
Johri, B. M. (ed.). 1994. Botany in India: History and Progress. Vol. 1. Science Publishers, Inc., 52 LaBombard Rd. North, Lebanon, NH 03766-1400, USA (telephone: 603/448-0037; fax: 603/448-2576). ISBN 1-886106-04-5. Cloth. Pp. xxxi + 521, illus. $85, plus shipping & handling. <
This, the first volume of a two volume work, covers mainly the history of cryptogamic botany (including non-plant fungal groups, lichens, bacteria, and viruses which have traditionally been included in botany) whereas the second volume will cover phanerogamic botany. In addition to the 21 chapters on cryptogamic botany, chapters 1-3 discuss, as more generalized topics, the history of plant sciences in India, the history of plant exploration and floras in India, and the history of research on Indian medicinal plants. Those taxonomic groups that have received more attention historically have more extensive treatments. Thus, there are six chapters on mycology ranging from mycorrhizae to fungal physiology. Generally, if there is more than one chapter on a taxonomic group, the topics are divided into one chapter on taxonomy, morphology, and reproductive biology and another chapter on physiology and morphogenesis. The former are generally organized around taxonomic groups. Each chapter contains a final section of concluding remarks. These generally encapsulate the history of the area and how this relates to current work and what that may portend for the future. As to be expected the bibliographies for each chapter are extensive. This leads to the discovery of obscure references that in turn may lead to frustration when ones tries to find a copy of the Res. Bull. Punjab Univ. Sci. Sect. All the more so when to save space no titles are given, just the author, year, and journal title. All in all I found this volume to be interesting with respect to those groups that I am familiar with and thus presume it would be so for those interested in any of the topics covered. Certainly, the first three chapters are of general interest to all—Dennis Wm. Stevenson, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA.
Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. 1994. A Revision of Tabernaemontana Two. The New World Species and Stemmadenia. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, England. (telephone: [44] 81/ 332 5217 or 5299; fax: [44] 81/ 332 5278). ISBN 0-947643-74-5. Paper. Pp. xvii + 213-450, illus. [ogonek]19.50, plus postage & handling. This work completes the worldwide revision of Tabernaemontana with 99 recognized species, and includes an updated revision of the ten species of Stemmadenia. Leeuwenberg accepts Tabernaemontana in a broad sense "contrary to the Paris school," and lists some 30 generic synonyms. Species treated by others under genera such as Anacampta, Anartia, Bonafousia, Peschiera, Stenosolen, and Woytkowskia are all relegated to synonymy under Tabernaemontana. Additionally, Leeuwenberg treats the circumtropical Tabernaemontana along with neotropical Stemmadenia and Old World relatives (Callichilia, Calocrater, Carvalhoa, Crioceras, Schizozygia, Tabernanthe, & Voacanga) comprising the tribe Tabernaemontaneae within the subfamily Plumerioideae, rather than as constituting its own subfamily. The introductory portion of this work includes discussions on "Geographical distribution," "Relationship with other genera," "Key to the genera of the tribe Tabernaemontaneae," and "Interrelationship of the species of Tabernaemontana."
The "Systematic Part" of the work begins with a complete listing of the generic synonyms including their typification, the generic description, and a complete key to the New World species. Additional interlinked keys, based on species of known indigenous occurrence in various political areas or countries, are provided:
Mexico and Central America, Cuba, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The systematic treatment includes complete homo- and heterotypic synonymy and typification, ample descriptions, statements on geographic distributions and ecology, citation of representative collections (listing the approximate number of specimens examined for well-collected species), full-page line drawings, dot distribution maps, and useful comments/notes for each of the species covered in the work.
The production of the two companion volumes in 1991 and 1994, covering Tabernaemontana worldwide by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, represents the culmination of many years of effort by the author. Leeuwenberg and his various students over the last two decades are to be congratulated for providing numerous taxonomic revisions and floristic accounts for the Apocynaceae from both the New and Old World regions. In all cases, these studies have incorporated an extensive examination of holdings from scores of herbaria, coupled with field studies to understand more about their ecology and reproductive biology.
Users of the treatment may wish that the introductory part would have contained more detailed and extensive discussions. References to precursor papers, by the author as well as others with differing views of the group's taxonomy, that have led up to Tabernaemontana 1 and 2 are generally embedded within these volumes. The work would have benefited from having a separate list of "References Cited."
Herbarium curators should be aware of the availability of the nearly 10,000-record specimen database that was developed in the process of preparing this taxonomic account. The "Introduction" indicates that this is available upon request from WAG in either printed or electronic form—James L. Zarucchi, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA.
Meyer, Frederick G., Peter M. Mazzeo, & Donald M. Voss. 1994. A Catalog of Cultivated Woody Plants of the Southeastern United States. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, United States National Arboretum Contribution No. 7: vii + 330 (+ errata insert). Paper. Illus. Available from: Curator of the Herbarium, U.S. National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002-1958, USA.
This is a reference book for the tool shelf to answer that telephone call _ who escapes? "Can you tell me about the holly called "Grandpappy?" You will then leaf through the eighteen pages listing Ilex cultivars from "Aalata" to "Zero" to find its affinity. The first documented census of the cultivated plants in that section of the United States known as Small's Manual range was begun in 1967. It covers thirteen states and the District of Columbia. A well-planned undertaking, it should initiate a national survey of our cultivated plants. The "Catalog of plants and their collection sites" runs to two hundred pages and is supplemented with five appendices and a "selected bibliography." About five thousand entries are listed. Genera are entered alphabetically. Recognized binomials and cultivars (set off in quotation marks) are set in bold-face; synonyms, in Roman. Common names are given for those in general use_ "the use of common names should be discouraged because of the endless possibilities for misidentification and confusion" (p. 11). The coded record of 677 gardens and nurseries provides information on our regional cultivated flora. This, however, suggests that certain plants are not grown, but that the conclusion is mistaken. For example, Antigonon leptopus, Cassia alata, Cestrum nocturnum, Cinnamomum camphorum, and Cycas revoluta are well known in New Orleans gardens (see Taxon 40: 539. 1991). The United States Arboretum is the center piece. Nearly 700 collection sites were visited by the staff, and more than 14,000 herbarium specimens were taken at arboreta, college campuses, cemeteries, selected private gardens, and roadway "beautifications." This documentation of our cultivated flora is a "national treasure."
Though there is no uniform historic record of the introduction of our garden plants, the first firm date for Camellia japonica and Firmiana simplex for South Carolina are suggested for the hortohistorian. For the instructor still teaching plant systematics with an historical awareness, and the inquiring nurseryman, the paragraphs "How Plant Names change" (p. 9), are recommended for their clarity. Though it may be deemed inadmissible in such a catalog, seldom are alternate generic limits noticed. Those who find the box-elder, Negundo, a valid genus distinct from maples, for example, will find no hint that it was ever suggested. Specialists who have contributed to generic accounts are acknowledged; this may prove useful when seeking the answer to a problem.
Especially admirable are the line drawings to illustrate selected genera. Eighteen are from the drawing board of Lillian Nicholson Meyer, known for her 1975 cookbook A Pinch of Herbs, published with the sponsorship of the Potomac Unit of the Herb Society of America and the Potomac Unit of To Hold and Cherish. Sixteen are by Susan M. Johnston and one by Peggy K. Duke. For background to this Catalog read Frederick Meyer's "Colonial Gardens of the South," published in the Harvester, Quarterly of the Georgia Horticultural Society, vol. 11, no. 2 (1976). "Vernacular (Common) Names" (p. 11) are said to be "instructive in many ways" or "simply names of convenience." Would it not be instructive to include a line-identification of names in the manner of Liberty Hyde Bailey? It would complement "Appendix A:
Authors Cited" and might open books for reading pleasure on the history of gardens and horticulture. For example, in Virgil's time our maple was Acer from its use as a weapon for its sharpness. Yet "David's Maple" is unlikely to have been used in his sling. Actually the reader could learn that the Chinese tree commemorates the gentle naturalist-priest Pere David—Joseph Ewan, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA.
Smith, Andrew B. 1994. Systematics and the Fossil Record: Documenting Evolutionary Patterns. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Inc., 238 Main St., Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. (telephone: 800/759-6102 or 617/876-7000; fax: 617/876-7022). ISBN 0-632-03642-7. Paper. Pp. viii + 223, illus. $32.95, plus shipping & handling ($4.50 shipping and handling if pre-paid).
Paleontologists and neontologists alike will find this book to be a useful publication, but perhaps not for all the same reasons. This well made and easy to read book is organized into seven chapters that address a wide variety of issues in paleontology and phylogenetic systematics (1. Introduction; 2. Species in the fossil record; 3. Parsimony, phylogenetic analysis, and fossils; 4. Higher taxa; 5. The nature of biostratigraphic data; 6. The construction of evolutionary trees;
7. Patterns from the fossil record). The author begins the Preface with the statement that "it is the study of fossils that provides the most direct evidence we have for how evolution has proceeded over geological time. Yet evolutionary history cannot simply be read from the rocks." In this book Andrew Smith demonstrates why a phylogenetic framework is essential in studies of evolutionary patterns and processes that employ paleontological and biostratigraphic data. In addition to providing useful discussions of phylogenetic methods and their application to paleontology, the book will also be useful, particularly to neontologists, by demonstrating the utility and relevance of paleontological and biostratigraphic data. The author clearly articulates the importance of including paleontological data in phylogenetic analyses, as well as the need for a phylogenetic framework in studies of diversity patterns in the fossil record.
Unfortunately this book includes very few botanical/paleobotanical examples, but this has not so much to do with the zoological background of the author as it has to do with the available literature. Although the cladistic phylogenetic approach is becoming more common in plant paleontology, there are still relatively few published studies, and most of these deal with angiosperm relationships within the seed plants. It seem to me that several of these numerous invertebrate and vertebrate studies discussed in the text may serve as useful examples for addressing comparable questions in studies of plant evolution.
For paleontologists who may not be as familiar with cladistic phylogenetic methods as they would like, this book presents a useful introduction to most of the central issues, but I would not recommend the book as the sole source of methodological advice. I found the discussion of several important topics to be particularly incomplete. For example, the discussion of methods to measure phylogenetic signal and test support for cladograms is quite brief, and the discussion of missing data and inapplicable characters is also incomplete. The author's suggestion in this section of amalgamating a series of binary characters into a single multistate character to avoid scoring taxa as inapplicable for particular characters is not necessarily the best solution to the problem.
The final chapter, "Patterns from the fossil record," presents a wide ranging discussion of issues in areas such as: biodiversity, morphological disparity, origination patterns, extinction patterns, taxonomic duration, rates of evolution, and fossils and biogeographic patterns. The numerous case studies treated in this discussion clearly illustrate the application of paleontological data in these areas and document the potential of paleontological data when interpreted in a rigorous phylogenetic context—Patrick S. Herendeen, Department of Geology, The Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA.
Sprent, J. I. & D. McKey (eds.). 1994. Advances in Legume Systematics. Part 5. The Nitrogen Factor. Publication Sales, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, England. (telephone: [44] 81/ 332 5219; fax: [44] 81/ 332 5278). ISBN 0-947643-77-X. Paper. Pp. x + 241, illus. [ogonek]12, plus 15% postage & handling (Visa, M/C, & Amex accepted).
The Nitrogen Factor is a seemingly diverse compendium of articles but with the underlying theme that the legumes have a very rich nitrogen-demanding lifestyle. The diversity and quantity of nitrogen-rich or nitrogen-costly secondary metabolites stored in large seeds and vegetative parts attest to this. Of the nineteen chapters in this volume, the first eight of them discuss directly symbiotic nitrogen fixation. An additional eight chapters deal with the very diverse secondary metabolites of legumes from a systematic or evolutionary ecological view point. One chapter mentions a poorly understood fungal symbiont, another shows how primate communities and the general availability of nitrogen might determine legume composition in tropical forest communities of Africa, and the last argues that the age-old nitrogen-demanding lifestyle of legumes is the cause of efficient nitrogen acquisition systems, including symbiotic nitrogen fixation.
In the opening chapter, Janet Sprent discusses nitrogen acquisition systems in legumes, focusing on the taxonomic distribution of constitutive and induced nitrate reductase, ectomycorrhiza and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas, and especially symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation is confirmed to be largely lacking in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae but mostly present in the subfamilies Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae. The limited distribution in Caesalpinioideae is intriguing in that symbiotic nitrogen fixation occurs, in part, in Dimorphandra and Sclerolobium, the putative sister groups to the Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae, respectively. The following two chapters, one by Faria et al. on the occurrence of legume nodulation in the state of Bahia, Brazil, and the other by Aguilar et al. on the same from the Philippines, provide the sort of data that Sprent uses to assert that root nodulation is rare in Caesalpinioideae but common in the rest of the family. The next two chapters, one by Faria and Sprent and the other by Sutherland et al., describe the evolution of root nodule morphology in the context of the taxonomic distribution of the component parts of the root nodules. There is apparently much validity of the older root nodule classification by Corby as his caesalpinioid, mimosoid, desmodioid, and aeschynomenoid nodule-types correspond to what are now referred to as type 1-4 root nodules, respectively. Faria and Sprent emphasize the dissemination of bacteria throughout the nodule cells via infection threads as the "primitive" type 1 nodule in contrast to the spread of bacteria via mitosis in the "most derived" type 4 nodule. Sutherland et al. describe some unique root nodule morphologies that are taxonomically concentrated. Symbiotic bacteria housed in "Thin-Walled Packets" occur principally in Sophoreae and Thermopsideae, whereas those contained within "Irregular threads" occur primarily in Thermopsideae and Genisteae. Contradictory speculation is given concerning the evolution of legume nodules. Faria and Sprent suggest the aeschynomenoid (type 4) nodule to be most derived, whereas Sutherland et al. posit that it is the "earliest" type of nodule. The sixth chapter by Giller et al. describes the African Rhizobia populations that nodulate the introduced Phaseolus vulgaris. These authors suggest that acidity of soil is very likely a strong determinant of Rhizobium strain diversity, whereas the predominance of a particular legume host is not. These authors conclude that it is very possible that native African species of Rhizobium might have the ability to infect New World crop species, with which they were never in contact until human introduction. This could be a generalization for legume-rhizobia interactions; the next chapter by Moreira and Franco expands on the one by Giller et al. in that they make an effort to identify all Rhizobium strains nodulating legumes in tropical ecosystems in Brazil. Using traditional and genetic traits, Moreira and Franco identified hundreds of strains of rhizobia from tropical Brazil. They conclude that there is very little relationship between legume hosts and rhizobia strains. The eighth and final chapter dealing with nitrogen fixation is by Parrotta et al. on the proportion of nitrogen derived from nitrogen fixation in Leucaena leucocephala. Using the isotopic ratio 15N/14N from leaf tissue nitrogen, it was determined that Leucaena derives 70-80% of its nitrogen from symbiotic fixation. Though incidental to their study, these values were depressed to as low as 36% following application of nitrogen fertilizers. Thus, legumes with symbiotic nitrogen fixation can also make use of other efficient nitrogen acquisition systems.
The next four chapters present secondary metabolite data with systematic interpretations. Evans et al. summarize all work to date on the genus Acacia and find that traditionally recognized subgenera or sections have unique patterns of non-protein amino acids accumulated in seed. Since the biochemical pathways are fairly well known for these non-protein amino acids, a tentative phylogenetic tree is constructed for the genus based on retention or loss of specific pathways. The tentative nature of this phylogeny is highlighted by its use of only 5 exemplar species, none of which come from the large primarily Australian group, subgenus Heterophyllum. However, subgenus Heterophyllum is fairly uniform with regard to the non-protein amino acids accumulated in seed and its position as sister group to subgenus Aculeiferum is readily inferred from the accumulation of albizzine. Subgenus Acacia is the earliest offshoot in the genus as it does not accumulate albizzine, and furthermore uniquely accumulates N-acetyldjenkolic acid. The second chapter on non-protein amino acids by Romeo and Morton focuses on the unique pipecolic acid derivatives and sulfur amino acids of the closely related genera Calliandra, Zapoteca, and Inga of the tribe Ingeae. These authors state that certain compounds are invariably present in populations throughout a species range, and can thus serve as a marker for that species. For Inga densiflora, the consistent distinction of two chemical races suggests that this species actually comprises two cryptic species. At the generic level, Romeo and Morton find non-protein amino acid data that support the segregation of Zapoteca from Calliandra. Thus, another example can be added to the many where non-protein amino acids provide higher level taxonomic markers in the Leguminosae. Romeo and Morton assert that the distinctive array of novel non-protein amino acids accumulated in tissues of the genus Inga is driven in part by species from montane habitats that do not have ant associations and thus rely more heavily on chemical defenses. The chapter by Kite and Lewis details a cladistic analysis of the non-protein amino acids for the larger and heterogeneous Caesalpinia. The chemical evidence provides an excellent source of markers for dissecting this diverse assemblage of species into monophyletic groups. Using 15 chemical characters, Kite and Lewis identify monophyletic groups that are also finding phylogenetic support from other data sources. Likewise, some traditionally recognized taxa, such as the "Libidiba group" do not find support, neither with chemical data nor with any other newly investigated data sources. Kite and Lewis clearly underscore that these 15 chemical characters, though phylogenetically informative, must be analyzed together with other data sources in order to best estimate phylogeny. Based on other data sources, one putative monophyletic chemical group is an artifact and includes a diverse collection ranging from "Guilandia group" to the genus Cordeaxia. Clearly, this chemical data set will be implemented in Lewis' imminent phylogenetic studies of Caesalpinia s.l. where the utility of each of the 15 chemical markers will be explicitly evaluated. In the final chapter presenting secondary metabolite data in a systematic framework, Gottlieb et al. discern some major evolutionary trends at higher taxonomic levels in Leguminosae, including the position of the family within the Rosidae s.l. Their approach is phenetic. The three subfamilies of Leguminosae are treated as individual units, and the secondary metabolite profiles are then compared with a broad selection of angiosperms from all traditionally recognized dicot subclasses. Rather than using a resampling approach, robustness of distance measures is attempted by using both Jaccard's similarity index and Euclidean distances, and by conducting three separate analyses where all families are analyzed by their phenetic distance measure to one of the three legume subfamilies. The most striking result is that the three traditionally recognized legume subfamilies have a very diverse composition of secondary metabolites. In fact, Fabaceae (Papilionoideae) is much more similar to the Rosaceae and Asteraceae than to the other two legume subfamilies, according to the analysis presented. According to Gottlieb et al., however, these data supposedly support the association of legumes with the Sapindales. Gottlieb et al. summarize the secondary metabolite data that strongly suggest relationships within the family. It is clear from their discussion that, with the possible exception of isoflavonoids, it is principally the nitrogen-containing secondary metabolites that show most promise as phylogenetic markers within the family.
The next three chapters, plus an additional one placed second to last in this volume, deal with secondary metabolites in the Leguminosae from an evolutionary ecological perspective. Waterman presents a biochemical and ecological analysis of the costs and benefits of secondary metabolites. An excellent and concise review is given of the great structural diversity of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous compounds found in legumes, many of which achieve their sole or principal diversity within the family. Notably, the nitrogenous secondary metabolites of legumes are generally much richer in nitrogen than are those produced in other families. Also, given that certain of the nitrogenous secondary metabolites (e.g., non-protein amino acids) are accumulated at high levels, a nitrogen storage role in addition to a defense one is invoked. Waterman asserts that nitrogen costs for producing non-nitrogenous secondary metabolites, such as the isoflavonoid may be as high or higher than nitrogenous secondary metabolites. Although the amino acid cost of producing a gram of isoflavonoids is two to four times less than that of a gram of alkaloid, maintaining high levels of isoflavonoids in tissues could be most expensive if turnover occurs at a higher rate. Waterman concludes that in legumes, it is the carbon-pool, rather than the nitrogen-pool, that is often limiting. Extensive utilization in the family of the shikimate pathway in contrast to an "apparent under-emphasis" of acetate- and mevalonate-derived compounds is consistent with this view. The next chapter in this set by Johns puts another perspective on the nitrogen-rich reserves of legume seeds. Because legumes have abundant nitrogen storage as toxic or otherwise inedible forms, domestication of grain legumes has proceeded not so much to reduce the levels of toxicity, but rather to select for cultivated races that are amenable to detoxification through post-harvest techniques such as cooking. With an extraordinary diversity and quantity in legume seeds of protease inhibitors, lectins, cyanogenic glycosides, alkaloids, non-protein amino acids, etc., it would be a wonder if any legume seed could be rendered non-toxic without losing all biomass. In the third chapter on the evolutionary ecology of secondary metabolites, Bentley and Johnson present results of their study on a species of Lupinus and the effects of defoliation by a tussock moth, Orgyia, on total nitrogen and specifically alkaloid concentrations in leaf tissues. The upshot is that alkaloid concentrations increased significantly more in lupines infested with Orgyia than those uninfested, especially early in the season (March to May). This corresponds, however, to a more significant decrease in total nitrogen late in the season (May to July) in the infested populations as compared to uninfested ones. Also during the late season, less of the nitrogen in the infested plants come from fixation as compared to uninfested plants. This and other evidence strongly implicates limited photosynthate as a cause of the diminution of N2-fixation rates. Of interest, Bentley and Johnson calculate a food value index of lupine foliage that is inversely correlated with alkaloid concentration. As such, relative food value decreases from the start in Orgyia-infested populations. Although it is stated that lupine alkaloids are toxic to Lepidoptera, the food value analysis assumes that sequestration of lupine alkaloids would not have an advantage to Orgyia in an environment analogous to that of aposematic Lepidoptera. The fourth and final chapter on the evolutionary ecology of secondary metabolites is that by Weder on proteinase inhibitors. Though legumes are well known for these compounds, this chapter ultimately presents a phylogenetic tree of Papilionoideae derived from amino acid replacements at reactive sites in a certain group of proteinase inhibitors. It is mostly unresolved, though in those parts that are, Trigonella is shown to be derived from Pterocarpus, which in turn is derived from Medicago. Such novel phylogenetic hypotheses will doubtfully stand.
The chapter on coevolution of the fungi Phyllachoraceae by Cannon presents an interesting preliminary account of this group and one of their hosts, the Leguminosae. It is clear that subfamily Papilionoideae are hosts to more of the taxonomic diversity of this family of fungi as compared to the other two legume subfamilies. Given the very preliminary understanding of species delimitations in these fungi, little can de determined as yet about host specificity, though some examples are presented from all three legume subfamilies. Even if potentially biogeographically and taxonomically very informative, it is not clear how the Phyllochoraceae affect the nitrogen economy of legumes. Thus, it is unclear as to why this chapter was included in the Nitrogen Factor.
The remaining two chapters of the Nitrogen Factor volume effectively tell a related story. Maisels and Gautier-Hion set out to analyze the impact of the predominance of Caesalpinioid trees on the behavior of primary consumers, in this case primate communities. One notable result is that primate community structure (at least at the genus level) is determined little by the abundance of particular forest trees. Possibly, the composition of legumes trees, and in particular caesalpinioid trees, is determined by the abundance of fleshy fruits from other angiosperm families. From this study, the determinants of species bearing fleshy fruits could be poor hydromorphic soils. In any case, when fleshy fruits are rare, monkeys increase their consumption of both seeds and young leaves, particularly from Caesalpinioideae. Young leaves of Caesalpinioideae, though rich in phenolics, condensed tannins, and very likely alkaloids, were distinctively high in protein and water content, as compared to older caesalpinioid leaves and other angiosperm leaves in general. Since predator satiation by synchronization of seed set and flushing of young leaves appears to be the main defense mechanism of caesalpinioid legumes, selection for species with such ability could be occurring. Why do non-nodulating caesalpinioid legumes have distinctively high nitrogen content in developing leaves? McKey provides the answer in the final chapter. Nodulating legumes didn't originally evolve this system to exploit "nitrogen poor" habitats, but rather symbiotic nitrogen fixation is just one of the many efficient nitrogen acquisition mechanisms that were selected during legume evolution to satisfy their high nitrogen demand. All legumes have a nitrogen-rich metabolism. Whether it is enhanced by symbiotic nitrogen fixation, symbiotic ectomycorrhiza, nitrate reductase, specialized root systems, etc. is of secondary concern. Original selection environments favoring a nitrogen-rich metabolism could have included ones that favored highly productive short-lived leaves, as in the many legume species that inhabit modern tropical deciduous forests. Nitrogen-rich leaves result in high photosynthetic capacity such that short-lived leaves can rapidly amortize their production costs. According to McKey, such leaves were the key to the evolution of a common tropical legume life history trait aimed at maximizing production during favorable periods and avoiding unfavorable ones. Efficient nitrogen acquisition systems, such as symbiotic nitrogen fixation, could have been co-opted later during legume evolution as an adaptation that allowed the exploitation of "nitrogen-poor" environments. Even so, McKey suggests that symbiotic nitrogen fixation doesn't so much compensate legumes where the supply of nitrogen is limiting, but rather enables legumes to meet a nitrogen demand that is greater than those of competitors. McKey goes far with his chapter in explicitly outlining testable predictions drawn from his hypothesis. For evolutionary ecologists, he predicts, among other things, that legume seedlings with phanerocotylar germination will have a higher maximum growth rate, when other resources are not limiting, than seedlings from other angiosperms with less nitrogen-rich seedling leaves. For systematists, he predicts, for example, that characters "nodulation potential" and "ectomycorrhizal associations" mapped onto a legume phylogeny will each have independently evolved several times, and in all cases after the trait "high concentration of leaf nitrogen." Nitrogen Factor is for those seriously interested in all the biological aspects of the Leguminosae. Some readers may not find the chapters as tightly inter-related as could have been potentially achieved. In the excellent summary chapter, McKey does not cite the chapter by Maisels and Gautier-Hion even though it supports much of what he is proposing. Even so, readers with a background in legume biology will find Nitrogen Factor a very valuable addition to the legume systematic and ecological literature. Readers without such a background will find at least the chapters with an ecological focus very informative. In contrast, the chapters on root nodulation often assume a background in the seemingly complex technical jargon associated with root nodule morphology and legume taxonomy. Why an entire volume on the nitrogen factor in Leguminosae? If anything, it should be to illustrate that symbiotic nitrogen fixation is only one component of the dynamic high nitrogen metabolism of legumes. It is in the latter that Leguminosae are truly extraordinary. Root nodulation and other efficient nitrogen acquisition systems of legumes should be viewed within the context of legume metabolism. This is where the Nitrogen Factor greatly succeeds. A symposium volume of this sort, at least to me, should be a comprehensive update of our knowledge of legume biology to the fields of systematics and ecology. The Nitrogen Factor also meets this goal to a large extent. Although little is mentioned of the putative role that flavonoids may play in inducing root nodulation, systematic and evolutionary ecological implications abound in this volume of data derived from studies of non-protein amino acids, alkaloids, cyanogenic glycosides, lectins, protease inhibitors, and isoflavonoids, in addition to studies of the nitrogen acquisition systems and biochemical pathways that produce these nitrogen-rich or nitrogen-expensive compounds—Matt Lavin, Department of Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
Zomlefer, W. B. 1994. Guide to Flowering Plant Families. The University of North Carolina Press, P. O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288, USA. (telephone: 800/848-6224; fax: 800/272-6817). ISBN 0-8078-2160-8 (cloth). ISBN 0-8078-4470-5 (paper). Pp. 430, illus. $55 (cloth), $27.50 (paper), plus postage & handling. In response to out-of-date and poorly illustrated textbooks on flowering plants, Zomlefer has spent fifteen years compiling the literature, updating previously published manuals, and gathering live material for a comprehensive volume on angiosperm taxonomy. The result is an impressive, informative, and beautifully illustrated text on 130 flowering plant families common to the temperate, sub-tropical, and tropical regions of the USA and Canada.
Instead of following the traditional theoretical approach used in most taxonomy texts, Zomlefer returns to the basics of plant identification and recognition of significant morphological features while keeping the theoretical information to a minimum. This strategy is evident in the brevity of the first three chapters. The introductory chapter provides a review of currently used classification systems (Englerian, Bessian, and variations thereof), criteria used for choosing the families included in this book, and an explanation of the manner in which the families are described and discussed. The following chapter summarizes recent cladistic evidence supporting the monophyly of monocots and paraphyly of the dicots. In the third chapter, Zomlefer emphasizes the importance of skills such as, attention to minute detail, dissection, and illustration of botanical specimens that are essential for accurate identification and reliable phylogenetic interpretation.
The last chapter, which forms the bulk of the book, is devoted to the description of plant families. Familial selection was based on floristic dominance, phylogenetic interest, and economic importance. A list of families covered in the book is provided; however, a bubble diagram may have more effectively illustrated the relationships among families while still providing a listing of the families. Due to difficulties associated with the monophyletic circumscription of a number of dicot families, Zomlefer has chosen to follow Thorne's classification system, which tends to have monophyletic taxa based on recent cladistic analyses of morphological and molecular data. Each familial account includes a detailed diagnosis, summary of diagnostic morphological features, a list of genera and species, distribution, US and Canadian representatives, economic plants and their uses, a commentary, and a reference list. Zomlefer's skills as a scientific illustrator and taxonomist are evident in the 158 plates of detailed illustrations that accompany the family descriptions. The commentary included with each family description is well referenced and provides useful, up-to-date information on relevant anatomical and morphological features, pollination biology, and phylogenetic problems associated with each family. Although the terminology is extensive, most terms are explained and illustrated in the glossary. The twenty-two comparative charts and an appendix summarizing the diagnostic features of all families are valuable, permitting the reader to obtain information quickly. However, I found the manner in which floral formulas were written to be confusing, because it differs from the way in which I was taught, reinforcing the sentiment that there ought to be a standardized method for writing floral formulas.
In spite of the few minor stylistic flaws I am thoroughly impressed by this book and consider it to be an excellent choice as an introductory or advanced taxonomy lab manual—Ben A. LePage, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E9, Canada.
NEW BOOKS
Chen Sing-chi, Li Jiao-lan, Zhu Xiang-yun, & Zhang Shi-yun. 1993. Bibliography of Chinese Systematic Botany, 1949-1990. Guangdong Science & Technology Press, Guangzhou, China. Cloth. Pp. 820. Available from: Department Eleven, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA. (telephone: 314/ 577-9534; fax: 314/ 577-9594; e-mail: dept11@mobot.org). Price: $77 (USA), $78.50 (non-USA), plus $3 handling fee. _Please note that this volume, which was reviewed by Ben A. LePage in ASPT Newsletter 9(1), is now available for a lower price than was quoted in the review.
Cooperrider, Tom S. 1994. The Dicotyledoneae of Ohio: Part 2. Linaceae through Campanulaceae. The Ohio State University Press, Columbus, OH, USA. Available from: The Division of Natural Areas & Preserves, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 1889 Fountain Square Court, Columbus, OH 43224, USA. (telephone: 614/ 265-6457; fax: 614/ 267-3096). ISBN 0-8142-0628-X. Cloth. Pp. 656, illus. $68.73, plus 3.50 postage & handling—.
This is the second volume of what will be a three-part series on the Dicotyledonae of Ohio. More than 700 species in 77 families are described and illustrated in this publication by Dr. Cooperrider. Identification keys are presented for each family and the illustrations depict the diagnostic characters used to identify the species. County distribution maps also are presented along with the author's comments on habitats and frequency of occurrence in the area.
Fleming, Cristol, Marion Blois Lobstein, & Barbara Tufty. 1995. Finding Wildflowers in the Washington-Baltimore Area. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2715 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218-4319, USA. (telephone: 800/ 537-5487). ISBN 0-8018-4994-2 (cloth), ISBN 0-8018-4995-0 (paper). Pp. xiii + 312, illus. $15.95 (paper), $34.95 (cloth), plus postage & handling—This is a guide to natural areas in Maryland, northern Virginia, and West Virginia that are good spots to "botanize." The book includes a checklist of taxa, phenological notes, and a comprehensive index. The forward was contributed by Stanwyn G. Shetler.
G%rts-van Rijn, A. R. A. (ed.). 1993. Flora of the Guianas. Series B: Ferns and Fern allies. Fascicle 6. Dryopteridaceae (by G. Cremers, K. U. Kramer, R. C. Moran & A. R. Smith), Nephrolepidaceae (by G. Cremers & K. U. Kramer), Oleandraceae (by G. Cremers & K. U. Kramer), and Thelypteridaceae (by A. R. Smith). Koeltz Scientific Books (USA), 1911 N. Duncan Rd., Champaign, IL 61821, USA. (telephone: 217/ 355-1704 or 9331; fax: 217/ 355-9413). ISBN 1-878762-61-3. Paper. Pp. 126, illus. DM 85, plus postage & handling. (US $ price changes daily).
G%rts-van Rijn, A. R. A. (ed.). 1994. Flora of the Guianas. Series A: Phanerogams. Fascicle 15. 182. Xyridaceae (by R. Kral), 197. Pontederiaceae (by C. N. Horn), and 198. Haemodoraceae (by P. J. M. Maas & H. Maas-van de Kamer). Koeltz Scientific Books (USA), 1911 N. Duncan Rd., Champaign, IL 61821, USA. (telephone: 217/ 355-1704 or 9331; fax: 217/ 355-9413). ISBN 1-878762-47-8. Paper. Pp. 126, illus. DM 130, plus postage & handling. (US $ price changes daily).
G%rts-van Rijn, A. R. A. (ed.). 1994. Flora of the Guianas. Series B: Ferns and Fern allies. Fascicle 3. Hymenophyllaceae (by D. B. Lellinger). Koeltz Scientific Books (USA), 1911 N. Duncan Rd., Champaign, IL 61821, USA. (telephone: 217/ 355-1704 or 9331; fax: 217/ 355-9413). ISBN 1-878762-64-8. Paper. Pp. 66, illus. DM 98, plus postage & handling. (US $ price changes daily).
Hopkins, William G. 1995. Introduction to Plant Physiology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158, USA. (telephone: 212/ 850-6336). ISBN 0-471-54547-3. Cloth. Pp. xv + 464. Illus. (incl. color). $75.95—This is a text book for undergraduate students.
Jorgensen, Peter M. & Carmen Ulloa Ulloa. 1994. Seed Plants of the High Andes of Ecuador_A Checklist. AAU Reports 34: i-x, 1-441. Available from: Aarhus University Press, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark. (telephone: [45] 86/ 19 7033; fax: [45] 86/ 19 8433). ISSN 0904-6453. ISBN 87-87600-60-9. Paper. Illus. 78 DKK (US$ 13), plus postage & shipping.
Morat, Ph. (ed.). 1994. Flore du Cambodge du Laos et du Vi[radical]tnam. 27. Leguminosae (Fabaceae) Papilionoideae Desmodieae. (by P. Dy Phon, H. Ohashi, & J. E. Vidal). Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanerogamie, 16, rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France. Order from: Association de Botanique Tropicale (same address). ISBN 2-85654-199-2. Paper. Pp. 154, illus—In addition to the standard material expected for a floristic treatment (keys, descriptions, exsiccatae, etc.), there are also indices to scientific and common names, and a map, numerical list, and index to the provinces of these three southeast Asian countries.
Stafleu, Frans A. & Erik A. Mennega. 1995. Taxonomic Literature. A Selective Guide to Botanical Publications and Collections with Dates, Commentaries and Types. Supplement III: Br-Ca. Regnum Vegetabile vol. 132: vi + 550. Koeltz Scientific Books (USA), 1911 N. Duncan Rd., Champaign, IL 61821, USA. (telephone: 217/ 355-1704 or 9331; fax: 217/ 355-9413). ISBN 1-878762-73-7. Cloth. DM 250, plus postage & handling. (US $ price changes daily).
Swink, Floyd & Gerould Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region. An Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the Chicago Region, with Keys, Notes on Local Distribution, Ecology, and Taxonomy, a System for the Qualitative Evaluation of Plant Communities, a Natural Divisions Map, and a Description of Natural Plant Communities. Indiana Academy of Science, Indianapolis, IN, USA. Order from: Bill N. McKnight, IAS Publications, 1102 North Butler Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46219-2918, USA. (telephone: 317/ 264-2700; fax: 317/ 254-2714). ISBN 1-883362-01-6. Cloth. Pp. xiv + 921. Illus. $35 ($28 Academy members), plus postage & handling—The checklist defines the Chicago region as not only Cook Co., but also adjacent counties in southeastern Wisconsin, Illinois, northern Indiana, and southwestern Michigan. The checklist includes 2530 dot range maps.
Tlamatini. Books on Botany, Zoology, and Natural History from Mexico. Catalog No. 1_Spring 1995: [pp. 12]. Alina Chaccentsn H., Apartado Postal 22-761, Deleg. Tlalpan, 14000 Mexico, D.F., Mexico—This attractively produced catalog offers a wide-range of hard-to-find publications, including many Mexican floras (e.g., Aguascalientes, Bajio, Jalisco, Veracruz) now being issued in fascicles. Prices and payment are in US dollars. Sra. Chaccentsn H. also is willing to search for any particular title from Mexico.
NEW MAPS
Two new maps of the Venezuelan Guayana, which includes the states of Amazonas, Bolivar, and Delta Amacuro, have just been published. Otto Huber and Paul Berry prepared the maps, which are entitled Vegetation Map of the Venezuelan Guayana and Topographical Map of the Venezuelan Guayana. Both maps are at a scale of 1:2,000,000. The text of the maps is bilingual (Spanish and English). The maps were produced by Ediciones Tamand[sterling]a and cosponsored by the Missouri Botanical Garden and CVG-EDELCA in Venezuela. The maps are being sold as a set for $15 (plus $3 postage), payable to the Missouri Botanical Garden. They are available either unfolded or professionally folded. To purchase these maps or for more information, please contact: Scientific Publications Department, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166-0299, USA. (telephone: 314/577-9534; fax: 314/577-9594; e-mail: bruce@mobot.org).
NEW CD-ROM
Gcentsmez-Pompa, Arturo et al. 1994. Las Cycadas de Mexico. CD-ROM interactivo. Gesticentsn de Ecosistemas, A.C., Zamora #169-7, Col. Condesa, Mexico, D.F. 06140, Mexico. Available in Macintosh or IBM (or PC compatible) versions—Gcentsmez-Pompa, one of the pioneers in the computerization of botanical information, and his collaborators have produced an attractive CD-ROM with hypertext images, sound, dichotomous keys (with an illustrated glossary), and animated illustrations of pollination and fertilization in cycads.
NEWSLETTERS
Burton, Christine M. (ed.). 1995. The Hoyan 16(3): 42-46. 1 January 1995. Christine M. Burton, Executive Secretary, Hoya Society International, Inc., P.O. Box 1043, Porterdale, GA 30270, USA. ISSN 0270-3602. Annual subscription: $25—This quarterly is the Bulletin of the Hoya Society International. It's stated purpose is "to publish and republish original hoya descriptions and translations and to sponsor research in keep [sic] the public aware of the status of hoya names that are currently listed in dealer's catalogs as a consumer service. To review articles and books on hoyas, checking for accuracy, especially of species identifications." The Hoyan is photocopied and most illustrations are in black and white. A few color photographs are glued to pages.
Kirkbride, J. H., Jr., J. H. Wiersema, & R. M. Polhill (eds.). 1994. The Bean Bag. A newsletter to promote communication among research scientists concerned with the systematics of the Leguminosae/Fabaceae. No. 40: 1-20. December 1994. Editorial address: USDA, ARS, SB & ML, Rm. 304, Bldg. 011A, BARC-West, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350, USA. Distributional address:
Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, Great Britain—This very useful newsletter is issued twice each year and features six columns: "From the Editors," "News" (meetings, major events, announcements, etc.), "Latin American Legume Report," "Nodulation and Nitrogen Fixation" (new nodulation records), "New Readers," "Gleanings" (data derived from questionnaire sheets submitted by readers), and "Recent Legume Literature" (recent is defined as one year old or less). The most recent issue of The Bean Bag includes a note by Boguslav S. Kurlovich & Sergei I. Repjev entitled "Legume Systematic Research in the N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR)." The Bean Bag is also available electronically from TAXACOM or through Internet at MUSE.BIO.CORNELL.EDU.
This is the end of ASPT Newsletter Volume 9(2), April 1995