Review

1 Pages·1991·0.31 MB·English

by  Leenhouts, P W

558 BLUMEA VOL.35, No. 2, 1991
Review
M.M.BHANDARI: FloraoftheIndianDesert. 2nded. MPS Repros, Jodhpur, 1990,
435 pp.,136 figs., 114col.photographs. Bound. Price £40.ISBN81-85304-13-0.
This floracovers part ofthe Great Indianor TharDesert, viz. the Districts of
Jodhpur, Barmer,and Jaisalmerin Rajasthan State, anareaof some25,000 sq.km.
Itisaninhospitable region mainly ofsanddunesatabout100mabove sealevel. The
indigenous floraofthis region includes 619 species of Seedplants (78 families,
315 genera). Thefloraproperis preceded by ashortintroductionmainly onthecli-
mate,soil, and vegetation. Thefloragives keys to thefamilies, genera,andspecies.
Thenames ofthe familiesare given withoutany citation; ofthe generaonly the
nomenclaturally relevantliteraturehasbeencited. Thecitationofthespecies is more
complete andincludesthe nomenclaturallyrelevantandthemainIndianliteratureand
synonyms, mostly ratherlengthy descriptions, fieldnotes, periods offlowering and
fruiting,local names, specimens studied, the distributionworld-wide andinIndia,
uses ifany, andsometimesnotes mainly onnomenclature.
Atafirst glance, this floramakesa good impression. In manyfloras the key to
thefamiliesis theweakestpoint. Ihavetriedit withseveralteststakenatrandomand
didnot meetany difficulties.The sameseems to holdtrue forthekeys tothe genera
oftwoof thelarger families, the Leguminosae with39generaand theCompositae
with28 genera.As to the latterkey the lastlead, 32b, leadsto nothing, probably
rightly so, and canbe dropped. Furthermore, Lactucakeys out under 1a,flowers
yellowish, whichagreeswith most species. However, theonly species in this flora,
L. runcinata, is describedas having theflowerspinkish whiteand gets stuck under
1baccordingly. The key tothe55 generaofthelargest family, theGrasses, willgive
lots oftrouble.Lead 1b is simply lacking; couplet 21 (17 inthefirstedition, withthe
sameproblems) comes fromnowherewhich meansthat 11 generaareinaccessible;
thefirstofthethreeleadsundercouplet 28only repeats lead27bandhasto bedrop-
ped; couplet 31 seems to comefromnowhereandencompasses threeleadswhichare
not clearly contrasting andthefirstofwhich apparently leadsto nowhere- actually,
lead31aisthe lacking lead 1bandleadsto32and 39; couplet 33 hasthreeleadsof
which only the2nd and 3rdoneare contrasting; finally, lead 55bleadsto nowhere.
Theideabehind theillustrationsis not clear.Many familiesare not illustratedat
all. Alarge family wheredrawings couldbe very usefulare theGramineae; they got
only fourfigures. TheLeguminosae gotsomemore butmainly concentratedin two
genera.Best are a fewfigures where the same organ ofseveral species outof the
samegenusaredepicted. Mostofthefigures areratherheavily printed and± unclear.
The descriptions ofthe species are mostlyrather long, halfa columnor more;
they couldbe much shortened, and it wouldbe practical, moreover,if genus de-
scriptions were given.
Finally, why are Indianpublications sooften crowdedwithprinting errors?
Itis apity that abooklikethepresentone which seems good in principle need-
lessly is disfigured by relatively easily avoidablemistakes. It is incomprehensible
thatso many mistakes from the 1st editionhavenot been correctedin this2ndone.
P.W. Leenhouts