The Jepson Manual Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition by Bruce G. Baldwin, Douglas H. Goldman, David J. Keil, Robert Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti, Dieter H. Wilken

2011·1.7 MB·English

by  Review By: Ellen Dean

Madrono, Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 273-274, 2011
REVIEW
The Jepson Manual Vascular Plants ofCalifornia, alphabetically within these major groups, which
SecondEdition. Edited by Bruce G. Baldwin, differ greatly in size (from Ceratophyllales with
Douglas H. Goldman, David J. Keil, Rob 1 species to Eudicots with 4723). Part of the
ERT Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti, and philosophy of the manual is to recognize
Dieter H. Wilken. 2012. University ofCalifor- monophyletic taxa as much as possible, which is
nia Press, Berkeley, CA. 1600 pp. ISBN why the 1993 separation offlowering plants into
9780520253124, $100.00, hardcover. Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons had to be
changed. The paraphyletic nature of the Dicots
DNA
It has been 19 years since the Jepson (at least in studies based on chloroplast
Herbarium at UC Berkeley produced the last sequences) has resulted in their break-up into
flora of California, The Jepson Manual, Higher Nymphaeales, Magnoliids, Ceratophyllales, and
Plants ofCalifornia (Hickman 1993). During that Eudicots. Although the plant families and their
time, the way that taxonomists work has changed page numbers are shown at the tips of the
substantially, with phylogenetic analysis and the branches of the phylogenetic tree on the endpa-
A
use of molecular sequence data becoming stan- per, the listing is not alphabetical. shortcut
dard procedure. It was time to bring the Jepson index, like that inside the cover of A California
Manual up to current taxonomic standards, and Flora and Supplement (Munz 1973), would be
the Jepson Herbarium (led by convening editor a useful feature for locating family treatments
Bruce Baldwin) stepped up to the plate once dispersed among the major groups.
again, publishing the second edition of The This more fine-grained monophyletic taxono-
Jepson Manual in January, 2012. The book, my is echoed throughout the manual; evidence
available from the University ofCalifornia press, has accumulated that some prominent genera
is also available in electronic form, for those who from earlier treatments are paraphyletic or
want to use it on a Kindle or iPad. polyphyletic. Many of these have been divided
Three hundred and thirty two authors or into smaller monophyletic genera. Lotus, for
editors are listed as contributing to the 1568- example, has been split into three genera with
page, revised edition, which treats more than the name Lotus now restricted to Old World
6500 species, subspecies, and varieties. Some species; native species are assigned to Acmispon
taxonomic treatments are unchanged from the and Hosackia, names resurrected from the 19th
1993 edition, but many have been totally century. Camissonia has been divided into nine
overhauled or at least changed enough to genera, Rhamnus into two, Gilia into five,
accommodate the approximately 310 additions Polygonum into five, and Potentilla into four.
to the California flora recognized in the manual. Linanthus has been split into Leptosiphon and
The book design is handsome, with a hard- Linanthus, but Leptodactylon is merged into
back glossy cover, a handy ruler, and extra pages Linanthus. The genus Aster has been broken up
in the back for taking notes, web addresses and a into seven genera, none ofwhich is called Aster,
geographic map inside the front cover, and a while Gnaphalium has been broken up into four
revamped list of conventions, including a useful genera, Hemizonia into three, and Madia into six.
section called "Things to RememberWhen Using There are a lot of new taxonomic concepts and
this Book." Rare plants are now designated with names to learn.
a star, invasives with a diamond, flowering times One of the curious problems with this
have been added (hurrah!), and horticultural monophyletic taxonomy in an alphabetically
information deleted (but is available online at arranged book is that it is hard to figure out
the Jepson Herbarium website). The section on where a species has gone, since its new genus is
past climates and vegetation of California is not situated near its old genus and other close
completely rewritten by Constance Millar, and relatives. However, there is always the index.
the geographic subdivisions section has been Unlike the 1993 manual, which had a "name
revised with a finessed map. change" section in the back of the book, the
If you open the back cover, you are greeted index serves that purpose in the new edition. Like
with a recent classification of the vascular plant the 1993 edition, not every species name is in the
families in the manual, including a phylogenetic index (because the book is arranged alphabeti-
tree. The plant families are divided into eight cally), but you will find 1993 species names that
majorgroups: Lycophytes, Ferns, Gymnosperms, have changed and the pages where they are listed
Nymphaeales, Magnoliids, Ceratophyllales, Eu- in synonymy. As a space-saving measure, names
dicots, and Monocots. Within the body of the already synonymized in the first edition are not
book, families, genera, and species are arranged included in the second, but the website for the
MADRONO
274 [Vol. 58
Index to California Plant Names is provided (make sure to capitalize genus names and correct
inside the front cover. misspellings).
Following a monophyletic philosophy did The content ofthe revised edition is not a big
not always lead to the splitting of taxa in the surprise to most active California botanists. The
new manual. The grass treatment by J. Travis editors of the new Manual have been posting
Columbus and James P. Smith resulted in the submitted taxonomic treatments online forpublic
lumping of Viilpia and Lolium into Festuca and review for at least the past three years. Nearly all
the lumping ofall the needle grasses back into the ofthe treatments had been posted by last spring.
genus Stipa. Many Californians are doing a Comments on the treatments were well-received
happy dance now that their state grass is once and many changes were made.
again called Stipa pulchra. The downside of this The online review copy of the manual was
monophyletic treatment of the grasses is that it replaced by the new Jepson eFlora in November,
no longer agrees with the Flora North America 2011, allowing anyone to use the new manual
grass treatment, which was edited by Mary without purchasing the hardcopy book. The
Barkworth and did not follow a monophyletic online version has handy links to other resources
philosophy. of the Jepson Online Interchange including
Lumping and splitting and wholesale recon- species distribution maps based on the Consor-
figuration occurred in the circumscriptions of tium ofCalifornia Herbaria dataset. In addition,
some flowering plant families in the new edition. the eFlora treats more taxa than the hardcopy.
Hydrophyllaceae and Lennoaceae have been Users will note that in some keys in the hardcopy
lumped with Boraginaceae, Asclepiadaceae is version, a taxon name appears in brackets. These
merged into Apocynaceae, Sterculiaceae into taxa are waifs (not considered fully naturalized),
Malvaceae, and Lemnaceae into Araceae; Acer- and their species description only appears in the
aceae and Hippocastanaceae have been lumped online version.
into the mostly tropical Sapindaceae. However The plan for the future is to add newly
Portulacaceae has been divided into two families, described taxa, revised nomenclature, range
Liliaceae into 12 families, and the Scrophular- extensions, and other discoveries to the eFlora
iaceae, Orobanchaceae, and Plantaginaceae have so that they become available to the public in a
been totally reconfigured, with Mimidus now in timely fashion. This public service to the botan-
the family Phrymaceae. These changes are in line ical community keeps the Jepson Herbarium at
with the flowering plant classification currently the center of the botanical wheel in California,
taught in up-to-date taxonomy classes and even as university fundingcontinues to ebb away.
follows the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group clas- California botanists have no idea how spoiled
sification that is continually updated at the they are - so many states lack this commitment
Missouri Botanical Garden website. from theirherbaria and therefore lackany type of
The number of taxon changes (including state flora. The second edition of the Jepson
family/genus assignments, specific epithet chang- Manual is a monumental work, one that every
es, and author changes) are substantial, leading a California botanist will use, and we thank the
friend ofmine to lament, "Since I no longerknow editors, authors, and the Jepson Herbarium for a
the name of any plant in California, I have job well done.
decided to give up botany and switch to the —
csleagsrseigfaitceastioanctoufalblaygelhsi.g"hlHioghwtevheor,wtehnedneemwicgeannuds sitEylolfenCaDliefaonr,niaD,epDaarvtism,enCtAof95P6l1an6t; Secaideenacens@,ucUdnaivviesr.-
special our flora is. We now have more endemic edu.
genera, which is a good thing when trying to Literature Cited
protect them. For those who need to translate an
eDxiicsktiMngopelaonfttlihsetfUrniovmer1s9i9t3ynaanmdesJetpos2o0n1H2enrabmaersi,a HinvciakasmcPuarlneas,rs,plJB.aenrtCks.eloef(ye,Cd.a)lC.iAf.o1r9n9i3a.. TUnhieverJseiptsyonofmCaalniufaolr:-
has developed a handy tool called the Jepson Munz, p. a. and D. D. Keck. 1973. ACaliforniaflora
Online Concordance available at The Jepson and supplement. University of California Press,
Online Interchange [ot] California Floristics Berkeley, CA.