Table Of Content

383 Book Review Flora ofAustralia Volume 50 : Oceanic Islands 2. Ppxxvi+606, 1 black-and-whiteand 17colourplates(56colourphotographs),7mapsand34linedrawings. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1993. ISBN 644 25875 6 (pbk). Price $A 44.95 (paperback), $A 59.95 (hardcover). Available fromAGPS Mail OrderSales, GPOBox 84, CanberraACT 2601,Australia. Thisisoneofaseriesof50orsovolumesofFloraofAustralia thatiscurrentlybeing undertakenundertheAustralianBiologicalResourcesStudy. Sofar,thirteenvolumes have been published, including one volume on lichens. Their publication dates are given in this volume on page 579. Volume 50 is one the two volumes thatcoverthe vascular flora of Australia's offshore islands. Vascular plants of Christmas Island. Cocos(Keeling)Islands,AshmoreReef,CartierIsland,theCoralSeaIslandsTerritory and Subantarctic Islands (Macquire Island, Heard Island, McDonald Islands) are included here while those ofLord Howe and Norfolk Islands will be dealt with in a separatevolumetobepublishedatalaterdate. Thecombinationoffloras oftropical/ subtropicalislandsandsubantarcticislandsinonevolumeisduetoeconomicalrather thanphytogeographicalreasons. Nonetheless,thisiscertainlythemostup-to-dateflora foranyone interested in oceanic islands. Arrangement ofcontents in this volume is well-planned. The combination ofthe taxonomictreatmentsofflorasofthevariousislandsintoasingletextavoidsduplication oftextwhere aparticulartaxonoccurs inmorethanone island. Underthe heading of each island or island groups, besides general information on geographical location, physicalfeatures, climate, vegetation, floristics andhistoryofhumanusage, aspecies listandakeytotheplantfamiliesencounteredaregiven. Inthemaintext,thedescription ofvariousgeneraandspeciescomesundertherespectivefamiliesarrangedaccording totheCronquistSystem. Aglossaryonbotanicaltermsandalistofabbreviationsand contractions provided towards the end of the volume are particularly useful in explainingsomeoftheunfamiliartermsfoundinthetext. Unlikesomeclassicalfloras, this volume provides additional information on plant geography such as vegetation zonation. Accounts on animal-plant relationships such as the dispersal ofplants by animal agents andthe use offorestby seabirds provide the users with furtherinsight to islandecology. Considerableeffortshavegoneintothedescriptionofplants,basedonmaterialfrom the islands. Synonyms ofeach species, published illustrations, important references and meaning ofepithets are well covered. The adoption ofrevised names ofcertain 'problematic' species with explanation in some instances such as Moringa oleifera Lam. [instead ofM. pterygosperma Gaertn.] on p. 176, Hippobroma longiflora (L.I G.Don[insteadofhotomalongiflora(L.)C.PreslorLaurentialongiflora(L.)E.Wimm.] onp. 390andMelantherabiflora(L.)Wild [inplaceofWedeliabiflora(L.)DC] on p. 419 helps to clarify the long-standing confusion ofthese names. 384 Exceptforminorerrors such as the spelling ofsub-headingUSEAGEonp. 50, the use ofSwietenia mahogani L. instead ofS. mahagoni (L.)Jacq. on p. 253, the omissionoftheexplanationofepithetofCitrusmaxima onp. 300, the authors and editorsshouldbecongratulatedfortheexcellentworkandefforttheyputintobring this volume to fruition. I would certainly recommend this volume to all libraries and herbaria and to anyone with an interest in floristics and plant geography of oceanic islands. Tay Eng Pin SeniorResearch Officer/Taxonomy Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Parks Board, Singapore