Flora of the Four Corners Region. Vascular Plants of the San Juan River Drainage: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah Flora of the Four Corners Region. Vascular Plants of the San Juan River Drainage: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Kenneth D

2014·2.8 MB·English

by  David J Keil

.
Madrono, Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 248-249, 2014
REVIEW
Flora ofthe Four Corners Expanded descriptions of plant communities and
Region. VascularPlantsof vegetation are followed by discussions of plant
the San Juan River Dra- migration routes and non-native plants. Four
inage: Arizona, Colorado, watercolor plates illustrating fifteen vegetation
New Mexico, and Utah. associations complete the introduction.
By Kenneth D. Heil, The taxonomicsection ofthe bookbeginswith
Steve L. O'Kane, Jr., a dichotomous key to families derived from the
Linda Mary Reeves, family key in Colorado Flora: Western Slope
AND Arnold Clifford. (Weber and Wittmann 2001). Taxonomic treat-
2013. Monographs in sys- ments are grouped as Ferns and Fern Allies
tematic botany from the (paraphyietic, including both lycophyte and
Missouri Botanical Gar- fern families), Gymnosperm.s, and Angiosperms.
den, Vol. 124, Missouri Within these major groups, taxa are arranged
Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, MO. xvi + alphabetically from family down. The full alpha-
1098 pp. ISBN 9784-930723-84-9 (clothbound). betic merger ofangiosperm families may be a bit
Price $72.00 jarring for those expecting the traditional sepa-
ration ofdicots and monocots or the more recent
The Four Corners Region is the relatively separation of angiosperms into monophyletic
littie-known area of the southwestern United lineages as in the second edition of California's
States where four states meet at a common point. Jepson Manual (Baldwin et al. 2012). Keys are
Characterized by stark topographic features and bracket-formatted
scenicvistas, this portionoftheColorado Plateau Each generic and lower level taxonomic
is drained by the San Juan River, a major treatment includes scientific name, derivation of
tributary ofthe Colorado River. Elevations range the generic name or epithet, and one or more
from 1130 m at the mouth ofthe San Juan River common names. Full descriptions are provided
m
to 4292 at the summit ofMt. Eoius in the San for each taxon, and use of typeface conventions
Juan Mountains ofColorado, makes the descriptions easy to follow; character
The Four Corners Region is separated by headings such as leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. are
considerable distances from ma.jor botanical bold-faced, all caps, and each is spelled out, with
centers and is divided among four states whose the exception of inflorescence, which for some
published floras were produced by botanists reason, is abbreviated INFL, For each terminal
working at different institutions at different taxon a briefstatement ofhabitat is followed by
times. There has long been a need for a unified the geographic distribution in the Four Corners
modern flora of the region that spans the state region. Elevations are given both in meters and
boundaries. And this book fills thatvoid. Floraof feet, and both flowering and fruiting times are
A
theFour CornersRegion is amulti-authoredwork indicated. statement ofextralimital distribution
that treats 120 families, 697 genera, 2117 species, is often followed by anecdotal comments. Excel-
and 186 (additional) infraspecific taxa. Forty-one lent line drawings appearhere and there for some
of the terminal taxa are endemic or nearly so. taxa, but are very unevenly scattered among
Much care went into the development and families. Inclusion ofsynonyms from older floras
production of this flora, and the authors and and other literature is eclectic.
editors are to be congratulated for their efforts Taxonomic treatments are uneven in their
and the outstanding product that has resulted. adherence to the recent changes resulting from
Multiple features make this a very attractive molecularphylogenetic studies, such as theAngio-
volume. A double-page map ofthe Four Comers sperm Phylogeny Group III classification (APG
area inside the front covers presents topography, III 2009). Some family treatments are in accord
stateandcountyboundaries, andmajorlocalities. with the updated classifications. Adoxaceae, for
A second map inside the back covers presents instance, isacceptedinitsmodemcircumscription,
the San Juan River and its tributaries. Several including Sambucus. Araceae includes Lemna-
beautiful botanicalwatercolorsgracetheintroduc- ceae. The traditional Scrophulariaceae is broken
tory pages. Introductory material includes brief apartwithmosttaxadispersedtoOrobanchaceae,
sectionsonthescopeandhistoryoftheprojectthat Phrymaceae, and Plantaginaceae.
produced the flora, discussions ofthe conventions Treatments of a number of angiosperm
used in the book, a family-by-family summary of families, however, follow traditional circumscrip-
the taxonomic representation of the flora, and tions. Acer L. is retained in Aceraceae, which in
overviews of the regional geology and climate. APG III (2009) is merged into the Sapindaceae.
2014] BOOK REVIEW 249
Liliaceae, as treated in the Four Comers flora, is labeled as Centaurea maculosa Lam.”, but the
a highly polyphyletic assemblage with members name used in the taxonomic treatment is '"Cen-
assignable in APG III (2009) to multiple families taurea stoebe subsp. micranthos’^ (S.G. Gmel. ex
in two orders; alternate family assignments are Gugler) Hayek. Etymologies of epithets and
brieflydiscussed and were added by the editors to generic names for the most part appear to be
the key to genera of Liliaceae (si.). Hydrophyl- accurate. Thederivation ofthe specificepithetfor
laceae and Boraginaceae are maintained as Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon is given as
separate families with no mention that they are ‘‘twistedtogether,referringtotheneedles” (p. 90).
sometimes merged. Asclepiadaceae is kept sepa- However the common name given by John
rate from the otherwise paraphyletic Apocyna- Loudon, the botanist who described P. contorta,
ceae; a comment under Apocynaceae acknowl- is “the twisted-branched pine” (Loudon 1838,
edges that there is strong evidence for combining p. 2292), which is descriptive ofthe wind-pruned
the two. This should have been an easy prepub- form of the tree found by David Douglas along
lication merger. Portulacaceae is retained in the the coast of Washington and Oregon. The
traditional circumscription with acknowledge- glossary definitions of spine, thorn, and prickle
ment that most genera probably should be are accurate, but application of these terms in
treated as a separate family (Montiaceae). In a taxonomic treatments sometimes is not; a bit
similarfashiontraditionalPrimulaceaeis retained more editorial oversight would have helped here.
though alternate family placements for some The “seed” in the drawing of Coleogyne ramo-
genera are acknowledged. Celtis L. is in its sissima Torr. is actually the fruit. But the errors
traditional spot in Ulmaceae rather than in are few and pale before the remarkable achieve-
Cannabaceae; Sarcobatus Nees is retained in ment this volume represents.
Chenopodiaceae rather in its own family; Hyper-
icum L. isinClusiaceaeratherthanHypericaceae; —David J. Keil, Biological Sciences Department,
Peganum L. remains inZygophyllaceaeinstead of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis
Nitrariaceae; Proboscidea Schmidel is placed in Obispo, CA 93407. [email protected].
A
Pedaliaceae rather than Martyniaceae. similar
tension exists in some families between updated Literature Cited
and traditional generic circumscriptions. AngiospermPhytogenyGroup(APGIII). 2009. An
The taxonomic treatment is followed by 20 update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
pages of color photos of plant species (six per classification for the orders and families of
page, arranged alphabetically by binomial), a flowering plants: APG III. Botanical Journal of
taxonomically arranged list of the line drawings the Linnean Society 161:105-121.
that are dispersed through the text along with Baldwin B. G., D. H. Goldman, D. J. Keil, R.
credits to the artists who created them, a 32 page Patterson, T. J. Rosatti, and D. H. Wilken
un-illustrated glossary, 24 pages of literature (eds.). 2012. TheJepsonmanual: vascularplants of
cited, one and one-halfpages ofgeneral referenc- California, 2nd ed. University ofCalifornia Press,
Berkeley, CA.
easn,dAacnfdoemwamnmoiinsncdneealxmlaetonse.tohuSesyanccoocnmeypmmteesndtassrceiaennnotditfqiicunidnbebaxlmeeeds.s. LoudVOorolmn.e4,J:.BfCrr.oo1wm8n3G,8a.rGrAryreaebcnoe,raeea,tnupd.mL2eo0tn3f1gmmttaionctseht,eueLmnodBn.rdiLotonan.nngimcaunm,,
This is not a field manual for the backpack; it Weber W. A. and R. C. Wittmann. 2001. Colorado
measures 8.75 X 11.25 X 2.25 inches and weighs Flora: Western Slope, 3rd ed. University Press of
6.35 pounds. A full-page watercolor on p. xiv is Colorado, Boulder, CO.