BOOK REVIEWTan, Kit (editor). 1989. Plant Taxonomy, Phy-togeography and Related Subjects: The Davis and Hedge Festschrift. Edinburgh University Press, 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF, Scotland. Distributed in North America by Columbia University Press. xxvi + 351 pp. Hardbound. Retail price: 47.50 pounds. This volume, commemorating a seventieth anda sixtieth birthday respectively, is one of thosedelightful books with which it must be so pleasantto have been associated, whether as editor or au-thor. Peter Davis and Ian Hedge are, to quote theforward, "... two of the outstanding Edinburghbotanists of the latter half of this century." Thecontributors to the festschrift are from 25 institutesin 15 countries, and their contributions highlightcurrent taxonomic problems, especially in the Med-iterranean and southwest Asian regions so belovedby Davis and Hedge. The 26-page preface contains brief biographicalsketches, photographs, and extensive lists of thepublications of the two celebrated botanists. Theactual papers in this volume are a mixed bag andshould include something of interest to almosteveryone. New taxa of Filago and Cichorium(Compositae), Bupleurum and Stoibrax (Umbel-liferae), Grimmia (Musci), Veronica (Scrophu-lariaceae), Astragalus (Leguminosae-Papilionoi-deae), Iris (Iridaceae), Galium (Rubiaceae),Piptatherum and Stipa (Gramineae), and Peristy-lus (Orchidaceae) are described. There are alsorevisions of Monochoria and parts of Iris and Olea. The phytogeography papers are representativeof the old school of geography; those biologistsinterested in vicariance biogeography will look invain. One-seventh of the nearly 5,000 species ofvascular plants in Greece are endemic. Arne Stridgives examples of these in relation to phytogeog-raphy and conservation. Another paper discussesfloristic links and endemism in the Armenian high-lands. Rupert Barneby discusses some problems andconsequences of typification in Mimosa in his usualeloquent fashion. A second paper by Barneby de-scribes the identification of an object dug from thesite of a former English bakery as a mesocarp ofa menispermaceous genus that probably arrived onthe site as a foreign body in a sack of Brazil nuts. Two recurrent problems also reappear in thevolume. The systematic position of Rhabdoden-dron is discussed in light of new and extensiveembryological information. Although authors Tobeand Raven would place the genus in the Rosiflorae(but not in Dahlgren's Rosales), the mostly plesio-morphic embryological characters allow the actualplacement of the genus to remain enigmatic. Ofinterest to a wider audience of botanists will be thechapter by Gertrud Dahlgren entitled "The LastDahlgrenogram, System of Classification of the Di-cotyledons." Published by his widow, this modifiedbubble diagram represents Rolf Dahlgren's last workon this topic before his fatal traffic accident inFebruary 1987. A list of families and orders, aswell as a discussion of the changes between thisand the 1980 scheme, is given. Interestingly, theendings '-florae' for superorders have now beenchanged to '-anae'. Finally, two light but enjoyable papers roundout the volume. Plantsmen & Pottery discusses,among other things, Peter Davis's interest in theScottish pottery known as Wemyss ware, slottinghim among former and living biologists with closeceramic ties. The difficulties met on ten botanicalexpeditions to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistanover a period of 40 years are described in almost50 pages by K. H. Rechinger. Air-travel is no-ticeable by its absence, as are the political problemsand fighting, which now prohibit most travel tothese areas. Almost 60,000 numbers were col-lected despite the perils and problems encountered.I recommend this account of recent travel in theseareas, which have now largely changed forever. Altogether, this is a most interesting and worth-while compilation of papers, and it belongs on theshelves of most botanical libraries.-P. Mick Rich-ardson, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box299, St. Louis, Missouri 63166, U.S.A.ANN. MISSOURI BOT. GARD. 77: 864. 1990.
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