Science for University Students. Part II. Translations. Сологуб Л.И. - 51 стр.

UptoLike

ВУЗ: 

СГАУ | Самара

Составители: 

Рубрика: 

edited, and mostly written, by 14 taxonomists from 12 institutions, who formed
the Great Plains Flora Association(GPFA).
By my count, 2933 species in 841 genera and 160 families are treated in
detail, with many more mentioned in discussions. Families are circumscribed
and arranged following Cronquist’s Integrated System of Classification of
Flowering Plants; the listing of genera and species is alphabetical. The
descriptions are thorough and consistent. The GPFA members wrote most of the
treatments, although other authorities contributed for some groups. The authors
studied more than a million specimens in herbaria of the GPFA member
institutions. Some of these were recent collections, made as part of the Flora
project; most were earlier collections, many of which had not been consulted
before for regional floras or even monographs. Recent literature was consulted
and is cited. Names found in two dozen relevant floras are accounted for through
synonymy, but the greatest contribution here may be the disposition of
numerous taxa recognized by Rydberg in his Flora of the Prairies and Plains of
Central North America, which until now was the only available reference for the
area and which maintained and extremely narrow species concept. The present
Flora will be of great value to agronomists and other land managers because
includes information on dangers of species poisonous to livestock and on
potential weeds, phytepathology, and conservation status.
Distributions are given to the state level, except when they are restricted or
disjunct, in which case counties are specified. A map showing the counties is
unfortunately lacking. General distributions outside die Flora area are also
given, and there are tantalizing references to what might be happening beyond
the area. In many cases taxonomic within the area could not be solved because
of lack of information on variation outside it. A complete list of “abbreviations
for nomenclatural authorities” compiled by Ralph E. Brooks includes interesting
biographical notes. Sporadic use of diacritical marks here and throughout the
book is puzzling, however. The glossary, compiled by Eileen K. Schofield, is a
handy addition, although illustrations would have been a great help to the
nonprofessional reader.
We urgently need a continental Flora, for we, have no single reference that
provides for plants as they occur throughout North America the kinds of
information contained in the Flora of the Great Plains. Such a Flora is needed to
provide a context for the details found in regional floras. Beyond being a
reference that will be useful to a wide variety of readers for many years to come,
the Flora of the Great Plains serves as an inspiration and a model for a Flora of
North America, for it is the product of individuals who recognized a need and,
with the support of their own institutions, private foundations, and the National
Science Foundation, joined together to fill it successfully.
Nancy R. Morin
Missouri Botanical Garden,
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
50

Страницы