Illustrated Flora of Ferns and Fern Allies of South Pacific Islands Produced by the South Pacific Fern Studies Group of the Nippon Fernist Club Takehisa Nakamura, Sadamu Matsumoto . Illustrated Flora of Ferns and Fern Allies of South Pacific Islands. Publ

2009·0.92 MB·English

by  Barbara Joe Hoshizaki

Review
Illustrated Flora of Ferns and Fern
South
Allies of Pacific Islands, produced
by the South Fern Group
Pacific Studies Nippon
of the
Fernist Club, directed
by Takehisa Nakamura and Sadamu
Matsumoto.
Published by
the National
Museum
Nature and
of Science
as series No.8. Printed by Tokai
University
Press, 2008. Front matter xxxi 295 Hard
text ¥ 8200
pp., pp. cover. Price: (about
$80-$90 depending on exchange ISBN
rate) 978-4-486-0179-2, 16 color
plates;
and
110 black white Book
plates. by
7.5 10.5 inches.
http://wvirw.press.
tokai.ac.jp; [email protected],ac.jp;
Fax: [phone].
The
South
Pacific islands included
in generously book
this
illustrated are
New
Caledonia, Vanuatu, Samoa, and
Fiji, other nearby Pacific The
Islands.
book
useful
is to botanists, students, amateurs, naturalists, and environmental
who
workers
are interested in the flora and nature of The South
this area.
Pacific Fern Studies Group Nippon
of the Fernist Club produced book
this
under
the leadership of Dr. Takehisa Nakamura, former
President
of the
Nippon
and Sadamu
Fernist Club, Matsumoto
Dr. Tsukuba
of the
Botanical
The Nippon
Garden.
Fernist Club comprised
is of botanists, knowledgeable
and
fern enthusiasts The
naturalists. fern families and their genera are treated
by well-known
various
Japanese
fern botanists.
who
Fortunately
for those of us do not read Japanese
there are English
translations throughout the book, though some
in areas they are shortened
versions from the Japanese The maps
text. front matter includes of the area
followed by colored photographs and comments
on
the geography of the major
The
photographs show
islands. major
island and some
terrains habits of
of
Following
their ferns. this section are several pages discussing new
the
classification of ferns adopted in the book. The classification system mainly
is
A
adapted from Smith
et al. (2006J, classification for extant ferns. Taxon 55-
705-731.
Most
book
of the
consists of botanical keys reaching the species and
level
and
black white The and
illustrations. fern fern allies of the area are treated
family by family with each family and
contents being authored by one
its or
more
The
pteridologist. family entry followed by
is a brief description of the
family, its possible diversification pathway, number of species, and comments
A
on
its distribution in the area. botanical key to the genera in the family
follows. Each genus very briefly discussed and followed by
is a botanical key
to the species of the Each
area. species then with
is listed reference
to
its
diagram and coded
information on the specimens
collected, studied,
diagramed, and
the institution where vouchers Though
are deposited. one
might wish
for lengthier descriptions, one work
is grateful that this not a
is
mere
checklist without any
descriptions, botanical keys, or The
illustrations.
botanical keys are well constructed, and The
clear, short easy to use. botanical
terms used known
in the keys are well and do
not require very
a erudite
botanist to decipher. Most of the species are illustrated by excellent
line
—
VOLUME NUMBER
AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL:
99
(2009)
1
Many
which
drawings, will serve as a great help in identifying the ferns. of the
show and
line drawings are selected to the diagnostic features of the species
have
scale bars as well.
when
For English readers this book will be a valuable field guide to have
who
visiting these South Pacific Islands. Additionally the botanist needs to
work on ferns from this area will find careful documentation of specimens
used in producing this work, a brief botanical history of the area and an
extensive bibliography on South Pacific pteridophytes.
As with most bilingual books, particularly where the written languages are
and However,
very different, there are typographical other errors. these are
relatively small distractions considering the value of having such a fern
We
on team
treatment this area. are indebt to the organizers of this effort, Dr.
Takehisa Nakamura and Sadamu Matsumoto, producing book and
Dr. in this
making
available to the English reading public as well. Barbara Hoshizaki,
Joe
it
CA
557 N. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles, 90004-2210.