Intermountain Flora: Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A.: Volume Three, Part A: Subclass Rosidae (except Fabales) by Arthur Cronquist, Noel H. Holmgren, Patricia K. Holmgren

3 Pages·1998·1.1 MB·English

by  Review By: Leila M Shultz

RHODORA,
No. 319-321, 1998
Vol. 100, 903,
pp.
BOOK
REVIEW
Intermountain Flora: Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West,
Volume Three, Part A: Subclass Rosidae {except Fa-
U.S.A.:
bales), by Arthur Cronquist, Noel H. Holmgren and Patricia
ISBN
446 0-89327-375-9 $75
K. Holmgren. 1997. (hard-
pp.
New
NY.
The York Garden, Bronx,
Botanical
back).
magnus
work volume opus
seven
This the penultimate in a
is
of intermountain west, an area of the western
the Dlants the
r
United which includes of Utah, most of Nevada, and
States all
and Oregon. Twenty-five
parts of Arizona, California, Idaho,
by
making, completion has been long awaited
years in the its
volume
community. This of
and treats
ecologists the botanical all
of Fabales (published sepa-
the Rosidae with the exception the
and
and authored by Rupert Barneby), for the
B,
rately as part
some most
treatment of of the
provides a synthetic
time,
first
Comdex
families in the region.
The
North America. an
It is
two decades and
new have been discovered the past
of species in
The completion of the
recorded.
frequent range extensions are
rmountain
remote
For the time in the publication of the series, there is a
first —
convention
each family
byline authorship for a
attributing
which enormously helpful in assigning responsibility for the
is
author of
taxonomic Arthur Cronquist, the this
treatments. first
when
he died
volume, was working on treatments in
actively
Much work was form and in need of
1992. of his in draft
my Noel
sense of the situation that
considerable is
editing;
names
Holmgren add as
Holmgren and did not their
Patricia
Of 40 fami-
made the
extensive revisions.
authors unless they
parentheses)
work, authorship (indicated in
lies treated in the
some problematic
of
and treatments
evenly divided
fairly
is
Rosaceae
Apiaceae (AC),
welcome:
groups
are especially
NHH, PKH), and Grossulariaceae
(NHH),
Onagraceae (AC,
(PKH).
While work important in a number of ways, its chief
this
is
319
320 Rhodora
100
[Vol.
few
significance lies in the fact that regional floras rival the
Intermountain Flora in scope or Previous volumes have
detail.
been used as a standard against which other works are
floristic
judged, and the present volume no exception. Following the
is
format used in the five volumes, Noel Holmgren and Pa-
first
Holmgren made welcome
tricia a addition to the standard format
commonly
by
treating cultivated horticultural taxa in the keys.
As
with the standard format, native and naturalized taxa are
all
accompanied by
lengthy morphological
descriptions, illustra-
and taxonomic and synonymy which
tions, full nomenclatural
includes bibliographic citations and type specimen information
basionyms.
for Descriptions of and
all habitat distribution are
often accompanied by a discussion of morphological variation
by
geographic region and the ensuing problems with taxonomic
circumscription. References to dissenting points of view are usu-
ally provided, and the authors spare no effort in offering lengthy
discussions about problematic and complexes.
species species
The
text of the Intermountain Flora with personal
rich field
is
observations providing found no De-
details in other reference.
cades of experience volumes and
are distilled in the the treat-
ments show
a zealous attention to detail. Users of the flora will
be by
delighted and
the clearly written keys, lively discussions,
lavish
illustrations.
While anyone working
with the treatments might disagree with
some
of the circumscriptions of taxa in the flora, no one can fault
the
make
enormo
enhancing
popularity
its
The
appreciati
lie.
^
"whose
to artists Jeanne R. Janish, Bobbi Angell, and Robin
Jess,
drawings
skillful give vivid life to the text."
My
only criticisms of this volume are the omission of an in-
troduction providing background information on the the ab-
flora,
sence of a bibliography of previous volumes, and no mention of
volume
the final (number two), which will include a key to fam-
my
During
ilies. fifteen years as the curator of the Intermountain
"When
Herbarium,
the question was asked most was
freauentlv
I
?>
volume
le next of the Intermountain Flora be publisher
"When
the question be volume
will will a synoptic
w
Knowing
tied?" that the Holmgrens complete
will this
Book
Review
321
1998]
we owe
community them
in the near future, in the systematic our
and
gratitude hearty congratulations.
—
Leila M. Shultz, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge,
MA
02138, and Laboratory of Utah State Univer-
the Floristics
UT
Logan, 84322-5215.
sity,