Abstract
THE vast area covered by the Pacific Ocean, combined with the range of climatic and physio graphic conditions of the lands surrounding it and the islands it surrounds, inevitably results in a rich and varied plant life. The interesting and practical guide prepared by Prof. Merrill, however, covers only that portion of the Pacific, mainly the north-western tropical island groups, brought into prominence through the war against Japan. Even within this portion there are certainly in excess of 50,000 different species and 2,500 different genera of higher plants. From the Philippines alone some 9,500 species of vascular plants have been recorded. Wisely, in a work intended for the lay reader, it is the ecological and economic aspects of the plant life that are emphasized. The major physiognomic groupings are covered by chapters with headings such as plants of the seashore, the mangrove forest, the secondary forests and open grasslands, and the primary forest. Attention is also given to plants of special interest, to weeds, and to cultivated plants. A chapter of practical value deals with ‘jungle foods’. The professional botanist will find much that is new to him in all these chapters, mainly because Prof. Merrill so often draws upon his own wide experience.
Plant Life of the Pacific World
By Prof. Elmer D. Merrill. (Pacific World Series.) Pp. xv + 295. (New York: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1946.) 16s. net.
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TURRILL, W. Plant Life of the Pacific World. Nature 158, 813 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158813a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158813a0