Abstract
THIS is a cheap popular work, adapted for the use of elementary students. There is nothing that covers the same field in existence already, and it fulfils its purpose excellently well. It would have been better to have called it “An Introduction to the Study of the British Grasses,” as it only deals in detail with the British species, which are not more than one-thirtieth of the total number of grasses that are known in the whole world. The short introduction explains how easily a collection of dried grasses can be made. The first chapter, called “Structure,” gives all the different organs in detail, showing what is the general plan on which grasses are organised, and explaining the general and special terms which are used in describing the genera and species. In the second chapter, which is the longest in the book, the hundred and odd British species are classified according to their localities, and described in detail, most of the common kinds being illustrated by small woodcuts, with dissections. The third chapter is devoted to classification, in which Bentham and Hooker's “Genera Plantarum” is followed. The British genera are described in detail, and the characters of the thirteen tribes there adopted, several of which are not represented in Britain, are given. The rest of the book is occupied by a readable account of the geographical distribution of the grasses, especially of the cereals, and an account of their various uses for food, and in other ways. Gramineœ is one of the most universally distributed of all the natural orders of plants, and, in point of the number of species, is only exceeded by five other natural orders: Compositœ, Legurninosœ, Orchideœ, Melastomaceœ, and Rubiacece. Between three and four thousand species of grasses are known, and they are classified under three hundred genera. The little book is well written and trustworthy, and no doubt will secure a good circulation.
Handbook of Grasses; treating of their Structure, Classification, Geographical Distribution, and Uses, also describing the British Species and their Habitats.
By William Hutchinson. 8vo. Pp. 92, 40 woodcuts.(London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co. New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895.)
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Handbook of Grasses; treating of their Structure, Classification, Geographical Distribution, and Uses, also describing the British Species and their Habitats. Nature 52, 617 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/052617a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/052617a0