(1) Illustrations of Cyperaceae (2) Das Pflanzenreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus (3) Das Pflanzenreich Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus

Abstract

(1) WE hope, Mr Clarke, that you will live a very long time !” Mr. C. B. Clarke was fond of quoting this remark make to him by a well-known botanist, Mr. Henri Baillon, if we remember aright, who appreciated his careful work on the Cyperaceæ, a difficult family of plants, and one of which a good monograph was much needed. Unfortunately, Mr. Clarke did not live to complete the monograph to which he devoted so much time during the last twenty-five years of his life, and in connection with the preparation of which he had visited, or received plants from, most of the important botanical collections. The work was left in manuscript which proved too extensive for immediate publication, and botanists must for the present be satisfied with excerpts of the descriptions of new genera and species, together with a skeleton of the author's arrangement, which have been published in the Kew Bulletin (Additional Series, viii.). For particulars of synonymy and details of geographical distribution, reference must be made to the manuscript which is preserved at Kew. It is to be regretted that it was found impracticabl e to render accessible by means of publication the full results of the work of so close and careful a student of so difficult a family. It is true, as Mr. Clarke himself was wont to observe when reproached with delay, that much of the work had already been published in the important floras of various parts of the world in connection with which he was invariably laid under contribution for the elaboration of the Cyperacæ; such, for example, as the “Flora of British India,” the “Flora of Tropical Africa,” and others; but the magnum opus which should correlate the parts and supply a complete account of the family is wanting.

(1) Illustrations of Cyperaceae.

Prepared under the direction of the late Charles Baron Clarke. 144 plates, with explanation. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1909.) Price 12s. 6d. net.

(2) Das Pflanzenreich. Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus.

A. Engler. 38 Heft, iv, 20. Cyperaceae-Caricoideae. By Georg Kükenthal. Pp. 824. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1909.) Price 41.20 marks.

(3) Das Pflanzenreich. Regni Vegetabilis Conspectus.

A. Engler. 39 Heft, iv, 83. Phytolaccaceae. By Hans Walter. Pp. 154. (Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1909.) Price 7.80 marks.