On May 15, 1965, the writer found Ranunculus carolinianus D.C. growing at the edge of a backwater cove of the Cheat River on the Hillman Boy Scout Reservation (Cheat View), Monongalia County, West Virginia at an elevation of 870 feet.
On May 15, 1965, the writer found Ranunculus carolinianus D.C. growing at the edge of a backwater cove of the Cheat River on the Hillman Boy Scout Reservation (Cheat View), Monongalia County, West Virginia at an elevation of 870 feet.
This classical work on the Cactaceae, out of print for many years, has been reissued by Dover in two hard-cover volumes. Practically all of the material in the original 4-volume work has been reproduced. Descriptions are provided for 124 genera and 1253 species. Over 1200 photographs, line drawings, and sketches are used to show flowers, spines, overall shapes, growth, fruit, flowering specimens under cultivation or in natural habitat, and special features, all of which are very helpful in making identifications in this difficult group.
This comprehensive text, by two British taxonomists, is an excellent summarization of our knowledge, to the present, of the field of flowering plant taxonomy. It is written from the standpoint of methods and principles, and, while differing in details and examples, is therefore similar to Simpson’s Principles of Animal Taxonomy, and Benson’s Plant Taxonomy. For the graduate student wanting background in the field, or for the taxonomist wanting to “pull things together,” this is an excellent and readable text, which this reviewer would highly recommend.
This second edition of Greig-Smiths’ book on vegetation analysis has been clarified and improved as to methods and means of handling ecological data. The book is admittedly a statistical quantitative approach, and a non-statistician will have trouble understanding the book, at least in its details. However, ecology as a science has not advanced rapidly because of the complexity of its interrelating factors, and to workers in the field it is obvious that the statistical approach is the only solution to this complexity.
The appearance of Prof. A. W. Kuchler’s new vegetation map of the United States* is a major event in vegetation science in this country. This handsome map, at a scale of 1/3, 168,000, is at once an essential part of the equipment of everyone who teaches ecology, botany, zoology, or any of the practical aspects of these sciences, as well as of anyone doing research in, or even interested in, any of these fields. In addition, it is indispensable for every geographer and geography library. We predict that it will very soon be out of print.
In drawing an analysis of the flora of southwestern Virginia, primary emphasis is placed on evaluating the floristic elements involved in the phytogeographical pattern. This represents the first attempt of such an undertaking for the area. It does not pretend to be a complete list of the flora of the eight counties surveyed, namely, Lee, Scott, Wise, Dickenson, Buchanan, Washington, Russell and Tazewell, yet it presents a sizeable collection of species, enabling one to establish a phytogeographical spectrum.