OPTIMA Newsletter 38

37: 96-97. 2004). The present, second instalment
encompasses the first third of the
dicots, arranged in the sequence of Dalla
Torre & Harms’ “Genera” (by no means a
“decimal classification system”, as the preface
claims, but a linear numerical arrangement
of families and genera, following Engler).
The logics of subdividing the dicots in
this way then arranging the families alphabetically
may be questioned. Also, the final
“Index” is not really an index but rather a
synopsis, as it repeats the sequence of entries
in the body of the text. For the list to be
really useful, not to say usable, one will
have to await its completion, hopefully with
a cumulative index at the end. A rapid progress
of the inventory is therefore desirable.
However, four years after the present fascicle
was published (in the frame of the centenary
jubilation of the Erbario Tropicale),
none is apparent.
W.G.
135. 134BMichelle J. PRICE – Catalogue of the
Hedwig-Schwägrichen Herbarium (G).
Part 1. Type material and a review of
typifications for the Hedwig moss names.
[Boissiera (ISSN 0373-2975), 61.] –
Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de
Genève, Chambésy, 2005. 388 pages, 352
colour photographs; laminated cover.
Since the Brussels Congress in 1910 declared
Hedwig’s posthumous “Species muscorum”
of 1810 the starting-point work for
the nomenclature of mosses (except Sphagnum),
the Hedwig-Schwägrichen Herbarium
in Geneva acquired an importance, for Musci,
that is easily comparable to that of the Linnean
Herbarium in London for vascular
plants. This treasury, as is normal for such old
collections, presents its problems, and they
are not few – to begin with the deciphering
of the label texts, in which the present author
does not excel. (Even for Germans, today,
old Gothic handwriting is tricky!)
This volume, though, does not solve nor
even discuss typification problems. Its pur-
Publications
pose is stocktaking of what exists in terms of
material, with reference to the lectotype designations
that were already published. In the
form of fact sheets, it gives for each of
Hedwig’s species standard information on
names (original and current), protologue
data, and specimens extant in the Geneva
collection, with shy attempts at label text
transcription. All relevant sheets are illustrated
by colour photographs, but digital
images with a much better resolution can be
seen on the Website of the Conservatoire
botanique in Geneva (www.villege.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/hedwig/).
A definite
shortcoming of these pictures, including
those on the Web, is that capsule contents
are not shown. Thus, the type illustration of
the first species presented, Andreaea alpina,
shows no plant at all.
The type specimens of Hedwig’s pupil
and scientific heir, Schwägrichen, included in
the same herbarium, will be dealt with in a
similar way by Michelle Price – she promises.
W.G.
Names and Nomenclature
136. 135BFrancis MAUHIN – Les noms français
des plantes vasculaires de Belgique et
des régions voisines. [by implication, a
special issue of Le Petit Sourcier (ISSN
0773-9419).] – Cercles des Naturalistes
de Belgique, Section Les Sources,
Vierves-sur-Viroin, [2006]. 96 pages;
stapled, with plastic cover sheet.
Plant names in modern language have
their importance, which is bound to increase
with the decline of Latin. Their main shortcoming
is the lack of a one-to-one relation
between them and the plant taxa to which
they refer: some, homonyms so to say, designate
different kinds of plants, and conversely,
many plant kinds are known under a
variety of common-language designations.
These difficulties notwithstanding, and in
spite of the lack of official codification,
2009 OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 (71)