OPTIMA Newsletter 38

To celebrate the 300 th anniversary of
Linnaeus’s birth, the International Association
for Plant Taxonomy, in its prestigious
“Regnum Vegetabile” series, published a
facsimile reprint and first translation into
English of Linnaeus’s first and most extensive
monographic treatment. Never again
would he devote so much time, energy and
space to the treatment of a single species: the
banana plant. That treatment exemplifies
how his own principles, set out in his “Methodus”,
can and should be applied in practice.
The “Methodus”, published at about the
same time as the “Musa” but intended as a
supplement to the “Systema Naturae” of the
previous year, consists of a single page of
“cooking recipe” for the authors of systematic
works. It, too, is reprinted and translated
in the present volume.
Among the many riches Linnaeus found
in Clifford’s greenhouses when he took
charge of them in September 1735 was a
banana plant. It had never flowered, and
indeed only three cases of banana flowers
produced in European greenhouses had become
known so far. Under Linnaeus’s care
flowers were soon produced, which started
to open on 24 January of the following year.
Within less than a month (the dedication is
dated 20 February) Linnaeus managed to
study it in depth, compare it with everything
that was known and published on bananas,
write his book, have drawings executed and
two copper plates engraved, and proceed to
the printer. Certainly a brilliant testimony of
his youthful productivity and efficiency!
This volume is not a mere reprint and
translation. It bears ample commentary in
the form of notes, a full chronology of events
and documentation of the historical context,
and an erudite, voluminous and in turn copiously
annotated Introduction, by Staffan Müller-Wille.
The translation was not done by a
good professional but not a botanist, which
shows in places. The reader may resort to
the Latin original to understand that “plain”
stands for botanical “simple” (simplex).
W.G.
Congresses and Meetings
Publications
143. 142BOlja VASIĆ (ed.) – Proceedings of the
XI OPTIMA Meeting, Beograd, 5-11
September 2004. [Bocconea (ISSN 1120-
4060), 21.] – Herbarium Mediterraneum
Panormitanum, Palermo, 2007. 421
pages, tables, illustrations; paper. Price:
100 €.
The proceedings volume for the Belgrade
Meeting of OPTIMA comprises 43
papers by 111 authors in total, corresponding
to 9 lectures and 34 posters among those
that were presented. It was released from the
press just in time for being distributed at the
next subsequent OPTIMA Meeting, at Pisa
in 2007.
Contrary to tradition, all papers were
peer reviewed, which explains the decrease
in bulk in comparison with earlier volumes
of the same series. The editors were restrictive
in accepting only the best and most
suitable papers for publication, and they
deserve our thanks and congratulations on
that account, and also for their good job of
copy editing. The result is a book of which
both OPTIMA and the Herbarium Mediterraneum
Panormitanum that produces Bocconea
can be proud.
W.G.
144. 143BFabio GARBARI (ed.) – XII OPTIMA
Meeting. Pisa, Italy, 10-16 September
2007. Abstracts. Lectures, communications,
posters. XII ème Colloque d’OPTI-
MA, Pise, Italie, 10-16 septembre 2007.
Résumés. Conférences, communications,
démonstrations. – Department of Biology;
Pisa University, Pisa, 2007. XVIII +
217 pages; paper.
The abstract texts (one per page) are
preceded by the full scientific Programme of
the Meeting. Of the 63 lectures presented
during the Meeting’s 12 symposia, 57 have
their abstract included. They are followed by
76 poster abstracts (plus three latecomers
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