OPTIMA Newsletter 38

Publications
New Journals
150. 149BKochia, Band 1 (ISSN 1863-155X). –
Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der Flora
Deutschlands e.V., Berlin, 2006. 171
pages, black-and-white illustrations, tables,
1 map in colour; laminated cover.
Two novelties in one: the new journal
commemorating Wilhelm Daniel Joseph
Koch, known among others as the author of
“Synopsis florae germanicae et helveticae”,
is published by the equally new Society for
the Exploration of the Flora of Germany.
My welcome to both!
Floristics experiences an obvious renaissance,
in Central Europe and elsewhere.
This phenomenon is best explained by the
keen awareness, among the younger generation,
of environmental problems, man-made
changes, and the need to inventory and document
what we have now in order to save it
for the future – ideally by securing its survival
in situ, but at the very least by recording
it in our archives.
The contents of this firstling volume are
indicative of a clear editorial programme,
not yet explicitly spelled out. The new journal
has the double function of a forum on
which new results of German floristics can
be presented, and of an easy means, especially
for those not associated with an institution
with a well stocked library, to know
what’s up in an international context. Half a
dozen of the included papers are examples
of the first kind, dealing with Rubus (with
three new binomials), Arabis sagittata, Knautia
drymeia, the nomenclature of a Selinum
species and a Galeopsis hybrid, and the floristic
inventory of the heights of SW Germany.
The second function is fulfilled by tobe
standing columns: new chromosome counts
based on German material, a survey of relevant
taxonomic and nomenclatural changes
found in the literature, and an extensive
section with book reviews.
W.G.
151. 150BDSB Newsletter, No. 1, December
2005. – Università degli Studi di Palermo,
Dipartimento di Scienze Botaniche
e Orto botanico di Palermo, 2006.
32 pages (including cover), illustrated in
colour; paper.
The Botany Department of Palermo University
became reality at the beginning of
1985. It had been set up to provide a common
administrative roof to botanists who
were previously assigned to three different
faculties. The Botanic Garden and the Herbarium,
belonging to the Faculty of Science,
are also part of that same structure. Plans for
publishing a newsletter of the Department
go back to the early 1990s but had not so far
materialised. Thanks to the initiative of the
present editors, Giuseppe Venturella and
Franco Raimondo, they now became reality.
The Newsletter is bilingual (Italian and English,
printed in colour in DIN-A4 format,
and due to be produced annually (I have
seen No. 2 of 2007, too).
The Newsletter is intended both for internal
use and an international audience. After
a concise historical introduction it describes
the department and its subdivisions (9 Laboratories),
lists the personnel, both scientific
and technical-administrative, and the curricula
available for master’s and doctorate studies.
At the end, the publications, lectures and
posters by Department members are listed
for 2005.
Since it was created, the Department has
almost doubled the number of its professors,
from 12 (3 of them full professors) to 23 (6
full), whereas there has been little variation
in the number of researchers (now 8) and
technical-administrative staff (27). An impressive
aspect, unusual for a university institution,
are the numerous (11 in 2005!) and
diverse cultural and social activities such as
exhibitions and conferences. In future issues,
one may hope to find some more data on
ancillary structures such as the garden, library
and herbarium.
W.G.
(78) OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 2009