OPTIMA Newsletter 38

Publications
century before. This book is the synthesis of
well over 25 years of labour, during which
Charlie’s own skilled efforts have been assisted
by several enthusiastic and competent
associates, only to name Norman Robson,
Fred Barrie, Nick Turland, Steve Cafferty,
and Katherine Challis. In so far as the type
designations for Linnaean names are concerned,
their results have been databased and
are available for direct Internet consultation.
The major portion of this volume mirrors
faithfully these results, or rather, is present a
snapshot image of the state of the data in the
moment when the book was set in type, a
time when the work had reached a certain
degree of stability not to say completeness.
This portion, bound to become outdated
progressively as the years go by, will be
used mainly in situations when one has no
Web access of when – as happens all too
often – the database’s Web site is temporarily
inaccessible.
Jarvis’s central contribution, very much
his own, are the book’s introductory chapters,
over 250 pages of text and images. At
core they are a tribute to the great master of
Linnaean studies, William Stearn, and for
sure no one could have been more delighted
than he, had he lived to see them published.
While building extensively on Stearn’s experience
and writings, this introductory portion
expands the subject considerably. The
chapters on literature and herbaria consulted
by Linnaeus are extremely rich in relevant
information that cannot be found easily
elsewhere, and the portion on collectors and
suppliers of material used by him is novel
and most informative. Among other subjects
treated, let me mention the presentation of
the life and writings of Linnaeus himself, the
treatise on the foundations and practice of
type designation, and the analyses of
protologues in Linnaean writings. These
chapters may not be innovative nor greatly
original, but they share a trait that is characteristic
of the whole book. Jarvis’s style of
writing fluid and extremely didactic; he has
the gift to turn an essentially dry and her-
metic subject into an easily understood, all
but fascinating account. Add the lavish, skilfully
selected illustration, and you have a
book that is unrivalled as a basis for teaching
Linnaean nomenclature. Discounting its
bulk and weight, this is the best possible tool
for making Linnaeus’s botanical achievements
palatable and even popular among the
new generation of botanists.
Publication was made possible by support
from the Linnean Society of London
and the Natural History Museum. Both may
be assured that their sponsorship was well
earned, and their money well spent.
W.G.
Cryptogams
3. 2BC. Clara HEYN & Ilana HERRNSTADT
(ed.) – The bryophyte flora of Israel
and adjacent regions. [Flora Palaestina
Series.] – Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, Jerusalem, 2004.
(ISBN 965-208-004-4, 965-208-152-3).
xi + 721 pages, 246 plates of drawings,
XVI plates of black-and-white photographs,
coloured frontispiece, 8 plates +
2 unnumbered extra plates of colour
photographs, 247 maps + 1 map in colour;
cloth with dust jacket.
The bryophyte flora of Israel, including
the Palestinian Authorities plus Mt. Hermon
and the Golan Heights, comprises 86 genera
with 249 species (210 mosses, 39 liver- and
hornworts), plus a few varieties and a couple
of subspecies. The treatment includes keys
for identification, full synonymy, detailed
descriptions, indication of habitat and distribution,
and critical notes. Illustrations are
plentiful and of outstanding quality. With
minor exceptions every taxon is illustrated by
a full page of drawings, with shoot habit and
analytical, including anatomical, details, plus
a map showing, by grid squares, the known
distribution within the territory. In addition,
60 species are shown on 62 colour photo-
(2) OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 2009