OPTIMA Newsletter 38

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Publications cies), to which one may add 6 doubtful species, one that is only cultivated, and 26 were recently published ones and that were not treated in the revision itself. The synopsis appears on pp. 666-692 and mentions (by means of abbreviations explained only in Farsi) the life form of each section (A = annual, H = herbaceous, WO = woody) and, for each species, whether it is endemic (e), non-endemic (sh), described as new in the revision itself (n), etc. Volume 5 treats 18 sections of Astragalus subg. Cercidothrix, with 216 numbered taxa, including 22 species described as new in an Appendix, but not including 11 that were published in May 2005 by Zarre and/or Podlech, too late for being inserted in full. This time no short version in English, is present, nor distribution maps as in some of the earlier volumes. For those not familiar with Farsi language and Arabic script the book is hard to use. Only the Appendix with the description of the new species (and with one apparently illegitimate renaming) is in English and Latin. To compensate, for almost every recognised taxon a specimen, often the type, is shown as full-page blackand-white photograph. All in all, this is a most valuable and welcome addition to the literature on Astragalus and on the Iranian flora. W.G. 15. 14BAttilio CARAPEZZA, Pietro PUCCIO & Manlio SPECIALE – Pomelia felicissima. Storia, botanica e coltivazione della plumeria a Palermo. – Kalós, Palermo, 2005. 131 pages, coloured illustrations (photographs, facsimiles, maps); paper. A public show that presented in the summer and fall of 2005 by the Palermo Botanic Garden provided the opportunity to publish this excellent popular revision of cultivated Plumerias. Locally known by the corrupted but loving name “pomelia” (which, carried by some Sicilian emigrant, may well be the source of the designation “paw melia” used in Hawai’i), Plumeria is first documented in cultivation in Sicily in Gussone’s 1821 edition of the catalogue of the Boccadifalco Garden at Palermo. It spread through Palermo’s 19 th century’s “gardens of delight” to become one of the city’s most generalised and best loved ornamentals, widely grown in backyards and on balconies. What I have just designated as a “popular revision” is not a work of pure science but a many-faceted account partly written by professional botanist. It includes historical, horticultural and systematic chapters, and presents a full documentation of the 18 cultivars of Plumeria rubra extant in the Botanic Garden’s collections followed by a survey of its other Apocynaceae holdings. As is usual for Palermo publications, the booklet is lavishly illustrated and produced with loving care. As a final surprise, it includes the facsimile of a work so rare that it went unnoticed by the compilers of TL-2: head gardener Vincenzo Riccobono’s “Rivista monografica delle specie di Plumeria”, published in Palermo in 1904, with 23 pages of text (reprinted from the “Bollettino della Società Orticola di Mutuo Soccorso”) and 15 colour plates. In addition to the Italian text, full or summary translations into English are provided. W.G. 16. 15BLuis CARLÓN, Gonzalo GÓMEZ CA- SARES, Manuel LAÍNZ, Gonzalo MO- RENO MORAL, Óscar SÁNCHEZ PE- DRAJA & Gerald M. SCHNEEWEISS – Más, a propósito de algunas Phelipanche Pomel, Boulardia F. W. Schultz y Orobanche L. (Orobanchaceae) del oeste del Paleártico. [Documentos del Jardín Botánico Atlántico (Gijón), 6.] – Jardín Botánico Atlántico, Gijón, 2005 (ISBN 978-84-89466-84-5). 127 pages, 4 figures, 3 maps, 4 tables, 25 plates, mostly colour photographs; paper. (10) OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 2009
This is the fourth contribution to Orobanchaceae taxonomy by a group of NW Spanish botanists (Grupo Botánico Cantábrico, or GBC) headed by Luis Carlón, this time with the addition of a Viennese coauthor who is responsible for DNA sequencing; the first three having appeared in 2002 to 2005 as Nos. 1-3 of the same journal. It consists of a loose series of observations concerning species growing in, but often not limited to, Spain. Recent field work has led members of the group to explore S France, Portugal and the Canary Islands. The authors split the genus commonly known as Orobanche into three genera which beyond doubt – whatever their rank – constitute natural units, well defined both morphologically and in molecular terms (principally ITS sequences, as there appears to have been some horizontal inter-group gene transfer at the level of chromosome DNA). These are Orobanche proper, Phelipanche (also known as O. subg. Phelipanche or sect. Trionychon), and Boulardia (or subg. Ceratocalyx; unispecific, to accommodate the peculiar O. latisquama). Most of the present work concerns Phelipanche, a group in which species delimitation is notoriously critical and confused. Four new Phelipanche species are described, 5 new specific or subspecific combinations validated, and in a number of cases type material has been critically examined and lectotypes were designated. Distribution maps have been prepared, some showing the Iberian and others the total known distribution. Most importantly, some drawings and many good colour photographs are included, without which reliable identification would scarcely be possible (even with aid of the photographs, distinction, unless supported by personal experience in the field, is not an easy matter). Sometimes the authors appear to be overly optimistic in conveying their knowledge to others, or they talk themselves into recognising differences that vary according to the species being compared. As an example, Publications flower position in P. mutelii when compared with P. nana is said to be “erect to erectopatent” (table 1) but in comparison to other species is described as “patent, more rarely erect” (table 2). Although the authors’ missionary zeal in defending their creed is a bit disproportionate, they have made and continue to make welcome, valuable contributions to a better understanding of Orobanche sensu lato W.G. Monocotyledons 17. 16BGoar Grantovna OGANEZOVA – Struktura semeni i sistema Lilejnyh. – Institut Botaniki, Nacional’naja Akademija Nauk Republiki Armenija, 2008 (ISBN 978-99941-2-109-0). 249 pages, 47 figures, one table; laminated cover. When Huber in 1969 started to revolutionise monocot systematics by his studies of liliiflorous seeds, Oganezova soon set out to investigate that very subject on her own. Between 1978 and 1988 she performed an enormous amount of work, studying primarily the seed coat anatomy, embryology and endosperm features, and additionally fruit morphology and ontogenesis, of no less than 550 species of 182 different genera, currently placed in 32 families of the former Liliiflorae. Her present work was, basically, written and ready for publication by 1991, but only now could the opportunity be found to get it printed. Oganezova presents her results in the frame of her initial set of 17 traditionally defined, medium-sized families. While for discussion she uses a modern family concept, essentially based on molecular criteria, she is rightly critical of the exclusive use of DNA sequences for classification purposes. She therefore endeavours to add her own, original data so as to refine and consolidate the concept and arrangement of liliiflorous families. Whereas the families she now 2009 OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 (11)
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OPTIMA Newsletter 38

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