OPTIMA Newsletter 38

Publications
one of the reasons why completion of the project
took so little time, just over 7 years since
volume one was published in February 1999!
Unfortunately, health problems prevented
Boulos from always exerting the
necessary editorial control, which had one
unfortunate consequence. The Cyperaceae
treatment (except for Cyperus and Pycreus)
had been confided to the Finnish specialist
Ilkka Kukkonen. Later on, David Simpson
assumed family editorship and co-authorship
for Kukkonen’s genera. I had the opportunity
to study the latter’s original manuscript,
dated December 2004, and must confess that
I sympathise with his complaint about the
way in which it has been treated – without
his knowing, as he was not given to read
proofs. From what I see, I must conclude
that Simpson’s co-authorship of Bolboschoenus,
Cladium, Schoenus and Scirpoides
is a fraud, as he has made but minor
editorial changes to the original text; in
Fimbristylis he changed one name, from correct
F. turkestanica to misapplied F. “sieberiana”;
and in the other three genera his
contribution consisted in the deletion of a
number of taxa that apparently he had not
seen from the area of the Flora (but Kukkonen
had). As a result, the following nine
taxa that occur in Egypt are missing in the
published account: Carex distachya, Eleocharis
mitracarpa, E. palustris subsp. palustris,
E. uniglumis, Schoenoplectus articulatus,
S. erectus, S. lupulinus, S. proximus, and
S. senegalensis.
Toward the end, “Additions and corrections”
are provided to the three previous
volumes, which include three supplementary
taxa: Ficus sycomorus, Forsskaolea viridis,
and Merremia (‘Meremmia’) dissecta. Furthermore,
following the general family key,
a remarkable list of vernacular names (Arab
and Berber) for the whole flora has been
prepared, first arranged by Latin names and
then by (transcribed) common names.
To end on a personal note: I have been
privileged with Loutfy’s friendship for very
many years, even before OPTIMA brought
us to closely collaborate, and have enjoyed
his unfailing good humour and kindness.
Now that he has seen the major achievement
of his lifetime completed, I wish him many
more happy and still active years.
W.G.
34. 33BGeorges TOHMÉ & Henriette TOHMÉ
– Illustrated Flora of Lebanon. 2600
wild flowers. – CNRS, National Council
for Scientific Research, Beirut, 2007
(ISBN 978-9953-0-1085-4). [6] + 609
pages, numerous colour photographs;
hard cover.
An unusual work and impressive
achievement! The Tohmés have set out to
document photographically all species of
their country’s flora, and they have almost
succeeded: only 118 of the calculated total
of 2597 did they fail to find, and of some of
these they provide at least pictures of dried
plants. All species are accounted for, those
missing being set in smaller type but highlighted
by a frame. Of many of them (93)
the authors suspect that they may no longer
exist in Lebanon, and that the 13 of the lot
which are Lebanese endemics have gone
extinct altogether. By this aspect of their
work, the authors have made a crucial contribution
to highlighting the urgency and
gravity of the problem. The amount of diversity
loss among the flora of their country
is certainly alarming. Conversely, through
their explorations Mr and Mrs Tohmé have
made numerous additions to the Lebanese
flora. Their 49 new country records have
been published separately, in three recent
papers in the Lebanese Science Journal.
No keys are present and the descriptions
are very brief. Also, the consistently alphabetical
arrangement not only of genera and
species but also of families, whereby ferns,
gymnosperms and monocots are scattered
among the dicots, is rather unusual. Yet the
attempt at completeness together with the
presence of descriptive data qualifies this
book as a genuine Flora.
(22) OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 2009