OPTIMA Newsletter 38

Publications
ences to a wide spectrum of literature. Also,
and this is an entirely new feature, they provide
highly resolved grid distribution maps,
with a one kilometre square mesh size, for
about 550 taxa (including a few cultivated
ones). Had they added some numerical data
by way of a discussion, their text would not
be as frightfully dry as it looks now.
W.G.
60. 59BMohamed FENNANE & Mohamed IBN
TATTOU – Flore vasculaire du Maroc.
Inventaire et chorologie. Volume 1, Pteridophyta,
Gymnospermae, Angiospermae
(p.p.). [Trav. Inst. Sci., Sér. Bot.
(ISSN 1114-1174), 37.] – Institut Scientifique,
Université Mohamed V, Agdal,
Rabat, 2005 (ISBN 9954-8347-2-9). 483
pages, map; laminated cover.
This new inventory of the Moroccan
flora is the badly needed successor of Jahandiez
& Maire’s “Catalogue de la flore du
Maroc”, also providing an update to the same
authors’ earlier inventory, limited to the
rare, threatened and endemic taxa and published
in 1998 (see OPTIMA Newslett. 34:
(20). 1999). It is planned in two volumes, the
second, yet to come, to include all monocots
and the single dicot family Compositae.
The treatment is synthetic and clearly
structured. Arrangement of taxa, within pteridophytes,
gymnosperms and dicots, is alphabetical.
The main items for each taxon
(species and subspecies, only exceptionally
varieties) are synonymy (with full citations),
known Moroccan distribution (by 11 main
geographically defined unit areas and 39
subunits), and overall distribution. Endemics
are flagged, as are additions to the 1998
publication. Recent records are referenced to
their published source, and for those unpublished,
the herbarium base is indicated.
This is a highly condensed, well structured
work that conforms to modern academic
standards. The single major uncertainty
it condones is the territorial limit between
Morocco and Algeria, obviously still
in dispute, as the frontier is not indicated on
the map and several of the geographical
units transgress the internationally agreed
borderline. We wait impatiently for the second,
concluding volume.
W.G.
61. 60Benito VALDÉS, V. GIRÓN, E. SÁN-
CHEZ GULLÓN & I. CARMONA – Catálogo
florístico del espacio natural de
Doñana (SO de España). Plantas vasculares.
[Separately printed from Lagascalia
(ISSN 0210-7708), 27]. –
Sevilla, 2007. Pages [2] + 73-362, map;
flexible cover.
This work has been published with a
nice special cover but with the original pagination
of the journal, so technically it is a
reprint but for practical purposes, a book. It
presents the floristic inventory of the Natural
Space of Doñana, covering a total area of
about 230,000 ha and including at its core the
famous National Park, declared UNESCO
Biosphere Reserve in 1980, that today by
itself encompasses well over 50,000 ha. In
view of the area’s limited size its vascular
flora is surprisingly rich, amounting to 1386
taxa of species and subspecies rank.
The sequence of taxa, for once, is not
alphabetical but follows Valdés & al.’s well
known “Flora de Andalucía occidental” of
1987 (see OPTIMA Newslett. 20-24: (23).
1988), which also in other respects serves as
the base of reference. Synonymy is limited
to names used in local source works, and
indications of distribution and habitat are
rather Spartan (by just three geographical
subunits). Great pains have been taken to
cite, for each taxon, those post-1987 references
in which relevant localities are mentioned.
In this respect, and also in the extremely
strict editorial care, resulting in the
virtual absence of inconsistencies and scarcity
of printing errors, the work stands out
among the likes of it.
A special mention must be made of the
endeavour to adopt the most recent classifi-
(34) OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 2009