OPTIMA Newsletter 38

cation and nomenclature. To take the example
of Compositae, it is pleasing to see that
the authors have faithfully followed the
Euro+Med treatment available on-line – but
a bit frustrating to find that no credit whatever
is given to that source.
W.G.
62. 61BJosé Vicente FERRÁNDEZ PALACIO –
Catálogo florístico de la comarca del
Cinca Medio (Provincia de Huesca).
[Tolous (ISSN 1130-4596), 13.]. – Centro
de Estudios de Monzón y Cinca Medio,
Monzón (Huesca), 2004 (ISBN 84-
95167-14-X). Pages [3]-469, figures, 2
graphs, map, 33 colour photographs on
7 extra plates; flexible cover.
Ever heard of the Cinca Medio? Nor did
I before I saw this book. It is a district of
Huesca Province, situated in the E part of
Aragón, where the Ebro depression starts
grading into the pre-Pyrenees, extending on
either side of the middle course of the river
Cinca from which it takes its name. The
most important of its nine constituent municipalities
is Monzón, where José Vicente
Ferrández teaches at the local school for
adults – and botanises. Judging from the
paucity of literature records and others’
herbarium specimens, he is about the only
person to have taken a serious interest in the
flora of the area.
With 1049 recorded species of higher
plants – 11 of them first found in 2004 and
included in Addenda – the flora of Cinca
Medio is not exactly poor, particularly when
one considers the absence of mountains (the
district reaches 826 m at its highest point).
By way of this book, it may all of a sudden
be considered among the better known local
floras of the Iberian Peninsula. The catalogue
is unusually detailed. In includes
localities, based on the scant literature data
but mostly the author’s field notes and
specimens, the latter kept in his personal
herbarium, and in many cases notes, based
on first-hand knowledge, on habitat, features,
Publications
variability, uses, local vernacular designations,
etc.
There are numerous drawings to illustrate
the book, all but four by the author, as
well as his colour photographs of plants and
their habitats. They document his additional
skills as a botanical artist and nature photographer.
W.G.
63. 62BPere FRAGA I ARGUIMBAU, Cristòfol
MASCARÓ SINTES, David CARRERAS
MARTÍ, Òscar GARCIA FEBRERO, Xec
PALLICER ALLÈS, Martí PONS GOMI-
LA, Magda SEOANE BARBER & Miquel
TRUYOL OLIVES – Catàleg de la
flora vascular de Menorca. [Col·lecció
Recerca, 9.] – Institut Menorquí d’Estudis,
Menorca, 2004 (ISBN 84-95718-
29-4). 367 pages, 11 + 3 figures (maps
and graphs), 42 tables; paper.
Minorca is the second among the Balearic
Islands, both in area size and number of
botanical taxa. In terms of relative floristic
richness, however, it comes first – which
may be due in part, but not totally, to the
investigating zeal of the present author team.
During the last 15 or so years, these eight
Minorcan enthusiasts, led by Pere Fraga,
probably have added more species to the
known flora of the island than did all other
botanists taken together in one century. No
less than 75 of the listed taxa (species and
subspecies) had not been recorded from
Minorca before.
The core of this list, meaning the enumeration
proper, is unexciting: highly condensed,
semi-tabular data, among which
Minorcan vernacular names, often resulting
from the authors’ own field experience, deserve
special mention. The book acquires
life and originality thanks to the introductory
chapters and appendices. The former include
an account of the history of the island’s botanical
exploration, a comparative numerical
analysis of botanical diversity of W Mediterranean
islands, an assessment of endemism,
2009 OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 (35)