OPTIMA Newsletter 38

Slovakia. – VEDA, Bratislava, 2007
(ISBN 978-80-224-0980-3). 650 pages,
25 figures (mostly maps, some in colour)
+ 1 CD-ROM; hard cover.
Ever and again one is surprised at the
proficiency of the younger generation of
botanists in handling new technologies for
their purposes. There are worlds separating
the present book from its forerunner, Jozef
Májovský & al.’s “Karyotaxonomický prehl’ad
flóry Slovenska” of 1987, and yet they
lie only 20 years apart. A well structured
database was the prerequisite for managing
the large amount and diversity of information
generated by the new project. The CD-
ROM with that database, which accompanies
the book, is in fact in many respects
more useful than the printed text itself. I
have tried it out and it works well, the installation
runs smoothly and consultation is
quick and easy, but you need plenty of space
on your hard disk if you opt for a download.
The same interactive, searchable database,
or an updated version of it, is available on
the Internet.
A powerful and well organised database
system is a marvellous tool, but it only
serves as a frame. What makes this survey
so valuable is that it has put that frame to
good use. The amount of data screening and
verification that went into it is astounding.
All published primary sources and an impressive
amount of unpublished ones (manuscript
theses, in particular) where consulted
in original. Locality information was not
only recorded from these texts but, whenever
possible, complemented from the labels
of voucher specimens, which were then revised
by specialists to confirm their correct
identification. In addition, grid coordinates
were added to the localities, so that simple
or combined maps can be generated, examples
of which are provided in the book. The
faculty to generate one’s own map is one of
the features of the CD-ROM that is lacking
in the printed volume, as are a number of
data categories, the most interesting being
pictures of voucher specimens kept in the
Publications
Bratislava herbarium (SLO). No reproductions
of published idiograms or metaphase
plate photographs are included (perhaps for
reasons of copyright restrictions?), but their
presence is indicated.
The survey is restricted to vascular
plants and to counts made on Slovak material.
Within these limits it is as complete and
accurate as is humanly possible. Perhaps its
main merit, if not the most spectacular, is
that it flags or eliminates many of the errors
and inaccuracies that plague the literature of
the past.
W.G.
82. 81BĖstella A. NAZAROVA & A. G. GU-
KASJAN – Čisla hromosom cvetkovyh
rastenij flory Armenii. – Institut Botaniki,
Nacional’naja Akademija Nauk RA,
Erevan, 2004. 169 pages, 15 plates of
micrographs, portrait, 2 maps; paper.
This handy survey of published chromosome
counts based on Armenian plant
material appeared under the editorship of
Eleonora Gabrielian. It is dedicated to the
memory of professor A. G. Araratian, whose
portrait and succinct biography precede the
main text. Of the biography, as well as the
foreword and introduction, an English translation
is provided.
The somatic chromosome numbers are
listed under the name used in the original
publication. When counts for the same species
appear under different names, synonymy
is added to serve as cross-reference. For
each count, locality and voucher information
is given in addition to the source reference.
A considerable number of metaphase plate
photographs that appear in the source publications
are reproduced at the end of the
book. I noted at least one case of contradictory
information: the chromosome number
of Silene sisianica is given as 2n = 48 in the
main text (3 counts), but the metaphase
plate, consistent with the caption, shows 42
chromosomes.
W.G.
2009 OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 (43)