OPTIMA Newsletter 38

II. Forest communities 2. – Srpska
Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti, Beograd,
2006 (ISBN 86-7025-428-X). [13]
+ IV + 369 pages, black-and-white photographs,
tables; cloth.
Nine years after the publication of its
first half (see OPTIMA Newslett. 35: review
No. 35), the new basic conspectus of Serbia’s
forest vegetation has now been completed.
Six authors have contributed the 15
chapters of the present tome, each chapter
covering the communities dominated by a
particular woody species. Where and how
these communities fit into the hierarchy of
formal phytosociological classification is
made apparent in a concluding overview,
which helps to dispel the somewhat chaotic
impression the first tome had conveyed. The
coherent and logical choice of chapter titles
is also helpful in this respect.
As in the first tome, there are English
summaries at the end of each chapter. There
is an impressively rich bibliography of 32
pages, followed by indexes of plant and
syntaxon names. The latter have now been
made to conform to the international rules
for syntaxon nomenclature (retroactively so
for the first tome), allowing for some difficulties
with Latin genitives (“aquilegiifoliumii”,
“palustridis”).
In a country that was almost completely
wooded in prehistorical times, and is still
covered with woodland for almost one third
of its surface area, a comprehensive treatise
on its forest vegetation is of particular importance.
Yet, the question remains of how
and when the vegetation of Serbia’s remaining
two thirds will be treated in a similar
way. It would be interesting to learn of the
plans and prospects of completing this basic
compendium, the first, introductory volume
of which has come to light almost a quarter
of a century ago.
W.G.
97. 96BJohn AKEROYD – The historic countryside
of the Saxon villages of south-
Publications
ern Transylvania. – Fundaţia ADEPT,
Mureş 2006 (ISBN 978-973-0-04533-
8). Pages 3-85, colour photographs,
drawings, map; paper.
The so-called Saxons in Central Romania
have been living in that area since the
12 th century, when they were invited to settle
there by the Hungarian kings. They still
keep intact much of their original way of
life, the landscape with their villages being a
kind of living museum of what large parts of
the European continent must have looked
like some centuries ago. In the frame of
Natura 2000, Europe’s main nature conservation
programme, ways are being sought of
maintaining much of this invaluable heritage
by developing it in a sustainable way. The
ADEPT foundation takes stock of the present
state and investigates mains and means
to maintain its valuable features while promoting
local craftsmanship, small business,
and “green” tourism.
This is not a botanical booklet but has
been written and illustrated by a botanist,
which shows on its every page. It illustrates
historical aspects and the present way of life,
but also the landscape, vegetation, flora and
fauna. It is, I should say, excellent publicity
for potential “agro-tourists”: read it before
you plan your next alternative holidays.
W.G.
98. 97BNorbert KILIAN & Mohamed Ali HU-
BAISHAN (ed.) – Biodiversity of Socotra.
Forests, woddlands and bryophytes.
[Englera (ISSN 0170-4818), 28.] –
Botanischer Garten & Botanisches Museum
Berlin-Dahlem, Berlin, 2006
(ISBN 3-921800-61-4). 175 pages,
frontispiece, black-and-white illustrations
(photographs, drawings, maps,
graphs), tables, 16 extra plates with 57
colour photographs; paper.
This volume presents results of research
undertaken, in the frame of a Yemeni-German
cooperation agreement, within the BI-
2009 OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 (51)