OPTIMA Newsletter 38

Publications
unpublished documentary photographs of residual
native fir trees, donated by his family,
testify to his early conservation endeavours.
W.G.
110. 109Boško ČUŠIN (ed.) – Natura 2000 v
Sloveniji. Rastline. – Založba, Ljubljana,
2004 (ISBN 961-6500-66-x). 172 pages,
illustrations (photographs, maps, graph)
in colour, 1 table; laminated cover.
This attractive booklet summarises the
advice of botanists for the establishment of
proposed Sites of Community Interest (pSCI)
in Slovenia, in the framework of the Natura
2000 Network. It presents case studies for
26 plant species listed in Annex II of the EU
Habitat Directive, and for 24 of them proposes
that one or more of their known Slovenian
populations be protected in an SCI.
For the remaining two, Bromus grossus and
Euphrasia marchesettii, no Slovenian localities
are known, and their past existence in
the country is doubtful.
The case studies, written by a team of
13 Slovenian botanists, are detailed, of five
pages on average, including plant and habitat
photographs as well as grid maps of
known distribution. Whereas the text is basically
in Slovene, there are English summaries
at the end of each species account.
W.G.
111. 110BToni NIKOLIĆ & Jasenka TOPIĆ –
Crvena knjiga vaskularne flore Hrvatske.
Kategorije EX, RE, CR, EN i VU.
– Ministarstvo kulture, Državni zavod
za zaštitu prirode, Republika Hrvatska,
Zagreb, 2005. [2] + 693 pages, 309 + 24
colour photographs and graphs, 239 + 5
maps in colour, tables; hard cover.
This sizeable and heavy new Red Data
Book on the Croatian flora presents, in monographic
detail, the treatment of 234 species
and subspecies of which the survival on the
territory of Croatia is at risk, corresponding
to less than 5 % of the country’s vascular
flora. It furthermore enumerates 186 taxa
that are “nearly threatened” and another 340
that are potentially under threat but for
which the data for risk assessment are deficient.
Of the fully treated taxa only a single
one (Dianthus multinervis, formerly endemic
to Jabuka islet in the Adriatic Sea) is totally
extinct (EX), whereas 10 are believed extinct
in Croatia (RE) but subsist elsewhere.
Of those surviving, 90 are assigned to the
highest risk category (CR), 62 are considered
as endangered (EN), and 71 as vulnerable
(VU).
The central and largest portion of the
book is devoted to the detailed presentation
of each threatened taxon, including synonymy
and full description, ecology and distribution
(with locality data), threat assessment
and bibliography. Each is illustrated by a
(mostly excellent) colour photograph of a
live plant, or in the case of extinct taxa, an
historical herbarium specimen; and for each
the known distribution in Croatia has been
mapped. This portion is entirely written in
Croatian, but the information most relevant
for conservation purposes is also presented
in English, in concise tabular format.
The work has over 20 authors, who
were assisted by many people, but throughout
it bears the imprint of the editors’ care.
Nikolić and Topić themselves wrote the
introductory chapters and authored many individual
treatments. The monolithic appearance
of the book is to their credit.
The general chapters also appear in
English translation. Apart from brief, informative
texts on Croatia’s flora, phytogeography
and vegetation, they outline the criteria
and conventions used in the book and
give ample room to threat assessment and
threat analysis. It is of note that the IUCN’s
ambitious new risk assessment criteria (version
3.1) have been consistently applied.
The volume as a whole is a choice example
of how sound and thorough, taxonomy-based
knowledge can assist efforts to
preserve biological diversity. The data it includes
are exactly the kind of information
(58) OPTIMA Newsletter No. 38 2009