Flora of Cyprus. Volume One by R. D. MeikleReview by: Josef HolubFolia Geobotanica & Phytotaxonomica, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1979), pp. 333-334Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4180124 .

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BOOKREVIEWS 333

R. D. MEIKLE

FLORA OF CYPRUS

Volume One

Published by The Bentham - Moxon Trust, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1977 (rectius 1978), 832 p., 55 Fig., 1 Map.; Price: 20 ?

Cyprus, which belongs to the floristically rich area of the East Mediterranean, has so far lacked a flora manual, and this fact to a certain extent lowered the intensity of the floristic investigation of this island, for which flora manuals of neighbouring areas had to be used. Writing the most de- tailed botanical work on Cyprus - "Study on the vegetation of Cyprus" - HOLMBOE did not make it his task to present a flora manual of that island. R. D. MEIELE (Kew) has been preparing his book on Cyprus flora for many years; it is to be edited in two volumes, the first of which is the subject of this review.

The short introductory part of the book contains a topographic description of the island, infor- mation on climatic conditions, a botanical division of the area into eight sections (roads are used here as their limits for practical reasons) with a map, and a review of the history of the botanical investigation (the travels of the most important botanists are described day by day).

The special part of -the book includes a survey of taxa according to the somewhat modified BENTHAM and HOOKER'S system of Genera plantarum; this volume contains Gymnosperms and part of the Dicotyledons from Ranunculales to Apiales (including some sympetalous groups derived from the groups included as Rubiales etc.). The names of plants and their synonyms are given with full literature citations. For species and infraspecific taxa nomenclatural types are always given; this is important, as the author is a well-known nomenclatorist and some of the types are determined here for the first time; in several cases drawings from earlier literature have been selec- ted as types (iconotypes). Descriptions (especially those of species) are very detailed and contain ranges of variation of quantitative characters, something often neglected in earlier literature on the East Mediterranean flora. Genera and species are divided into infrageneric or infraspecific taxa; varieties are relatively often used in this book. Localities are given separately for individual sections of the accepted botanical division of Cyprus. When the taxon has four or more separate localit ies in the phytogeographic section under consideration it is classified as a common occurrence. The concrete distribution data are also given for all infraspecific taxa. The text on many species is concluded by notes, where important facts on taxonomy, distinguishing, distribution or nomencla- ture are given. The manual is devoted primarily to the native flora of Cyprus, but the author also pays sufficient attention to plants which are cultivated; thus many species of Acacia and Eucalyp- tus are also included in this volume. The book ends with three appendices (a short list of the litera- ture cited in this volume; a list of collectors; a survey of newly described taxa and new nomencla- tural combinations). The illustrations comprise 53 plates giving drawings of 68 species; 27 plates have been taken over from the Flora of Iraq (Vol. 2 and 3). The greatest part of the text was written by the author himself; only rarely were the texts on some groups prepared by other specialists (Dianthus - S. S. HOOPER, Guttiferae - N. K. B. ROBSON; Cucurbitaceae - C. JEF- FREY).

The aim of this flora manual (and of flora manuals in general) - to summarize the results of former investigations, to throw light on gaps in our knowledge and to encourage future investiga- tion - is certainly fulfilled by this book. Future investigation may still bring some surprises (as for instance the finding of the North African species Filago mareotica at Larnaca by the reviewer in 1978). MEIKLE's book very well fills the gap in our knowledge of the East Mediterranean flora. Nomenclaturally it is so well written that it may be used for this purpose in very remote regions. As regards the author's taxonomic classification, some different solutions are certainly possible, as he accepts a rather broad classificatory unit in some cases, e.g. among genera Althaea (incl. Allcea), Delphinium (incl. Consolida), Epilobium (incl. Chamerion), Minuartia s.l., Prunus s.l., Ranunculus (incl. Batrachium and Ficaria), Silene s.l. etc., among species Lotus corniculatus s.l., Scderanthus annuus s.l., Vicia sativa s.l. etc. However, in some cases a narrower (and more natural) circum- scription of genera was also accepted (Kohlrauschia, Turritis). Some of the varieties included might rather be classified as subspecies, some even as species (here belong such examples as Lotus etc. mentioned above).

Even though the book includes a great deal of information, shortcomings are only exceptional

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334 FOLIA GEOBOTANICA ET PHYTOTAXONOMICA, 14, 1979

and they by no means affect the high scientific standard of the book. Of some details the following may be mentioned here: Instead of THELLUNG, NELAKOVSKI was an earlier author of the subspecific combination Portulaca oleracea subsp. silvatica (287). Trifolium fragiferum (475) would deserve some taxonomic comments with regard to its division by certain authors into several infraspecific taxa or even into two species. At Hippocrepis (519) the monographic study by HRABETOVA-

UHRovA could be mentioned. The new nomenclatural combination Ziziphus zizyphus (358) may not be considered by all authors as legitimate; the generic name and the specific epithet are so closely similar (and of the same origin) that their qualification as orthographic variants of one word seems to be neecessary, which would make the newly proposed combination illegitimate.

MEIKT 's book represents a further important step in our knowledge of the East Mediterranean flora. The book has been edited with all possible care.The author should be congratulated on his successful work; the second (final) volume will certainly be expected by botanists with great in- terest.

JOSEF HOL-UB

U. SUCKER

PHILOSOPHISCHE PROBLEME DER ARTTHEORIE

VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1978, 119 p., Price: 18,50 M (DDR).

The concept "species" has played an important role in the evolution of biological thinking and has retained its basic importance for theoretical and practical biology till now. The history of this concept was always accompanied by philosophical questions; these are the main theme of the study reviewed. Problems are approached from the viewpoint of Marxistic philosophy and the study proceeds in the same direction as analogical earlier studies by ZAVADSKIJ and PIMEK. The author discusses here only some of the aspects of this broad question. He starts from the literature after 1940, when the theory of species was substantially enriched by the results of geneties. The general topic of his investigation are gnoseological and methodological problems of the concept "species". The aim is to substantiate the species as an objectively real phenomenon, not only as a convention (fiction), as some authors believe.

The study is divided into four main chapters, in which the following themes are discussed: history of the concept "species"; the present state of philosophical discussion of the species theory; gnoseological and methodological problems round the reflection of the objectively real system "species"; species as an objectively real existing system.

The chapter on history of the concept "species", which is deliberately treated very briefly by the author, contains a certain periodization of the history of views on the concept "species" from ARISTOTELES up to the "biological species" of MAYR; greater attention is especially given to DARWIN. An interesting item is the neglected views of SPRENGEL (1838) and UHLMIAN (1923).

In the following chapter - Present state of philosophical discussion of species theory - Suc- KER points out the absence of a general theory of biology, which would describe regularities of organisms within time and space and provide an antipole to the continuously increasing specializa- tion of the investigation in this scientific branch. Then he gives some suggestions as to that this theory should not be (not being only reduced to a mathematical formula; not being only sum of single partial theories, though it necessarily will have to be of a structural character); genetics in connection with the synthetic evolutionary theory will occupy a central position within it. Further the importance of the concept "species" and species theory are discussed. For its work (i.e. to describe the gradual character of the diversity of the organismicworld in a phylogenetical system on the basis of phylogenetical and actual relationships) taxonomy needs a well-founded conception of species. Species as a population system is at the same time an evolutionary as well as a taxono- mic unit. However, various types of the evolution of species system cause difficulties at determina- tion of the concept "species". Species theory must therefore reflect two moments of the species system which exist on the one hand as an "Abstammungsgemeinschaft" (historical moment - the object of the taxonomic study) and on the other as a "Fortpflanzungsgemeinschaft" (systemolo- gical moment - the object of the evolutionist study). It is necessary to distinguish the concept "species" and the definition of the species. The concept "species" serves as a certain criterion ("scale"), the definition is the determination of the contents from the viewpoint of a certain aspect of the phenomenon (therefore it contains species criteria).

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