From aceska@victoria.tc.ca Thu Dec 2 16:25:38 2004 From: aceska@victoria.tc.ca (Adolf Ceska) Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 08:25:38 -0800 Subject: [BEN-L]BEN # 338 Message-ID: <000401c4d88b$99399cc0$0828b440@HPLAPTOP001> BBBBB EEEEEE NN N ISSN 1188-603X BB B EE NNN N BBBBB EEEEE NN N N BOTANICAL BB B EE NN NN ELECTRONIC BBBBB EEEEEE NN N NEWS No. 338 December 2, 2004 aceska@telus.net Victoria, B.C. ----------------------------------------------------------- Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 ----------------------------------------------------------- RUSSIA FORMALLY NOTIFIES UNITED NATIONS OF KYOTO ACCEPTANCE Russia formally notified the United Nations on November 18, 2004 of its acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, starting a three-month countdown for the long-debated 1997 pact to come into force. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the protocol into law earlier this month, allowing it to take effect in 128 nations that ratified it even as the United States has refused to join. The protocol, ratified by both houses of Russia's parliament last month, commits 55 industrialized nations to making significant cuts in emissions of gases like carbon dioxide by 2012. Developing nations like Brazil, China, India and Indonesia are also parties to the protocol but do not have emission reduction targets. The United States and Australia have rejected the pact, which Putin signed on Nov. 4 and which could not have come into effect without Russia, which accounted for 17 percent of carbon dioxide emission in 1990. The United States accounted for 36 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in 1990. Russia joined the protocol because the commitment would press the country to modernize its economy and protect the environment, the country's foreign ministry said in Moscow. Industrialized countries will have until 2012 to cut their collective emissions of six key greenhouse gases to 5.2 percent below the 1990 level. Scientists have already detected many early signals of global warming, including the shrinking of mountain glaciers and Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice, reduced ice cover on lakes and rivers, longer summer growing seasons, changes in the arrival and departure dates of migratory birds, as well as the spread of many insects and plants toward the poles. CLIMATIC WARMING AND DECLINE OF ARCTIC-ALPINE PLANTS From: Lesica, P. & B. McCune. 2004. Decline of arctic-alpine plants at the southern margin of their range following a decade of climatic warming. _Journal of Vegetation Science_ 15 (5): 679-690. Lesica, P. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA 59812 [lesica@selway.umt.edu] and McCune, B. Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA 97331-2902 [mccuneb@bcc.orst.edu] Climate change is thought to drive extirpation and migration of species, especially at range margins. Thus, populations of arctic-alpine plants at the southern periphery of their range should respond rapidly to projected global warming. We monitored the abundance of seven arctic-alpine vascular plants at or near the southern limits of their ranges at three sites in Glacier National Park, Montana from 1989 through 2002. We also recorded canopy cover of all plant species in sample plots once at the beginning and again at the end of the study. For many species, detecting long-term population trends is confounded by short-term variation. Our study design employed temporal resampling of permanent plots and a multivariate repeated measures model that accounts for the effects of high frequency variation and allow assessment of the significance of long-term trends. Statistical analysis compares site-specific estimates of annual mean density between two time periods and uses between-plot within-site within-year variation to estimate error. Mean summer temperature during this period averaged 0.53 deg. C higher than the previous four decades. Results of ordinations with non-metric multidimensional scaling suggested that vegetation moved toward the dry end of a moisture gradient at two sites during the course of the study. At the same time none of the peripheral arctic-alpine indicator species increased, but the density of _Draba macounii_ rosettes declined by 64% (P=0.026); the number of _Euphrasia arctica_ plants declined by 65% (P<0.001); the density of _Gentiana glauca_ rosettes declined by 44% (P=0.048); and the number of _Kobresia simpliciuscula_ tussocks declined by 31% (P<0.001). We cannot rigorously infer causality from our descriptive study; however, changes in both indicator species and the vegetation matrix were consistent with predictions of climate-induced extirpation of high-elevation species and the northern migration of floras. Our results also suggest that species responded to the decade of warming individualistically with little relationship to growth form. _DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA_ (SARRACENIACEAE) - A NEW INTRODUCTION TO BRITISH COLUMBIA From: Chris Teichreb [cteichreb@hotmail.com] _Darlingtonia californica_ Torrey, commonly known as the cobra lily or cobra pitcher plant, found predominantly alongside seeps in the coastal regions of Oregon and northern California. The monotypic genus _Darlingtonia_ is unique amongst other genera within the Sarraceniaceae family in that it is the only genus found west of the Rocky Mountains. A number of other distinct characteristics set it apart from other North American pitcher plants (_Sarracenia_) making it a desirable addition to the collection of carnivorous plant enthusiasts. _Darlingtonia_ employs a typical pitfall trap to capture prey, typical of all pitcher plants, with digestion occurring predominantly through bacterial action. While _Darlingtonia_ does not occur naturally in southern British Columbia, it is quite capable of surviving outdoors along the south-western coast and on Vancouver Island year round for numerous years, as evidenced by the success of this plant in many enthusiasts' collections. Approximately five years ago (1999), a carnivorous plant enthusiast collected several ripe seed pods from a natural population in Oregon and brought them back to Vancouver, British Columbia. In the fall of 1999 the same enthusiast went to Vancouver Island and distributed the seed along the Bog Trail at Long Beach, between Ucluelet and Tofino. In 2001, I traveled to Long Beach and visited the Bog Trail to determine if the _Darlingtonia_ seed had germinated and plants had established themselves. While I did not confirm their presence, plants of _Darlingtonia_ were spotted and investigated by British Columbia botanists (see the note below). As _Darlingtonia_ is a slow grower (maturity may not be reached until plants are well over 6 years of age), and young plants have a prostrate habit, these small plants could have easily been overlooked. It would be of interest to confirm and document the location of any established plants plus their approximate age. As seed was only spread along the Bog Trail, other locations would be the result of other introductions or potentially a disjunct population. _DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA_ TORREY: NEW TO CANADA From: Matt Fairbarns, Aruncus Consulting [aruncus_consulting@yahoo.ca] In the October 2003, Tim Brigham and Alison Rimmer reported the presence of _Darlingtonia californica_ in Pacific Rim National Park. Also known as the California Pitcher-plant or Cobra-plant, this member of the Sarraceniaceae is not known to occur naturally north of Lane County in Oregon. Hitchcock and Cronquist (1973) noted that the species has been "transplanted into bogs in western Washington". The Pacific Rim population was found in a boggy area dominated by a sparse cover of _Kalmia occidentalis_ Small and _Ledum groenlandicum_ Oeder with a carpet of various _Sphagnum_ species. Parks Canada staff carefully surveyed the area where they occurred in the autumn of 2003. They found several clumps within a small area three meters wide. The largest clump was only 5 cm in diameter and consisted of about 9 fully- developed "pitchers" and 4-6 partially-developed leaves. The fully-developed "pitchers" were less than 10 cm tall, in contrast with plants in Oregon which often have leaves up to 50 cm tall. The other clumps were much smaller and had fewer leaves. None of the plants showed any evidence of floral development. There was a week of cold weather in late November or early December and when the plants were checked in late January or February 2004, their foliage had turned brown and died. The site was visited a number of times in the spring and summer of 2004 but only 3 clumps were found, still within the three meter wide area where they were first discovered. By late July the plants were still quite small and had not developed the mature "pitcher form". I expect the population will eventually fail. Hans Roemer and I searched a large area of peatland surrounding the plants but failed to find any more clumps. Barry Campbell and Ewan Brittain surveyed another wetland in the vicinty, also without luck. Reference Hitchcock, C.L. & A. Cronquist. 1973. Flora of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. BOOK REVIEW: _EX SITU_ PLANT CONSERVATION From: Quentin Cronk, UBC Botanical Gardens Guerrant, E.O., Jr., Kayri Havens, & Mike Maunder. 2004. Ex situ _Plant Conservation: Supporting Species Survival in the Wild_. Island Press, Washington. 504 p. ISBN 1-55963-874-5 [hard cover] Price: US$80.00; ISBN 1-55963-875-3 [soft cover] Price: US$40.00 Available From: Island Press 76424 Main Street P.O. Box 7 Covelo, CA 95428 Phone: 1-800-828-1302 Fax: 707-983-6414 email: service@islandpress.org http://www.islandpress.org/ Table of Contents Dedication, Foreword, Introductory Essay, Preface, Acknowledgements Part I: The Scope and Potential of __ex situ__ Plant Conservation. 1. _Ex situ_ methods: a vital but underutilized set of conservation resources. 2. _In situ_ and _ex situ_ conservation: Philosophical and ethical concerns. 3. Western Australia's _ex situ_ program for threatened species: A model integrated strategy for conservation. 4. The role of _ex situ_ in plant conservation, federal guidance on _ex situ_, and maximizing essential state and federal partnerships. 5. _Ex situ_ as a support to the conservation of wild populations and habitats: Experiences from zoos and opportunities for botanic gardens. Part II. Tools of the Trade. 6. Principles for preserving germplasm in gene banks. 7. Classification of seed storage "types" for _ex situ_ conservation in relation to temperature and moisture. 8. How to get the most information on dormancy-breaking and germination requirements from the fewest seeds. 9. Pollen storage as a conservation tool. 10. Tissue culture as a conservation methods: An empirical view from Hawaii. 11. _Ex situ_ conservation methods for bryophytes and pteridophytes. Part III. Ecological and Evolutionary Context of _ex situ_ Plant Conservation. 12. Population responses to novel environments: Implications for _ex situ_ plant conservation. 13. Population genetic issues in _ex situ_ plant conservation. 14. Integrating quantitative genetics into _ex situ_ conservation and restoration practices. 15. What is the Effect of Seed Collection on Extinction Risk of Perennial Plants? 16. Hybridization in _ex situ_ plant collections: conservation concerns, liabilities and opportunities. 17. Attrition during _ex situ_ storage and reintroduction. Part IV. Landing the ark: Using _ex situ_ methods most effectively 18. Realizing the full potential of _ex situ_ contributions to global plant conservation. Part V. Appendices 1. Revised Genetic Sampling Guidelines for Conservation Collections of Rare and Endangered Species. 2. Guidelines for Seed Storage. 3. Guidelines for _ex situ_ conservation collection management: Minimizing risks. 4. _Ex situ_ plant conservation organizations and networks. Botanical gardens have been established for many purposes, from the teaching of medicine to assisting imperial domination. However, very few of these original purposes were still current by the end of the Second World War. In the 1950s and 1960s botanical gardens seemed to get by on the strength of being intrinsically "a good thing" and that was that. Then, inevitably, came the time of justification, and searching for a new purpose. This coincided with mounting concern about species extinction and the maturation of the World Wildlife Fund (as it then was) into an organization for plant conservation in addition to animal conservation. Botanical gardens quickly took up the challenge, but those were innocent days. I remember attending the second Kew conference in 1978 (Synge and Townsend 1979), and hearing a Kew botanist gently having to suggest to conference that "under-developed countries" referred to in the draft conference resolution should be changed to "developing countries". Early days indeed. Soon afterwards, in 1980, the World Conservation Strategy was published by IUCN, UNEP and WWF. Botanical gardens, now fully attuned to the winds of conservation, convened a few years later (1985) to take the initiative on the WCS for plants (Bramwell et al. 1987). So what can _ex situ_ collections of plants do for conservation? This was a question that was grappled with, largely successfully, by those early conferences. One problem (a paradox of _ex situ_ conservation) is that the goal of much _ex situ_ conservation is often slated to be _in situ_ conservation. It is in the wild that plants can exist in the population numbers and ecological context sufficient and necessary for their long term survival and continued evolution. If this is the case, why not devote the resources directed to _ex situ_ conservation directly to _in situ_ conservation? Indeed ecological restoration using _ex situ_ material is surprisingly uncommon. There are some notable exceptions however such as _Sophora toromiro_, which became extinct on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) but was reintroduced from botanic garden stock (Maunder et al. 2000). Of course there are dangers of using _ex situ_ material for ecological restoration, as botanical gardens are well known for unintentional hybridization. In the case of _Sophora_ there was no choice, as this plant was already extinct in the wild. Botanical gardens are surprisingly risky places for plants: the collections are in a continual state of flux. The excellent record keeping that botanical gardens have maintained from the earliest days allow us to model this flux. It turns out to be rather like radioactive decay. Accessions in a botanical garden have a half- life. I calculated a half-life of around four years on the basis of some UK data (Cronk, 2001). Half of all new accessions are dead by four years, but a very few accessions (mainly woody plants) persist for very much longer. Four years hardly ensures long-term survival, but the odds can be stacked much more favourably by concentrating on woody plants or by seed banking. When I started working on the flora of St Helena I realised that the St Helena redwood, _Trochetiopsis eruthroxylon_, by then extinct in the wild, had been repeatedly introduced to UK botanic gardens, from the 18th century onwards, but that these plants had never persisted and so could not contribute to the conservation of the species. Instead, the species had been saved only by being taken into a few local private gardens on the island. Tropical foresters use this technique in a more organised way by establishing local seed orchards where the species occurs, or used to occur, and call it "_circa situm_" conservation (unfortunately the niceties of the Latin language deny us the symmetrical "_circa situ_" as _circa_ is a preposition used only with the accusative). Another strategy is to mimic the natural habitat and grow large populations (which has been called _pro situ_ conservation, see Cronk 2001). The Conifer Conservation Programme in Edinburgh has done this with some magnificent simulacra of Chilean rainforest in the Scottish mountains. Generally speaking, however, it is cost-prohibitive to mount effective long term _ex situ_ conservation of the actively growing plant. It is clear from this kind of analysis that some form of cryopreservation (e.g. of seed) is likely to be the only truly cost-effective and reliable means of long term ex situ conservation. The complexity of the _ex situ_ issue led people to look for indirect conservation uses of _ex situ_ collections, which are just as important as uses in direct species survival. Heslop- Harrison long ago (1976) pointed out that _ex situ_ collections are important for the science of conservation biology. Many features of importance to _in situ_ conservation, such as reproductive physiology and breeding system, are difficult to study in the field but easy to study _ex situ_. However, the crowning glory of the indirect use of _ex situ_ collections is public education. All plant conservation depends on the financial support of a willing public, whether donating through taxation or private gifts. The existence of conservation displays in botanic gardens has been of huge value in getting the plant conservation movement to where it is now. Under the burden of all these considerations, _ex situ_ conservation seemed to settle down to a maturity which was cautiously mindful of its limitations yet pleased with its modest strength. Or an least it seemed to. In 2000 there came a bombshell from Kew. The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, with several big financial backers, began a 128 million dollar (US) seed bank project for _ex situ_ conservation. Kew's aim is to bank 24,000 species of plants by 2010. This is a massive vote of confidence for _ex situ_ conservation. Detractors of the project protested that the same money spent on _in situ_ conservation might arguably achieve more. However, _ex situ_ conservation was now centre stage and to achieve its goals Kew has signed agreements with Western Australia, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Chile, Mexico, Egypt, Namibia, Jordan, South Africa, Lebanon, USA, Saudi Arabia, Mali, Malawi and Botswana. The concentration is largely on the dry tropics as the majority of species from the wet tropics have seeds which are recalcitrant to long term storage. It is against this backdrop that this book appears, published by the Society for Ecological Restoration International. It is the definitive handbook of the art, focussed firmly on seed banking. After succinct prefatory material from Peter Raven and Ghillean Prance there are 18 chapters by active practitioners. Part one (5 chapters) covers policy, ethics and strategies. Part two (6 chapters) covers techniques - of seed banking, pollen storage and tissue culture. Part three (6 chapters) covers ecological and evolutionary issues. The final part (1 chapter and 4 appendices) covers guidelines and practical issues. The authors and editors are to be congratulated on a useful guide, which is particularly welcome as a clear treatise on the practice and potential of seed banking. With the spotlight on seed banking and Kew's experience to build on, it is probably time for a more vigorous discussion of the efforts to seed bank the North American flora. References Bramwell, D., O. Hamann, V. Heywood, @ H. Synge. [eds.] 1987. _Botanic Gardens and the World Conservation Strategy_. London: Academic Press. Cronk, Q.C.B. 2000. _The Endemic Flora of St Helena_. Anthony Nelson Ltd, Oswestry, UK [with plates painted by Leslie Ninnes] Cronk, Q.C.B. 2001. Botanic Gardens: a River of Biodiversity. Reflections on living collections. Pp. lvi-lxi in: Govier, R.J., K.S. Walter, D. Chamberlain, M. Gardner, P. Thomas, C. Alexander, H.S. Maxwell & M.F. Watson. _Catalogue of plants_. Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. 594 p. [RBGE's 24th catalogue of its living collections (the first published in 1683), listing 66,532 plants in 41,331 accessions in 20,390 taxa.] Heslop-Harrison J. 1976. Reproductive Physiology. Pp. 199-205 in: Simmons J.B., R.I. Beyer, P.E. Brandham, G. Lucas, & V. Parry. [eds.] _Conservation of Threatened Plants (NATO Conference Series 1)_. Plenum Press, London, Kanowski, P. & D. Boshier. 1997. Conserving the genetic resources of trees _in situ_. Pp. 207-219 in: Maxted, N., B.V. Ford-Lloyd, & J.G. Hawkes. [eds.] _ Plant genetic conservation - the _in situ_ approach_. Chapman and Hall, London. Maunder, M, A. Culham, B. Alden, G. Zizka, C. Orliac, W. Lobin, J.A. Ramirez Bordeu, & S. Glissmann-Gough. 2000. Conserva- tion of the Toromiro Tree: Case Study in the Management of a Plant Extinct in the Wild. _Conservation Biology_ 14: 1341-1350. Simmons J.B., R.I. Beyer, P.E. Brandham, G. Lucas, & V. Parry. [eds.] 1976. _Conservation of Threatened Plants: The Function of Living Plant Collections in Conservation and Conservationoriented Research and Public Education_. Plenum Press, London. Synge, H. & H. Townsend. 1979. _Survival or Extinction: Proceedings of a conference held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, entitled The Practical Role of Botanic Gardens in the Conservation of Rare Plants and Threatened Plants, 11- 17 September 1978_. The Bentham-Moxon Trust, Kew. ________________________________________________________________ Subscriptions: http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/ben-l Send submissions to aceska@telus.net BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ ________________________________________________________________ From aceska@victoria.tc.ca Tue Dec 21 10:24:42 2004 From: aceska@victoria.tc.ca (Adolf Ceska) Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 02:24:42 -0800 Subject: [BEN-L]BEN # 339 Message-ID: <001801c4e747$50d18860$0828b440@HPLAPTOP001> BBBBB EEEEEE NN N ISSN 1188-603X BB B EE NNN N BBBBB EEEEE NN N N BOTANICAL BB B EE NN NN ELECTRONIC BBBBB EEEEEE NN N NEWS No. 339 December 21, 2004 aceska@telus.net Victoria, B.C. ----------------------------------------------------------- Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2 ----------------------------------------------------------- AN ABYSS BETWEEN THE AMERICAN AND CENTRAL-EUROPEAN VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS From: Adolf Ceska [aceska@telus.net] "Kdyz dva delaji totez, neni to totez!" (When two [people] are doing the same thing, it is not the same.) Czech proverb If you compare American and Central-European approaches to vegetation classification, you can see many similarities. Both the North American and the Central- European schools place their the major emphases on the species composition, and they both use lists of species (releves) for sampling and they arrive at a certain hierarchy of vegetation units. Most of these approaches are driven by the applications these schools are serving. Joerg Ewald, who wrote our leading article in BEN # 326 (Ewald 2004), analyzed the differences between Central European phytosociology (CEPS) and Anglo-American plant ecology (AAPE) in his earlier essay on phytosociology (Ewald 2003). When reading his article I realized one most important difference between CEPS and AAPE: Whereas the vegetation classification in the CEPS is built _from the bottom up_, in AAPE the vegetation classification is built _from the top down_. In CEPS, releves are actual building blocks of "syntaxonomical units". Field work is aimed to obtain a large number of vegetation samples (releves). There are two important conditions the releves have to meet: 1) they have to be taken from areas with +/- homogeneous vegetation cover, and 2) the plots have to be larger than the so-called minimal area. In the next step, releves are tabulated and in the traditional table method, similar releves are clustered together and corresponding species that characterize those clusters are also separated from the species that seem to be just randomly occurring throughout the samples. The table technique is an essentially agglomerative technique and the result depends on the author's skills and experience. The classification is achieved by repeated transcribing and shuffling of the species/releve table. The final vegetation table was considered a touch stone of vegetation classification. Our computer program (Ceska & Roemer 1971) was a good approximation of this mostly intuitive technique; unfortunately, it has not made it beyond its DOS microcomputer version "COENOS". At this moment, JUICE program (Tichy 2002) is one of the best computer programs for the table sorting technique. In the AAPE, releves are collected in a similar way to that in CEPS. In AAPE, more emphasis is given to various ordination techniques. If the classification is the final product, it is usually achieved from the top down: the vegetation of a certain area is divided into smaller and smaller units. In many cases, releves are used as an illustration of these units, not as real building blocks. Classifications produced by the AAPE are clear-cut when we look at the higher units, and with the consequent splitting, the lower units become less defined. On the other hand, whenever the CEPS approach has been applied to the North American vegetation, the lower vegetation units, namely associations, were well defined, but the authors invariably struggled with the definition of higher units. Consequently, the higher units recognized by CEPS applications did not meet those of the AAPE higher units. In his Critique, Ewald (2003) predicts that in spite of all its problems, vegetation classification will remain an important field of applied phytosociology. He writes: " ... we should abandon the illusion of the ultimate all-purpose classification. We have to learn to treat classifications as conjectural models that must be judged by explicit criteria of purpose, internal consistency, external validity and predictive capacity." In this process, the Central European approaches should be taken seriously. Will we eventually go from the bottom up, or will we continue going from top down? References Ceska, A. & H. Roemer. 1971. A computer program for identifying species-releve groups in vegetation studies. _Vegetatio_ 23: 255-277. Ewald, J. 2003. A critique for phytosociology. _Journal of Vegetation Science_ 14: 291-296. http://www.fh- weihenstephan.de/fw/homepages/ewald/webseite/JVS%2014.291-296.pdf Ewald, J. 2004. On the status of phytosociology as a discipline. _BEN_ 326 (April 8, 2004) http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben326.html Tichy, L. 2002. JUICE, software for vegetation classification. _Journal of Vegetation Science_ 13: 451-453. http://www.sci.muni.cz/botany/juice/jvs.pdf Note: JUICE can be downloaded from: http://www.sci.muni.cz/botany/juice.htm A BOOK REVIEW AND SOME BOOK NOTICES FROM THE AUGUST AND NOVEMBER 2004 ISSUES OF _TAXON_ From: Rudi Schmid [schmid@socrates.Berkeley.EDU] Stace, C. (Clive) A. 2004. _Interactive flora of the British Isles: A digital encyclopedia._ [Ver. 1.0.] Ed. by R. van der Meijden & I. de Kort. ETI, [Amsterdam] (www.eti.uva.nl). DVD- ROM, w/ 20-p. booklet, 190x136 mm plastic case, ISBN 9075000693, E41.70. _Computer requirements:_ Pentium PCs, Windows 98/ME/XP or higher; Macintosh PowerPCs, OS 8.6 or higher, or OS X 10.1 or higher; _each:_ 32MB RAM, DVD-ROM player. _Contents DVD-ROM_ (Linnaeus II modules): opening screen w/ contents; intro; glossary; lit.; index; info spp.; higher taxa; bionotes photographers; text key; MapIt; IdentifyIt; help; find; save; demo. _Contents booklet:_ intro; interactive flora; ETI; UNESCO; sys. requirements; installation; Linnaeus II module; search, ID; MapIt, distr. spp. _NB:_ Fide the website, there is an update (19 Oct. 2004) to this interactive DVD that "features several content-related corrections in the Species, MapIt and Text Key modules." The update (ver. 1.0.1) is avail. via download. Other than dealing with the many European plants now naturalized in our area, this work is not directly relevant to the botany of the Pacific Northwest. However, this work is a model interactive DVD-ROM flora that points to the direction our future floras must and will take, although the trusty old paper copy, preferably as a compact "field flora" (for my review of Stace's 1999 _Field flora of the British Isles_ see _Taxon_ 48: 623- 624), will still be needed outdoors on strenuous hunts to bag taxa. The case for the _Interactive flora of the British Isles: A digital encyclopedia_ (hereafter as _IFBI_) justifiably touts: "This DVD-ROM holds 3.3 gigabytes of information and truly breaks new ground in the field of plant identification and information provision." _IFBI_ contains an incredible amount of readily accessible information. The base is "a new and extended version" of Stace's _New flora of the British Isles,_ 2nd ed. (1997), plus the maps from C.D. Preston et al.'s _New atlas of the British & Irish flora_ (2002) (for my reviews see, respectively, _Taxon_ 47: 218-219, 52: 884- 885). This information for 3525 species and infraspecific taxa (maps, morphology, taxonomy, and Latin and common names) is supplemented by some 2000 line drawings and about 6500 color photos. Components include (see contents) interactive identification (to family and below), searchable distribution, word and phrase search, a bibliography, and hyperlinked glossary. This is one of many taxonomic CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs obtainable from the Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification (ETI-- www.eti.uva.nl). This non-profit foundation based in Amsterdam is "dedicated to improve on a global scale the quantity, quality and accessibility of taxonomic information, based on an initiative of UNESCO," and to achieve this purpose creates, develops, and distributions at low cost various computer software tools. I await the day when an American flora, preferably Californian, is available on DVD-ROM and has the excellence and flexibility of digiStace. To twist an old adage: Trying it is believing it. Now get it. -- Rudolf Schmid, UC Brown, Paul Martin. 2003. _The wild orchids of North America, north of Mexico._ University Press of Florida, Gainesville (www.upf.com). x, [ii], 236, [1] pp., ill. (B&W, col.), ISBN 0813025710 (HB), $49.95, ISBN 0813025729 (flexibd., Fr. flaps), $27.95. -- _Contents:_ abbrs., symbols; 128-p. checklist; hybrids, col., leaf, growth forms; use checklist as field guide; key; appendix (excl. spp.); changes from, comments on Luer's 1972, 1975 books; glossary; biblio.; index; pers. checklist; bionotes. On 223 spp., 24 infrasp. taxa, 24 hybrids, 103 growth, col. forms. For rev. see G. Yatskievych, _FNA Newslett._ 17: 5. Crosby, Donald G. Apr. 2004. _The poisoned weed: Plants toxic to skin._ Oxford University Press, Oxford (www.oup.com). xi, 266 pp., [8] pp. pls. (col.), text ill. (B&W), ISBN 0-19-515548-3 (HB), œ40.00. _Contents:_ the setting; _Toxicodendron_ et al. Anacardi.; other allergenic pls.; phototoxic, irritant pls.; allergens related to urushiol; other pl. allergens; phototoxic, irritant constituents; exposure; adverse effects; prevention, treatment; 7 appendices (incl. refs.); biblio.; glossary; indices. A comprehensive treatment. Douglas, George W.; Straley, Gerald B. (Bane); Meidinger, Del (Dellis Vern) & Pojar, Jim (ed., vols. 1-2; vols. 3-8 ed. by Douglas, Meidinger & Pojar). 1998-2002. _Illustrated flora of British Columbia._ British Columbia, Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and Ministry of Forests, Victoria (on vol. 8): Sep. 1998. Vol. 1. _Gymnosperms and dicotyledons (Aceraceae through Asteraceae)._ v, 436 pp. Sep. 1998. Vol. 2. _Dicotyledons (Balsaminaceae through Cuscutaceae)._ v, 401 pp. Mar. 1999. Vol. 3. _Dicotyledons (Diapensiaceae through Onagraceae)._ v, 423 pp. Nov. 1999. Vol. 4. _Dicotyledons (Orobanchaceae through Rubiaceae)._ v, 427 pp. Mar. 2000. Vol. 5. _Dicotyledons (Salicaceae through Zygophyllaceae) and pteridophytes._ v, 389 pp. Feb. 2001. Vol. 6. _Monocotyledons (Acoraceae through Najadaceae)._ v, 361 pp. Oct. 2001. Vol. 7. _Monocotyledons (Orchidaceae through Zosteraceae)._ v, 379 pp. June 2002. Vol. 8. _General summary, maps and keys._ v, 457 pp. _Each:_ ill., ep. text, 280x217 mm, ISBN 0-7726-3685- 0 (set) (PB), Can$40.00 (from www.crownpub.bc.ca). [A rev. partly of Douglas, Straley & Meidinger's _The vascular plants of British Columbia,_ pts. 1-4, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994.] _Contents vols. 1-7:_ dedic. (vols. 1-2 only) to Straley (1945- 97); intro; format of work; database; tax. concepts; tax. pt.; biblio.; appendices (excl. spp.; name changes); 14-p. glossary; index. _Contents vol. 8:_ intro; summary (comp. flora; phytogeogr.); keys; biblio.; addenda, errata vols. 1-7; maps; index vols. 1-8. On 139 fam., 752 gen., 2717 spp.: 15 fam., 32 gen., 111 pteridophytes; 3, 10, 25 gymnosperms; 99, 549, 1911 di-; 22, 161, 670 monocotyledons; w/ 2862 dot- distr. maps (9/p.). Comprehensive, but unwieldy due to lavish use of white space--4-5 vols. might have sufficed. Farr, Ken (Kenneth) (text) & Andrews, J. Davis (photos). 2003. _The forests of Canada._ Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Markham (www.fitzhenry.ca), and Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa. 152 pp., ill. (col.), 262x258 mm, ISBN 0- 660-19004-4 (HB), Can$60.00. [Fr. ed. (not seen): _Les forˆts du Canada,_ 2003, Ibid., ISBN 0-660-96807-X (HB), Can$60.00.] _Contents:_ intro; forest types; 9 forest regions; urban forest; biblio.; Lat. names; index. Spectacular photos, interesting text. Steller, Georg Wilhelm. Jan. 2003. _Steller's history of Kamchatka: Collected information concerning the history of Kamchatka, its peoples, their manners, names, lifestyle, and various customary practices._ Trans. by Margritt Engel & Karen Willmore. Ed. by Marvin W. Falk. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks (www.uaf.edu/uapress) (series: _The Rasmuson Library translation series,_ 12; _The Rasmuson Library historical translation series,_ vol. 12). xiv, 298 pp., ill., ISBN 1-889963-49-6 (PB), $27.95. _Contents:_ series pref.; trans.'s pref.; 20-p. intro ("preface"), w/ biblio.; S's text, w/ chap. notes (rivers; springs; mts.; diverse regions; weather; health inhabitants, their diseases, remedies; minerals, fossils; trees, shrubs, pls.; marine pls., veg. washed ashore, their use, application; 9 chaps. on animals; Russ. villages; Itelmen villages; first occupation of Kamchatka; before the occupation; 13 chaps. on the Itelmen; traveling on Kamchatka; imports, exports, Steller's (1709-46) 1743-44 Ger. writings on the social potential trade); biblio.; index. First Eng. trans. of life, customs of the Kamchatka Penin. EPILOGUE 2004 Many thanks to all of you who contributed to BEN in 2004 with your articles, to my team of editors (Jan Kirkby et al.), our BEN web master (Scott Russell), our mailing list host the Victoria Free-Net Association, and to George & J.G. Smith (The Glenlivet Distillery), who have never failed to elevate my spirits. Happy Winter Solstice and all the best in the coming year 2005! Bottoms up! - Adolf Ceska ________________________________________________________________ Subscriptions: http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/ben-l Send submissions to aceska@telus.net BEN is archived at http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ ________________________________________________________________