Abstracts. 95 



ABSTRACTS. 



1. Monographic der Gattung Koeleria. By Dr. Karl Domin. With 22 



plates and 3 maps. 4to. Stuttgart, 1907. 



This elaborate monograph occupies four complete parts of Luersen's " Biblio- 

 theca Botanica," and covers more than 350 quarto pages. It is divided into three 

 main parts, the. first dealing with the history and morphology of the genus; the 

 second, which occupies by far the greater portion of the work, being devoted to the 

 systematic arrangement of the species and their varieties ; while the third is con- 

 cerned with the facts of geographical distribution and the probable phylogeny of 

 the species. The systematic portion is drawn up on most liberal lines. Previous 

 writers have treated Koeleria as a small genus containing considerably less than a 

 score of species. Hooker and Bentham, in the "Genera Plantarum," accepted 

 twelve species, and Hackel, in " Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien," only increased 

 the number to fifteen. But Dr. Domin describes no less than sixty-one, and even 

 then he is careful to state that several of these are "collective species,' and that 

 the full number is eighty-nine. Many of his " species " are further separated into 

 subspecies, varieties, subvarieties, forms, &c. As an instance of the laboriously 

 minute treatment adopted, it may be mentioned that the variable A', gracilis (the 

 K. cristata of most authors) is divided by Domin into fourteen subspecies. The 

 first of these is again separated into twelve groups, which are further split up into 

 forty-four varieties. Altogether, Domin describes rather more than 170 forms ot 

 Koeleria gracilis, his account of that species alone occupying sixty-five pages of his 

 monograph ! It may be asked to what extent a monograph of the New Zealand 

 species of Veronica would stretch if prepared on similar lines. 



New Zealand botanists have been accustomed to include all our Koelerias within 

 the compass of a single species, which for many years was considered to be a form 

 of K. cristata. When preparing the Manual I followed Hackel's views in referring 

 our plant to a South American species distinguished by him as 7v . Kurtzii (equivalent 

 to K. Bergii Hierony. according to Domin) ; but Dr. Domin considers that we have 

 three endemic species in New Zealand. These he places with six South American, 

 two Australian, and two Asiatic species in a group to which he gives the name of 

 Dorsoaristatae. The following key to the New Zealand species is adapted from his 

 work : — 



Awn dorsal. 



Small, culms not creeping at the base ... 1. K. novozealandica. 



Larger, culms creeping at the base ... 2. K. superb a. 



Awn strictly terminal ... ... ... 3. A'. Gintlii. 



The first of these species is based upon specimens collected by Dr. Cockayne in the 

 Otira Gorge ; K. superba was gathered by myself on the mountains above the Broken 

 River, Canterbury ; and K. Gintlii in the Hooker Valley, Mount Cook district. 



Although it is impossible not to feel that the multiplication of species has been 

 carried to an inordinate degree, there are many points of excellence in Domin's 

 memoir ; and it can fairly be said that it contains much original work of a high 

 older, and that he has treated his subject in a most complete and exhaustive manner. 



T. F. C. 



2. Monographic der Gattung Taraxacum. By Dr. H. F. von Handel- 



Mazetti. 4t<>. Leipzig, 1907. 



In the "Genera Plantarum" Hooker and Bentham remarked that about forty 

 species of Taraxacum, had been described, and that some authors reduce these to 

 six. Hoffman, in "Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien," gave the number of valid 

 species at from twenty to twenty-five, and more recent writers have made various 

 estimates, ranging from twenty to forty-five. Dr. Handel-Mazetti, who is generally 

 acknowledged to be the leading authority on the genus, admits no less than 

 fifty-seven, contained in eleven sections. Forty-two of the species are found in Asia, 

 twenty-eight in Europe, three in Africa, six in North America, two in Australia, and 

 one in New Zealand (in addition to the introduced T . vulgare). The New Zealand 



2 — Proceedings, pt. iii. 



