THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF AFRICA 277 



BEVIEWS. 



The Floiuering Plants of Africa : An Analytical Key to tJie Genera 

 of African Phanerog avis. By Fr. Thonner. With 150 plates 

 and a map. 4to, cloth, pp. xvi, 647. London, Dulau & Co., 

 1915 [1916] . Price 155. net. 



" This book supplies a long-felt want" — a phrase somewhat 

 hackneyed and not always appropriately employed — may be accu- 

 rately applied to the well-printed and in every w^ay attractive 

 volume whose title stands above. " Intended," as the preface 

 informs us, " for the use not only of botanists but also of colonists 

 and travellers in Africa who take an interest in botany," the author 

 has •' used, wherever it was possible, as distinctive characters 

 those which are visible to the naked eye in a plant in flower, being 

 careful however not to deviate too much from the natural system." 

 Everybody connected with a public botanical institution knows 

 how frequently such a volume has been asked for by intelligent 

 folk of the classes indicated, and how impossible it has been up to 

 now to satisfy their demand for some w^ork in English which should 

 be at once portable and reasonably complete ; and this Dr. Thonner, 

 with the help of Dr. Kendle, who has revised the translation, has 

 now provided. The book was originally published in German in 

 1908 under the title Die Bliitenpfianzen Afrikas, but this new 

 edition makes its first appearance in our own tongue. Its general 

 usefulness is greatly increased by the hundred and fifty excellent 

 plates, mostly from drawings not previously published. 



For the names and limits of the genera and families Englerand 

 Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien is followed, with its supplement the 

 Genera Siplionogamarum of Dalla Torre and Harms. The 

 characters of each family are given with some fullness, and the 

 key to the genera contains not only the actual diagnostic character, 

 in terms as simple as is consistent with clearness, but indications 

 of the number of species, geographical distribution, uses if any, 

 and principal synonyms. Taking an example at random, we may 

 cite the description of the genus Tritonia : 



" Spathe-bracts short, brown, toothed at the top. Inflorescence 

 spicate or paniculate. Perianth with a short or rather short tube. 

 — Species 35. South and Central Africa. Many of them are used 

 as ornamental plants : some yield edible bulbs or a substitute for 

 saffron. (Including Crocosmia Planch., Monthretia DC, and 

 Tritonixia Klatt.)" 



There are no bibliographical references, but a " list of prin- 

 cipal works consulted," from which periodicals are rather oddly 

 omitted, precedes the text : this is one of the few unsatisfactory 

 features of the work as, although dates and places of publication 

 are given, it follows neither an alphabetical nor a chronological 

 arrangement. There is a useful glossary, a good index of Latin 

 and a less useful one of English popular names, and a statistical 

 table showing the number of genera and species and the geo- 

 graphical distribution of each family. The printing is very 

 carefully done : we note very few misprints — " Prrteacece " (p. 19) 



