1909J CURRENT LITERATURE 157 



African plants 



Under the title Die Bliitenpflanzen Afrikas, 5 Dr. Franz Thonner, after list- 

 ing the chief botanical works and directing attention to some of the more 

 scattered literature pertaining to the flora of Africa and supplying a detailed 

 table of contents, gives a convenient key to the determination of the families of 

 African flowering plants; then he presents the main body of the work, namely a 

 key for the determination of the genera, which occupies about 540 pages. The 

 text is supplemented by 150 plates, and a map indicating the floral regions and 

 provinces of the continent. 



Each family is described as to the essential and most striking characters and 

 is represented, moreover, by a full page illustration of a characteristic genus; 

 the number of genera and species of each family, so far as it occurs in Africa, is 

 mentioned. Furthermore, the number of species in each genus and their geo- 

 graphical distribution is indicated. 



The author presents no bibliography in connection with the text, and there 

 is comparatively little in the way of synonomy; it is, however, definitely stated 

 » the introduction that the limitations of families and genera are in accordance 

 »wh E.ngler and Prantl's Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien and Dalla Torre 

 jto Harms's Genera Si phono gamarum, so that for critical identification it will 

 necessary to use the book largely in connection with these and other important 

 forks of reference. 



are ^ ke}S are in g eni °usly arranged, well contrasted, and lucid; the illustrations 

 re c ear and advantageously portray the general and detailed characters of the 

 LeHl"^ Wdl represent ***" different families. The volume also contains a 

 sped" y Prepared com Parative table giving the number of families, genera, and 

 a lisuf^ CU ^ thdr generaI g eo S r aphical distribution; it also contains a glossary, 

 botanical authors, and a useful catalogue of the common African plant- 



0n7 Ciated Whh Ae Pr ° per sdentific name - 



J> e whole the work brings together in an epitomized form and in a single 



e much information concerning the flora of Africa that hitherto has been 



volum 



PraS thr ° Ugh matly different volumes; hence it is a work which will be of great 



use both in the herbarium and in the field.— J. M. Greenman. 



n fc MINOR NOTICES 



t>as Pfl 9 „, • . < _ 



Vnthaceae by the 

 Pressor T \f tvt. 



follow! I' ^^ARLANE. 



p flanzenreich.6— Part 36 consists of a monographic treatment of the 



owing th ™^rti>J!.. rm excellent general account ui •*«. -«•* — ji 



s^e usual sequence of this series, precedes the taxonomic consideration 



kr 2S? FRAN2 ' Die BlUtenpfl 



Bestimmen 



(i 2 ) Ung n n v^ ^"^n'schen Siphonogamen. pp. xvi + 673. ph. 150. I map. 

 6 Exg le « Friedl ^der & Sohn. 1908. 



^acfarla^' DaS Pflan zenreich. Heft 36 (iv. in). Nepenthaceae von J. M. 



• PP- 92. figs, iq ( P5 ). Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann. 1908. M 4.60. 



