CURRENT LITERATURE 
~ BOOK REVIEWS 
The ecology of water plants 
Long ago the ecological features of the hydrophytes were brought together 
in comprehensive fashion by SCHENCK in two admirable volumes. Recent y 
Dr. Huco Griicx, a young and enthusiastic investigator, has published oe 
volumes along similar lines, and they are very rich in detailed information; 
indeed, they may be regarded as encyclopedic in nature. The first two 
volumes, dealing respectively with the European Alismaceae and the genus 
Utricularia (together with an account of turion formation), have been noticed 
in these pages.t_ The third and thus far the largest volume, which is now at 
hand, is very different in scope, treating as a whole the vegetation of fresh- 
water banks, that is, the marginal vegetation of streams and ponds.? This 
vegetation is essentially that of the belts which are subject to inundation, and 
embraces, therefore, practically all of the so-called amphibious plants. These 
plants, of course, are among the most interesting of all plants to ecologists 
because of their plasticity. 
While most of the genera and many of the 124 species sate in this volume 
are of very widespread distribution, the author limits his studies to central and 
southern Europe. The work is based on almost numberless field trips to all 
parts of this vast region, and these observations have been backed up by 
numerous cultures. The author makes no pretense to completeness, suggest- 
ing, indeed, that these are among the most poorly known of all plants, and that 
they are well worthy of much more careful study; some color is given to this 
view by Giticx’s discovery, in these floristically best known of all lands, of 
tirely new areas for four different species. The author recognizes two 
“zones” (thus ignoring the Brussels recommendation of 1910 that the term zone 
be employed henceforth only for the great climatic belts of the earth), one of 
the land margin with leaves mostly aerial, and one of the water margin with 
leaves mostly submersed. The subdivision of the “zones” into groups and 
subgroups is based not on habitat but on leaf form. For example, “zone 1” 
includes a group with linear leaves (as Typha, Acorus, Iris), a group with 
petioled entire leaves, a group with petioled divided leaves, etc. Under each 
group or subgroup the species are considered individually, and under each 
* Bor. Gaz. 43:67-69. 1907. 
? Glick, Huco, Biologische und morphologische Untersuchungen iiber Wasser- 
und Sumpigewiichse. III. Die Uferflora. pp. xxxiv+644. pls. 8. figs. 105. Jena: 
Gustav Fischer. rgrr. 
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