REVIEWS 



Grasses. A Guide to their Structure, Identification, Uses, and Distribution in the British Isles. C. E. Hubbard. 

 Pp. xii + 428 with 159 full-page line drawings. Pelican Book series. Penguin Bool^s Ltd., Harmonds- 

 worth, Middlesex, 1954 ; 3s. 6d. (with paper cover) or 8s. 6d. (bound). 



Grasses are the most important members of the world flora, possessing a wide distribution and being 

 ■ of the greatest economic value to man. Numerous papers have been devoted to the study of them from different 

 ■aspects and many books have been written in the past about their identification, uses, etc. For a long time, 

 however, there has been a need for a modern popular book on British grasses which incorporates the results 

 of the latest studies and which could be used also for their identification. 



The desideratum has been fulfilled by C. E. Hubbard, one of the world's leading grass experts, who 

 is in charge of the grass collection at the Kew Herbarium. He has produced the most comprehensive work 

 ever published on British grasses, which is rich in contents, masterly written, easy to read and to understand. 



This book deals with nearly all species of grasses, including hybrids and well-established aliens, in the 

 British Isles. In all, 152 grasses are fully described and illustrated in full-page plates, each of which shows 

 the habit of the plant, a ligule, a spikelet and parts of the spikelet. All drawings are original, accurate from 

 the scientific point of view, and of high artistic standard. The drawings of the ligules and spikelets and the 

 detailed analyses of the structure of the spikelets have been most precisely reproduced by Miss Joan Sampson 

 from the author's excellent pencil drawings and they are of sufficient magnification to show the structure 

 -quite distinctly. She has depicted also the habits of grasses with great skill. There is no doubt that these 

 drawings will be of great benefit to students who are interested in the structure of floral organs in grasses. 

 They will be also of great assistance to beginners who may identify specimens by comparing them with 

 drawings, especially as the drawing of each species is on the opposite page to the description. 



The drawings are accompanied by comprehensive and extremely good descriptions of individual grasses, 

 which are supplemented by accurate measurements of the vegetative and floral organs. Since the descriptions 

 are set out in a uniform manner, comparison of the plants with them is simple. The descriptions end with 

 the diploid chromosome number, if it is known. It would have been useful if the author had pointed 

 out which of the chromosome numbers refer to British material. The chromosome numbers of British 

 material may differ from those of specimens elsewhere, e.g. Sieglingia decumhens 2n = 124 (in British 

 material), 18, 36 (foreign); Puccinellia maritima 2n = 63 (in British material), 56, 70 (foreign); Hierochloe 

 odorata 2n = 28 (in British material), 42, 56 (foreign). Such an indication might have stimulated somebody 

 to undertake cytological investigations of particular grasses. It should be noted that the majority of the British 

 grasses have not yet been studied cytologically. 



The descriptions are followed by short notes on habitat, distribution in the British Isles and abroad, 

 time of flowering, variation, relationships, etc. They often also include details of the most important sub- 

 species and varieties, as well as closely related rare aliens, with their essential characters. 



For students, who wish to identify rapidly an unknown grass, several keys for identification are given. 

 .Before proceeding to use them, the student should fully understand the structure of the different organs 

 and some technical terms. The technical terms, which the author was unable to avoid in descriptions and 

 Jkeys, are explained in the text and by line drawings in the chapter " The structure of grasses " and in the 

 glossary at the end of the book. Great care has obviously been taken by the author in the construction of the 

 keys, in which the most striking and contrasting characters are used. The main key can be used for identifica- 

 tion when the specimen is complete and mature. For naming incomplete material of the common grasses 

 two other keys are provided : for immature specimens - based on vegetative characters, and for fruiting 

 ■specimens - on " seed " characters. The use of these keys is explained in separate chapters : " Vegetative 

 characters of grasses " and " The ' seeds ' of grasses." 



A special chapter includes the classification of grasses under habitats. This classification, combined 

 with the brief notes at the foot of the plates, indicating the degree of frequency and the type of habitat, will be 

 of great assistance to all who wish to study grasses from an ecological point of view. 



Another chapter deals with the uses of grasses and it includes " Cereals in Britain " (with a key), 

 " Herbage grasses," " Lawn grasses " (with a key) and " Ornamental grasses." This chapter will be of 

 special interest to agriculturists and horticulturists. 



In addition, the author has given a short introduction to the classification of grasses, and has demonstrated 

 how grasses can be distinguished from rushes and sedges. 



The book concludes with a classified and well-selected bibliography and indexes to both common and 

 botanical names, including synonyms. 



The botanical nomenclature is up-to-date in this treatment. It is, with a few exceptions, in agreement 

 with that used in Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, Flora of the British Isles, 1952. 



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