A handbook of the world’s conifers. Volume I

Leiden

2010

527 S.

Ill., graph. Darst.

Bandaufführung

16482

167748

With the Handbook of the World's Conifers, its author Aljos Farjon has given us a wonderful aid to learn almost all there is to know about this ancient lineage of woody plants. In true Handbook tradition all 615 species of extant conifers are concisely described, with user-friendly identification keys to families, genera and species and invaluable additional information on uses, conservation status, and much more. Unlike earlier books on conifers that are heavily skewed towards temperate conifers from the northern hemisphere, the present Handbook does equal justice to the 200 tropical species and 415 temperate ones; this attention to tropical species makes the Handbook truly unique. In the very informative introduction the evolution, classification, ecology, biology, economic uses, and conservation status of the conifers are discussed. This handbook thus combines the virtues of a comprehensive taxonomic monograph of the conifers, with that of a true vademecum on the morphological attributes, uses, and conservation of all species of the order. The information on the ecology of each species in its natural habitat is particularly welcome, because it gives us the keys to designing affective conservation measures for each endangered species and also defines the scope and limitations of where one could introduce a species successfully in tropical or temperate horticulture.