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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Prologue to the first edition
- Prologue to the second edition
- Acknowledgments for the first edition
- Acknowledgments for the second edition
- I General introduction
- 1 An analytical–synthetic systematic bibliography of ‘standard’ floras: scope, sources and structure
- 2 The evolution of floras
- 3 Floras at the end of the twentieth century: philosophy, progress and prospects
- References
- II Systematic bibliography
- Appendix A Major general bibliographies, indices and library catalogues covering world floristic literature
- Appendix B Abbreviations of serials cited
- Addenda in proof
- Geographical index
- Author index
2 - The evolution of floras
from I - General introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Prologue to the first edition
- Prologue to the second edition
- Acknowledgments for the first edition
- Acknowledgments for the second edition
- I General introduction
- 1 An analytical–synthetic systematic bibliography of ‘standard’ floras: scope, sources and structure
- 2 The evolution of floras
- 3 Floras at the end of the twentieth century: philosophy, progress and prospects
- References
- II Systematic bibliography
- Appendix A Major general bibliographies, indices and library catalogues covering world floristic literature
- Appendix B Abbreviations of serials cited
- Addenda in proof
- Geographical index
- Author index
Summary
As concerns the flowering plants we may say that we live again in an age of floras and floristic work. [It is part of] a cyclic development [with several phases].
Stafleu, Syst. Zool. 8: 66 (1959).Seit der Mitte des Jahrhunderts hält eine Epoche des Florenschreibens an.
Jäger, Prog. Bot. [Fortschr. Bot.]40: 413 (1978).Floras should always be regarded only as a stage, although an important one, in understanding plants and contributing to botanical knowledge. … They can never be definitive: new facts and information are always coming to light.
Hedge, in Contributions selectae ad floram et vegetationem Orientis (eds. Engel et al.), p. 312 (1991).Introduction and general considerations
The preparation and publication of floras and related works has been a constant feature of systematic botany since late in the sixteenth century. In that time, this activity in a formal sense has spread from central and western Europe to other parts of the world. In some cases, however – and particularly in eastern Asia – it absorbed, and was to an extent influenced by, autochthonous floristic traditions. At different times – and particularly in the twentieth century – floristic work has prevailed over other approaches to plant diversity. This trend, first noted in 1959 by Stafleu and later by Thorne and Gómez-Pompa, was affirmed in an extensive review by Jäger in the late 1970s. From the 1980s, floristics (and its products) have received renewed emphasis from conservation and biodiversity interests, and the scope, strengths and weaknesses of floras have been analyzed in symposia and individual articles.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Guide to Standard Floras of the WorldAn Annotated, Geographically Arranged Systematic Bibliography of the Principal Floras, Enumerations, Checklists and Chorological Atlases of Different Areas, pp. 24 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001