(From ASBS Newsletter Number 92, September 1997)
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Publisher & orders: Manaaki Whenua Press, PO Box 40, Lincoln 8152, New Zealand [Fax +64 3 325 2127. Email comfort@landcare.cri.nz. Published: December 1996. ISBN 0 478 09302 0. Specifications: soft cover, 210 mm x 147 mm, 80 pp., 3 b&w photographs, 1 drawing, 1 map. Retail price (NZ$, including postage & packaging, for Australian and NZ customers, US$ elsewhere): $25.00. Payment with order or credit card (Visa, Bankcard, Mastercard) accepted.
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This publication is No. 17 in the Landcare Research Science Series and is the first checklist to be published on the mosses of Banks Peninsula. The title is perhaps misleading in that this is not merely a listing of names. It is an annotated checklist and, although the bulk of the book is taken up with the list, pages 5-14 also includes notes on the physical features of Banks Peninsula, as well as climate, vegetation (mainly lists of the common mosses to be found in forest, shrubland, aquatic habitats, etc.) and endemism (one moss species only). Pages 15-68 contain the species list with 234 species and four varieties included. The arrangement of families follows 'A Dictionary of Mosses' by Crosby & Magill (1978) and nomenclature and species concepts follow 'Checklist of the Mosses of New Zealand' by Fife (1995). Genera and species are arranged alphabetically within families. Each taxon entry includes synonymy, habitat notes (from collections housed in CHR & CANU), herbarium voucher and reference to the earliest published record. Additional comments on variation and classification are sometimes included. The following is a fairly typical entry:
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Hennediella macrophylla (R.Br. ter.) Par. Syn. Pottia macrophylla (R.Br. ter.) Sainsb. HABITAT: open sites: sun-baked vertical silt bank beside track; dry clay bank beside track, in grazed Leptospermum scrub; dry silt bank beside road influenced by eutrophied seepage from pasture; on earth at base of steep face. VOUCHER: CHR 349495. FIRST RECORD: Brown (1893 b), as Hennedia intermedia sp. nov.; Beckett (1893a), as Pottia marginata sp. nov.
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Publications referred to in the text are all gathered in a general 'References' section on pages 70-75. An index to species concludes the work. The original places of publication of names are not provided in the checklist. Their inclusion may have made the work that little more useful. This publication may not be of interest to many readers of the ASBS Newsletter in that it does not concern flowering plants and is not focused on Australia. However, apart from the exclusion of the places of original publication (and their requirement is debatable), it is an excellent example of what a checklist should be. It is not just a list of names. It brings together and critically examines the work of previous botanists and collectors, and most importantly, records are substantiated by reference to vouchers. The above work by Bryony Macmillan is just one of many New Zealand science books published by Manaaki Whenua Press, part of Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd, and their catalogue can be viewed on the World Wide Web: http://www.landcare.cri.nz/mwpress One aspect of note is that publication of the Flora of New Zealand Volume V, which will deal with the native and naturalised grasses, is planned for next year. Reviewer: Philip Short
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