Book review
Alchorneae (Euphorbiaceae) Ricardo de S. Secco. Flora Neotropica Monograph 93. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York, 10458, 194 pp, cloth $45.00, ISBN 0-89327-456-9. The Flora Neotropica series is gradually providing definitive monographs of the plants and fungi of the Neotropics. The information in these monographs has been much used in studies of biogeography and plant conservation and so as this series approaches its hundredth volume it is appropriate to draw attention to it here. Volume 93 treats the small tribe Alchorneae of the large and important spurge family, the Euphorbiaceae. The Neotropical element of the tribe contains three genera and 37 species. It includes the ecologically important and widespread genus Alchornea, as well as Aparisthmium and Conceveiba. As in most monographs in the series much data are given in addition to the basic morphological descriptions. This monograph includes data on seed dispersal, pollination, sexual systems, seedlings, chromosomes, chemistry, ethnobotany and conservation. The conservation section draws attention to the very restricted distributions of several species and some of these occur in habitats that are being destroyed such as in Rondônia in Brazil. This monograph is abundantly illustrated with attractive line drawings, photographs of several species in the field and distribution maps of all species. Conservationists will find especially useful the distribution maps and the ecological information provided for each species. One of the welcome features of Flora Neotropica is that it is encouraging authors from the region to publish as is the case here. This is the second monograph in the series to be written in the Portuguese language and several other volumes have been in Spanish thereby stimulating the participation of indigenous authors. This is a scholarly work well up to the standard of previous volumes. Flora Neotropica is fast becoming a basic tool for conservation in the neotropics as it describes more of the botanical diversity of the region. It is to be hoped that many more volumes will soon follow.