Review

The kernel of this book consists of an enumeration of some 1600 publications of importance to the flora of the Mascarenes (East of Madagascar; main islands Réunion, Mauritius, Rodrigues), arranged alphabetically by author. Fairly often a short note is given on contents and importance. Counterpart to this enumeration is an extensive Subject Index which gives many different entries to the first part. The practical value of a book like the present one depends primarily on its completeness, secondarily on its selectivity. As to the first point, this is not easy to check. Comparison with the literature on some families the reviewer is acquainted with gave the impression that the enumeration is still (rather?) incomplete. Therefore, we may hope that future, ever more complete editions may follow. As to the second point, the inclusion of some obvious worldwide handbooks (Index Kewensis, Taxonomic Literature, Jackson’s Glossary of botanic terms, just to mention a few) seems of doubtful value, though other people may be of a different opinion.