![]() Although laudable, that latter strategy may ultimately be self-defeating since the mere act of repeating those defunct terms only serves to acknowledge their existence and prolong their life. KPG helpfully indicates preferred terms (where what pass for synonyms in the English language exist) and those which are of uncommon usage (but which may still be encountered…hence their inclusion). And – lest there be any lingering doubt – the terms covered are those used in English plant descriptions (but which are themselves borrowed from numerous sources – not just Latin: Although you could be forgiven for thinking they were judging by the long list of Latin abbreviations on pp. KPG is not exclusively restricted to seed plants – it has a separate plate for specialised fern terms (though does strangely consider ’sporophyte’ to be a term that only applies to pteridophytes – p. Although this may seem like ’double-counting’ or redundant repetition, grouping such terms together is useful for comparing such features as venation of leaves, inflorescence types, and surface indumenta. ![]() KPG also includes 18 plates illustrating ’grouped terms’, which are themselves defined – and often illustrated – elsewhere in the book. All letters of the English alphabet are represented, except Y. (no, I didn’t count them either – Christmas holidays can be a little tiresome, but not so boring that I resort to counting pictures…or dictionary terms…). Nevertheless, it contains 4100 such terms ranging from ‘a-’ to ‘zygomorphous’, and >730 of them (from ‘abaxial’ to ‘zygomorphy’) are illustrated. Rather, KPG culls its terms from those used by botanists to “describe plants in textbooks, scientific papers, floras and field guides”. How often have you come across a new – to you, the reader, that is! – term in a botanical text and wondered what it meant? Well, OK, maybe not that often, but when you do, how frequently have you then looked up that term to be confronted with a word-only description and longed for a more helpful illustrated one? Well, if that’s the case, then with Henk Beentje’s The Kew Plant Glossary (published in 2010 by Kew Publishing, £18.00 in paperback hereafter referred to as KPG) you need worry no more (or, at any rate, worry a little less…).Īlthough entitled ‘plant glossary’, it is not a fully comprehensive and exhaustive listing of all terms from the complete range of botanical knowledge.
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