BOOK REVIEW – Gardening Australia, July 2007, page 81
Flowering Plant Families of the World
VH Heywood, RK Brummitt, A Culham, O Seberg
From the subdued watercolours and monochromes to the alphabetic
arrangement, this book reeks of tradition and stability. Yet it is nothing of the
sort. Welcome to the dazzling diorama of 21st-century plant classification and
evolution. I treasured the 1978 edition as a compendium of the known world –
then 306 families. With the DNA revolution and other new methods, there are
506 families and lots of new bedfellows: tiny duckweed in the giant Titan arum
family, and the close relatives lotus, plane and protea. This scholarly, elegant
and, at times, demanding book should definitely whet your appetite for further
change.
Tim Entwisle