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THE MICHIGAN BOTANIST
Vol. 43
REVIEW
Gleason, Henry A.t and Arthur Cronquistt. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. 2004, the seventh printing of the second edition of 1991. xlvi + 993 pages.
ISBN 0-89327-365-1. Hardbound, $69; The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458.
www.nybg.org, and click on Science to get to the ordering page.
This is not intended to be a revised edition that could be labeled edition 3. That fact is made
abundantly clear, on the title page, in the Foreword, and even on the spine: "1991" and don't you
forget it!
But it is very different. First of all, there's a table of contents; a Foreword that explains the printing history, and then a biographical sketch of the lives of both authors, with photographs. The glossary, which in past printings preceded the keys, has been moved to the back, just before the two indexes, one to common names, a second to scientific names. Page size has been increased slightly, in
order to permit some additions and corrections, but the internal pagination (the actual treatments) is
unaltered. So, Adiantum is still on page 16, but now there's a key to the two species covered, which
had somehow been overlooked in earlier printings. The half page of nomenclatural innovations of
earlier printings is removed; there are no new names published here.
Quite a number of botanists contributed remarks on typographical errors that were scattered
through previous printings. There were instances where the two parental species of hybrids were not
in alphabetical order, as in Isoites, and these kinds of slips are now corrected.
But Scirpus still has the same circumscription as before. This is but one of dozens of places
where modern thinking would call for half a dozen genera-they're not here, though their synonyms
under Trichophorum, Schoenoplectus, Isolepis, Blysmus, and Bolboschoenus are given. At this point,
you're thinking, "Oh dear, what happed to traditional Aster?" and the answer is, "It's just the same
as before, without even the addition of generic names adopted in modern revisions." As I said, this
is not a revised, third edition. It is a corrected and improved printing.
The eagle-eyed reader might notice that authors for binomials have been "improved." In earlier
printings, the validating author was often not cited, as in Carex granularis Muhl., number 131 on p.
724 of both printings. The species was in fact described and published by Willdenow in Berlin, from
material sent to him by Muhlenberg from Pennsylvania, and the specific epithet was suggested by
Muhlenberg. It therefore should be cited as Carex granularis Muhl. ex Willd., or if shortened, then
simply Carex granularis Willd. Arthur Cronquist never liked this procedure, and never used it-that
is to say, he shortened the authorship citation, but contrary to the International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature. A quick glance will show that the manual is now sprinkled with such changes, which
are in accord with the Code. (This same species in Voss' Michigan Flora, volume 1, page 301, is
given as Carex granularis Willd., as you would expect from an author who was also an editor of the
ICBN for so many years.)
And consider Fraxinus profunda-earlier printings had its authorship as Fraxinus profunda
(Bush) Bush. Not true. Bush originated the name at some unspecified infraspecific rank, and a few
years later Britton (not Bush) elevated the epithet to specific rank, and it is therefore to be cited as
Fraxinus profunda Bush ex Britton, as given in this new printing.
Changes, alterations, corrections. Yes. Hundreds of them. Enough to justify buying the seventh
printing? Yes, I think so. And the New York Botanical Garden is a running a special combined offer:
The Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist's Manual is normally offered at $125, but if
you order both the Companion and the Manual, they'll sell you the two for $150 plus shipping.
The last page of the book, unnumbered, is an especially poignant photograph. Turn there first,
when you have the new book in hand. The picture is explained in the Foreword on page v.
Patricia and Noel Holmgrem made all this happen; the botanical community is very much in their
debt.
-Neil A. Harriman
Biology Department
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
harriman@uwosh.edu
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