Review

This 8½ x 11" coffee-table book, issued last year as part of the British Pteridological Society's centenary activities, is a full-color celebration of the world's ferns in all their diversity. The text is aimed at well informed general readers and is certainly informative, but is overshadowed by the marvellous photographs that comprise the bulk of the book. The photographs were donated by more than 60 amateur and professional fern lovers, notably by A. Clive Jenny and H. and K. Rasbach. The preponderance of pictures are of Old World species and habitats; New World readers will see species and genera they have never seen before. The introductory and fossil fern chapters concern morphology and history of pteridophytes. These are followed by chapters on the pteridophytes of tropical forests, wetlands, temperate lands, arid zones, and mountain summits and polar regions. Throughout these chapters, habitat photographs mixed with habit and detail pho-tographs of the pteridophytes give the reader a sense of what it must be like to be on a foray in each region - an armchair fernologue. Closing chapters are devoted to myths and modern uses of ferns and to ferns in homes and gardens. Various cultural objects made of ferns or depicting them are illustrated, as are some handsome garden plants. Clearly, this is the one book to give to someone to kindle an interest in ferns. Those already familiar with ferns will enjoy time and time again seeing so many diverse pteri-dophytes as if they were alive. - David B. Lellinger, Dept. of Botany MRC-166, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560.