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Under The Microscope

BOTANY OF ROTORUA, by Clarkson, Smale & Ecroyd; FRI 1991; 140 pages; $39.95 + $5 P&P
FLOWERING PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND, by Webb, Johnson & Sykes; DSIR Land Resources, 1991; 146 pages; $39.95

Botanists are likely to have a good Christmas haul this year, with the publication of two nicely presented, well researched books on plant life. Flowering Plants has a brief, but comprehensive, introduction to the often confusing sex life of plants, before taking a look at 52 different plant families which cover most of the flowering plants in New Zealand.

It may not be surprising to some that one in every ten flowering plants is a daisy, and that daisies have 15 different tribes, including the chrysanthemum, thistle, sunflower and puha. They're not all imports either -- there's some 290 daisy species native to this country.

There is enough botany in the text to satisfy the devotee without it becoming intimidating to the armchair gardener or school student. I like the pronunciation codes for the Latin family names, and the separate boxes on family characteristics forms a useful reference, as does the extensive glossary and index.

While Botany of Rotorua is somewhat limited in appeal because of its concentration on one region, the diverse spread of the book's contents more than make up for that.

The section on micro-algae of thermal areas provides a glimpse of life in the hot lane. Bruce and Beverley Clarkson's interesting piece on the 100-year-old "experiment" of vegetation reclamation of Mt Tarawera draws on the observations of botanists before and after the 1886 explosion. Plants of pasture and roadside are not often present in books of this type, and it's good to see them put in context.

The photography is impressive, with the obligatory disconcerting shots of weird-looking fungi -- I'd be delighted to see the vivid blue Entoloma hochstetteri toadstools growing wild. The layout helps break up the text into readable chunks, making it easy to browse through.

The Forest Research Institute and the Rotorua Botanical Society are to be praised for this contribution. I hope that other regions will follow suit, so we all have a better chance of getting to know the local flora.

Vicki Hyde, NZSM