THE WOODY IRIDACEAE

First edition: 139 pages, colour frontispiece, distribution maps, 13 colour plates, line drawings, blue cloth, a fine copy in the dust jacket.

Editor's note: 'The horticulturally important family Iridaceae is known to most gardeners and botanists through familiar herbaceous genera such as Iris, Crocus, and Gladiolus. This book is a beautifully illustrated and comprehensive scientific study of the three extraordinary genera of the family that are woody shrubs: Nivenia, Klattia, and Witsenia.

‘Peter Goldblatt’s The Woody Iridaceae is the first thorough botanical investigation of this specialized group of genera. Though comprising just thirteen species, one of which is newly described here, the group displays a surprising diversity of vegetative and floral form, the latter an adaptation to pollination by a variety of insects and birds. To assess the evolutionary history and relationships of the species to each other and to other Iridaceae, the author has applied the rigorous methodology of cladistic analysis to a large array of data gathered from field, laboratory, and herbarium investigations.

'In addition to detailed descriptions of the morphological, chemical, and cytological features of plants, this monograph provides information on the history of knowledge, including cultivation, of these southern African plants; distribution maps; the etymology of the names; complete synonymy; and notes on relationships and features that warrant further investigation. Each species is illustrated with a full-page watercolour, drawn from a living plant, by noted botanical artist Fay Anderson. Original line drawings by Margo Branch show other details of the plants. A glossary of special terminology and an index complete the work.'