The illustrated moss flora of Antarctica

Abstract

Ice, snow, and penguins - this popular image of Antarctica is belied by this fine but costly flora. Here, Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra (both, Polish Academy of Sciences) and [Ronald I. Lewis Smith] (Center for Antarctic Plant Ecology and Diversity) treat 111 moss species in 55 genera and 17 families. All but 1 6 species are restricted to the sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic Peninsula jutting toward South America.

46-5608 QK549 MARC Ochyra, Ryszard. The illustrated moss flora of Antarctica, by Ryszard Ochyra, Ronald I. Lewis Smith, and Halina Bednarek-Ochyra. Cambridge, 2008. 685p bibl index ISBN 9780521814027, $250.00

Ice, snow, and penguins - this popular image of Antarctica is belied by this fine but costly flora. Here, Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra (both, Polish Academy of Sciences) and Smith (Center for Antarctic Plant Ecology and Diversity) treat 111 moss species in 55 genera and 17 families. All but 1 6 species are restricted to the sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic Peninsula jutting toward South America. Bednarek-Ochyra et al.'s companion volume, The Liverwort Flora of Antarctica (2000), treats 27 species in 19 genera and 12 families. Together, these two volumes, comprising a relatively rich bryophyte flora of 1 38 species, contrast with the depauperate vascular plant flora of only 2 species, the grass Deschampsia antárctica and the pink Cobbanthus quitensis. This moss flora is superbly illustrated: 275 black-and-white drawings (many fullpage plates) and maps; 42 color photographs (in 24 plates) of Antarctic scenes (including penguins) and close-ups of mosses. The 532-page systematic account of mosses is technically oriented, as is much of the five-chapter, 58-page introductory section on exploration, environment/ ecology, and diversity/phytogeography of mosses. The general reader will be mostly interested in the short first chapter on Antarctica and its geology and climate, plus, naturally, the excellent color photographs. Includes a glossary and very compressive 58-page index. Summing Up: Recommended. ** Graduate through professional collections.-R. Schmid, emeritus, University of California, Berkeley