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Gusman, Guy and Liliane Gusman. 2006. The Genus Arisaema: a Monograph for Botanists and Nature Lovers, 2nd ed. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag K.G., Ruggell, Liechenstein. 474 p. Available from Timber Press, Inc. $79.95. ISBN 13-978-0-88192-839-6.
What a spectacular book! A delight for botanists, horticulturists, and aroid-lovers everywhere. This "monograph" is the result of much work since 1988 (with a first edition 2003), and is lavishly illustrated and contains all the necessary information to identify and grow the 200 species, subspecies, and varieties of the remarkable genus Arisaema, in the Araceae, whose range extends from East Africa to Southeast Asia and Japan, then Siberia and into North America.
It is not a monograph in the traditional botanical sense as it does not contain complete lists of synonymy and exsiccatae, but it is certainly a one-volume treatise (perhaps a better word) that is thorough enough for practical use. As a botanist would do, the authors have examined countless herbarium specimens from three-dozen major herbaria and consulted a wealth of literature sources, all listed in the extensive bibliography. Their explanations of the complex morphology...