BOREAS BOOK REVIEWS 4 Boreas, Vol. 17, p. 140. Oslo, 1988 03 01

South African palaeoflora ILKKA KUKKONEN

Anderson, J. M. & Anderson, H. M. 1985: Palaeoflora of Sou- thern Africa. Prodromus of South African Megafloras Devonian to Lower Cretaceous. 423 pp. Published for the Botanical Research Institute (Pretoria, Rep. of South Africa) by Balkema, Rotterdam. Price NLG 165.00 or USD 55.00.

This book could, with good reason, also have been entitled an Atlas of the palaeoflora of the Republic of South Africa, because the major part, from page 175 to page 401, contains illustrations of the ‘best preserved palaeodemes and specimens for each species in the collections around the country’; pollen records are not treated. In the text preceding the Atlas part, the collection sites are carefully described, account being taken of the whole of southern Africa south of the equator. The locations of the collection sites are shown in good maps and the localities in the Republic of South Africa are also shown in good photographs. Chapter 3 provides a short introduction to the ‘Pre-angiosperm megafloral succession’, with accounts of the composition of Afri-

can fossil floras and plant evolution, as well as of diversity trends in Gondwana and Euramerica in the form of figures. A list oi collectors with biographies is provided. The chapter entitled ‘Taxonomicrevision’(pp. 8>173)lists91 generaand263 species. However, Jura and the major part of Trias are not treated in this connection. Thus, 71 genera and 147 species are described here. with additional photographs and numerous drawings, resulting in 11 new genera and 67 new species, as well as in a number 01 new combinations of names.

South Africa, not glaciated during the period of 300 million years covered or later, with its unique present flora, invites to the fascinating and challenging discoveries of fossil plant remains. As to the megafossils the book is a summary of the work done so fa1 and as such appears to be an inevitable source-book to the period of prosperous fern and coniferous floras in the area.

Ilkka Kukkonen, Botanical Museum, Universiry of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 44, SF-@I70 Helsinki, Finland; 28th August 1987.