The Aegean archipelago is floristically rich and of great Biogeographical interest, with a high degree of endemism. It provides amodel area for studies of evolution and speciation. Theophrastos (c. 372 287 b.c.), born in the still-extant village of Eressos on the island of Lesvos, is generally considered the father of scientific botany, which thus has its roots in the Aegean area. For the first time in three-quarters of a century a complete survey of the Aegean flora is now presented, with detailed distribution maps for all species, as well as keys, descriptions, photographic col. plates and extensive references. The Atlas covers all speciesand subspecies of native and naturalized vascular plants with reliable records from at least one Aegean island. The work comprises two parts in A4 hardcover format: part 1 with keys, descriptions, notes, references, and 48 colour plates with photographs of 16 habitats and 421 species, part 2 with 3362 colour distribution maps, mounted four to a page, for 3316 species.In both volumes taxa have been arranged alphabetically according to family, genus and species. With few exceptions taxonomy and nomenclature follow Vascular plants of Greece: An annotated checklist (Dimopoulos & al. in Englera 31. 2013). The text volume provides keys to species and, in some cases, subspecies. For each taxon there is a brief description (usually 60 120 words) with emphasis on diagnostic characters, and there are frequently also notes on taxonomy, nomenclature, etymology,variation and other relevant features. Some 780 titles are listed in the References. The first two colour plates comprise 16 photographs of landscapes and vegetation, the remaining 46 show plant portraits, with nine photographs per page and insets showing details, altogether 421 species are illustrated. Photographs have been selected to include common and characteristic species as well as many Aegean endemics or taxa that are otherwise of special taxonomic, biogeographical or ecological interest. The maps have been generated from the Flora Hellenica Database, which comprises some 917 000 records (c. 56 % from the Aegean area). Holdings in several major herbaria as well as all relevant literature records (from a total of c. 2700 publications) have been registered in the database. In addition to the Greek coastline, the map shows the 1000 m contour with higher-lying areas marked in green. The outlying Greek island group of Kastellorizo (c. 36°08''N, 29°37''E) appears as an inset on the map. In most of the maps there is only one symbol, a solid, red dot. In some cases there are up to three (or four) symbols in different shapes and colours, showing, e.g., different subspecies. A text box on each map gives the name of the taxon as well as brief notes on ecology, total distribution, etc.
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700+878 pages, 48 colour plates, figures, hardcover, engl. (Englera, 33), Berlin ()
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