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The cacti of Eastern Brazil have fascinated me ever since I saw plants bought back form the Horst-Buining expeditions in the 1970s. A fair number of works have been published on these plants in the last few years, but the publication we have here is rather different from previous publications being a much more of a scientific treatise. It is the result of more than ten years field trips and study of the plants from the husband and wife partnership of Nigel Taylor and Daniela Zappi from The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The monograph covers some 130 species of cactaceae occuring in the thorn forests and highlands of Eastern Brazil and provides a very detailed picture of their distribution and variation. There are excellent photographs of many of the species included in the 77 pages of full colour plates and 51 pages of distribution maps. Keys are provided for all the genera As would be expected of this type of publication there is a very extensive bibliography and reference material and this work will be an essential reference work for anyone seriously interested in the study of these plants and it nicely compliments the other publications on plants of the area which are slanted more to the horticulturalist. |
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