Book Reviews
The San Diego Fern Society newsletter, Fern World, publishes
book reviews on fern-related books. The following is a list of reviews
on fern books published since 1995.
In 2001, Timber Press released the updated version of the
Fern Grower's Manual
by Barbara Hoshizaki and Robbin Moran.
In 1998, the CSIRO published
Flora of Australia, Volume 48, Ferns, Gymnosperms and Allied Groups
edited by Patrick M. McCarthy.
In 1997, the Massachusetts Audubon Society sponsored
The Ferns and Allied Plants of New England
by Alice Tryon and Robbin Moran.
An important fern book in 1996 was Michael Garrett's The
Ferns of Tasmania,.
There were several interesting fern books published in 1995. Included were Ferns of
Hawai'i, Common Ferns of the Philippines
and Flora of the Venezuelan
Guayana, Volume 2, Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes: Acanthaceae-Araceae.
Kathy Valier. Honolulu: University of
Hawai'i Press, 1995, 88
pages, paperback, US$14.95.
It was Benjamin Disraeli who said "Everything comes if a man will only wait." Those fern
lovers waiting for a comprehensive book on the ferns of Hawai'i are still waiting. However, for
those of us who have had to make do with the Ferns of Hawaii National Park, a
one-hundred-year-old Flora of the Hawaiian Islands (William Hillebrand, 1888), an
occasional journal paper or book chapter, and draft checklists of Hawaiian pteridophytes by
Charles Lamoureux and Herb Wagner, Ferns of Hawai'i is a welcome step in the right
direction.
The author, Kathy Valier, is a naturalist who has come fairly recently to her interest in ferns:
For thirty-six years, I hiked through the myriad ferns around me,
mindlessly relegating the 200 wild ferns and fern allies in Hawai'i to the general category of
"ferns."...The need to identify one species, palapalai, for a project made me realize how varied
these subtle plants are...
The author divides the book into three sections. In the first section Ms. Valier provides some
background to the Hawaiian islands and to Hawaiian ferns. Particularly interesting are
paragraphs on the Hawaiians' uses of ferns. Ms. Valier also provides a brief explanation of fern
life-styles and nomenclature.
The second section covers fern allies and the third section covers common ferns. Ms. Valier
makes it clear that she is trying to provide a book for the more general public:
This book covers sixty-one [of the approximately 200
species] of the more common ferns and fern allies growing wild in
Hawai'i.
Ferns in this book are common on all the islands, except where specifically stated in the
description. A variety of ferns was chosen, to represent the many families of ferns found in
Hawai'i...
There are some unusual touches, as, for example, Ms. Valier provides the Hawaiian
names and name derivations for many of the ferns. For me, this was also one of the book's
weaknesses as early discussions and photos of ferns often only presented the Hawaiian and not
the scientific names. I found that I wanted to know what fern was being shown or discussed, but
I didn't want to have to search through the book to find out.
The book is well-illustrated, with black and white pictures of most of the ferns and
several bonus sets of color photos, including my favorite, Gonocormus minuta. There are brief,
easy-to-read discussions of each fern, including the derivation of the Hawaiian name (if there is
one), a description of the plant, and a general indication of the plant's habit. I would have liked
more specific descriptions of where the ferns can be found.
As for describing the audience for this book I'm grading this somewhat like the ratings
for toys. This is a very nice introduction to the common Hawaiian ferns for the "less serious fern
lovers and up" and a book I welcome to my private collection.
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Dr. May-Ling So, Quezon City,
Philippines: Trinity College, 1995, 105 pages, paperback, US$25.
This is a very nice, relatively inexpensive fern book. It is not nearly a comprehensive study of
the ferns of the Philippines. A more comprehensive and academic presentation of Philippine
ferns was presented in the Guide to Philippine Flora and Fauna, Vol. II. Economic Ferns,
Endemic Ferns, Gymnosperms (Zamora and Co, 1986). Common Ferns of the
Phillipines covers 100 of the over 930 ferns species currently known in the Philippines.
Dr. So explains that the materials for the book were collected during a two-month stay and
represent the ferns which she could find, research, and photograph during that period.
The format of the book is very reminiscent of Dr. So's earlier book on the Ferns of Hong
Kong. It is printed on a heavy glossy paper stock with color photos on nearly every
page. The book starts with a brief introduction to ferns and the fern life-cycle. The main body
of the book is fern descriptions.
This is the main strength of the book. For each of the 100 ferns there is a generally excellent in
situ color photograph. Due to the format of the book, some of these photos are rotated 90
degrees, which can be disconcerting. The plant photos are each accompanied by a close-up of
the fertile frond, showing the spore pattern. Often, there is also a photograph of the spore taken
through a scanning electron-microscope. These photos are fascinating. They are very important
aids to recognizing the fern in the field and seeing the relationships between ferns.
Included in the description is the plant's latin name and family, any common names, and a
description of the plant's usual habitat. This is followed by a relatively detailed description of
the plant rhizome, stipes, lamina, sori, and spore.
The book finishes with a three-page glossary, an index to English common names, and a page of
references.
I recommend this book for persons looking to learn more about ferns and for fern lovers about to
travel to the Philippines. For the price it is a good buy.
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Editors Berry, Holst, and Yatskievych, Portland, Oregon: Missouri Botanical Garden and Timber
Press, 1995, 706 pp., hardback, US$49.95, BPS37.50.
The Venezuelan Guayana is an area along the north coast of South America extending
from theAtlantic Ocean along the northern border of Brazil. This is the second volume
resulting from the Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana project. The first volume is an introduction.This volume
covers the 29 families of pteridophytes occurring in the Venezuelan Guayana as well as the first
11 of the 201 families of spermatophytes. The 29 fern families are further divided into 92
genera and 671 species.
The Pteridophyte section starts with an introduction, an illustrated glossary (which is great, but
would be wonderful for nonprofessionals if it were more than two pages), and a
key to the families of pteridophytes. The families are treated in alphabetic order, with a key to
the genera for each family. The structure is repeated at each lower order with each genus having
a description and a key to the species and each species having a description.
Descriptions of the species can be quite variable, but the editors explain that "since the
illustrations and the keys are designed to enable identification of plants from the flora area, the
flora does not provide full species descriptions." Line drawings are provided for slightly more
than half the species, with at least one species illustrated from each genus. There are no
photographs, which would could further aid in identification. Each description does include
information regarding the source of the plant's current name and previous synonyms.
The Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana project is a huge undertaking, with over 180 contributors
overall and 25 different authors in this volume. The results are quite impressive and very useful
for knowledgable persons wishing to research South American ferns and even flowering
plants.... This volume will not be as useful to the general fern amateur who is not conversant
with botanical Latin.
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Reviews by Robin Halley, Editor, San Diego Fern Society
Fern World