Cecil Wooten has produced the first translation into any modern langauage of a key treatise of the ancient world. He provides a faithful English translation of Hermogenes' analysis based on a reliable Greek text established by Rabe at the beginning of thi

The natural beauty of flowers has been celebrated by writers, poets and artists for hundreds of years. In this collection of exquisite images by award-winning photographer Clive Nichols, flowers are shown in all their glory, from the delicately flared petals of a crocus to the close-packed velvety whorls of a red rose; and from the intricate markings of an orchid to the kaleidoscope-like symmetry of wild borage. In these photographs, where every bloom is treated as a work of art, the tiniest details are brought into wonderful clarity, displaying an astonishing variety of structure, texture and colour. Concise, insightful texts by No�l Kingsbury complement the images, providing botanical, historical and ecological information on each flower. This beautiful yet informative book is ideal for lovers of photography and of the natural world.

Few branches of the biological sciences have developed to such an extent as has ecology in the recent decades. The successful development of this science is directly related to need to create a sound scientific basis by which we can control our diminishing natural resources and integrate this with the control of biological systems of the component species. Studies on the bioenergetics of ecosystems, as well as on the home ostatic mechanisms functioning at the populations and biocenoses levels are of great importance in this respect. The results of these studies are very significant in forestry management which deals with multiannual tree communities - forest stands. It is particularly important in this of the necessity for the possible respect for economic planning, in view prolonged maintenance of forest biocenoses as stable systems. Neither in the present nor in the immediate future can be protection of forest ecosystems consisting of natural plant and animal communities be achieved by the cultivation of resistant forms or the intensification of chemical intervention.

When Rolf Dahlgren and I embarked on preparing this book series, Rolf took prime responsibility for monocotyledons, which had interested him for a long time. After finishing his comparative study and family classification of the monocots, he devoted much energy to the acquisition and editing of family treatments for the present series. After his untimely death, Peter Goldblatt, who had worked with him, continued to handle further incoming monocot manuscripts until, in the early 1990s, his other obligations no longer allowed him to continue. At that time, some 30 manuscripts in various states of perfection had accumulated, which seemed to form a solid basis for a speedy completion of the FGVP monocots; with the exception of the grasses and orchids which would appear in separate volumes. I felt a strong obligation to do everything to help in publishing the manuscripts that had been put into our hands. I finally decided to take charge of them personally, although during my life as a botainst I had never seriously been interested in monocots.