Gentianaceae - Systematics and Natural History

Hardback  662 pp, 51 diags, 66 illus, 29 tabs  ISBN 0521809991      £110.00

The family Gentianaceae is a diverse lineage of over 1500 angiosperm species, including many tropical and temperate trees, shrubs, and herbs with a wide range of floral types and colours. This volume provides the first comprehensive review of the family, covering phylogeny, classification, biogeography, palynology, phytochemistry and morphology, and also presents the first classification of the entire family to be published for over 100 years, generated using modern molecular- and morphology-based phylogenetic data. The volume places the Gentianaceae in context with its relatives in the order Gentianales and subclass Asteridae; presents an updated, phylogenetic classification of tribes, subtribes, and genera; investigates the corroborative value of morphological features in phylogenetic diagnoses; and comprehensively summarizes palynology, seed morphology, and phytochemistry. Descriptions of each of the 87 gentian genera are provided, as are discussions on morphological evolution and biogeography for each major evolutionary lineage.

Contents

1. Gentianaceae in context V. A. Albert and L. Struwe; 2. Systematics, character evolution and biogeography of Gentianaceae, including a new tribal and subtribal classification L. Struwe, J. Kadereit, J. Klackenberg, S. Nilsson, M. Thiv, B. von Hagen and V. A. Albert; 3. Cladistics of Gentianaceae: a morphological approach S. Mészáros, J. De Laet, V. Goethals, E. Smets and S. Nilsson; 4. Gentianaceae - a review of palynology S. Nilsson; 5. The seeds of Gentianaceae F. Bouman, L. Cobb, N. Devente, V. Goethals, P. J. M. Maas and E. Smets; 6. Chemotaxonomy and pharmacology of Gentianaceae S. R. Jensen and J. Schripsema; Index.