Dieses Buch enthalt neben allgemeinen Angaben ausfuhrliche
Hinweise zur Systematik. Es werden mehr als 700 Arten beschrieben mit Angaben
zu Kultur und Verbreitungsgebiet. Viele Farbfotos, eine Hybridenliste und
ein illustrierter Bestimmungsschlussel.
This is now the only comprehensive book on Tillandsias currently
in print. In scope, it is exhaustive, and a major technical update on the
work of Smith and Downs published by Flora Neotropica in 1977. It is written
in French, but this should not deter the serious student of tillandsia as
there is a nice dictionary at the back with key technical terms translated
into English, Spanish and Deutsche. French is an intuitive language for English-speakers,
and with an inexpensive general language dictionary to augment the technical
one included in the book one can soon understand what is being said here.
Les Tillandsia et les Racinaea measures 28 cm x 19 cm (11"
x 7") with 816 pages and weighs over 2 kg. There are individual plant
pages for 700 species, mostly with colour illustrations, although some have
only line drawings. Each plant page has main sections describing the whole
plant, the inflorescence, the flowers, and cultivation. There is also a "notes"
box detailing, when available, synonyms, references to the plant in other
publications, habitat and distribution.
The book also has a Glossary with line drawings illustrating
the technical terms for the various shapes of leaves and floral parts, a very
good overview of tillandsias' native habitats (illustrated), a general overview
of tillandsia structure (morphology), and an identification key.
The identification key is excellently presented, and quickly
guides you to your plant. Click on the illustration above ("identification
key") to see how it works:
I do not speak French, but can see that the top line tells
us to start at blue box 1 to see whether we have a Tillandsia or a Racineae
(the line under that is a note that there is a key to the red-flowered tillandsias
of Brazil on page 167. This is based on Renate Ehlers' work).
Box 1 has two possible answers: the petal shape is either 1a,
Racinaea, or 1b Tillandsia. The illustrations show the difference pretty dramatically,
and the wording is obviously telling us that for 1a the sepals are asymmetrical,
oblong, and with the fat bit at the top (apex) while for 1b the sepals are
symmetrical with the fat bit at the base. Some plants will have sepals that
are not as clearly defined, and if they do not easily fit into one of the
generalized shapes you will need to dig deeper into the text and look up some
of the other attributes in the technical dictionary of the book. Having made
a decision, you then proceed: if 1a you go to section X11 on page 162 (Racinaea).
If 1b you have a tillandsia and go to blue box 2. Here the main distinguishing
attribute is the "Limbes des feuilles" - beyond me, so look up the
dictionary in the back and we find that "limbe" is a blade and "feuille"
is a leaf - so we are looking at the shape of the leaf blades. Following our
decision, we then proceed to blue box 3 if the answer was 2a, otherwise to
blue box 10. And so on we go....
To order this book: New Zealand customers go here, other countries
go here.
Review by Dr. Jason R. Grant:
"The first book on bromeliads in over a century to be
originally published in French, this handsome book devoted to the genera Tillandsia
and Racinae covers more than 700 species. It begins with chapters discussing
their discovery and subsequent taxonomic study, distribution and ecology;
cultivation; morphology; glossary; and systematic's including a key to the
species. Following these prose chapters is the bulk of the book where typically
each page covers a single species. For each taxon there is a morphological
description, notes on cultivation, a bibliography, and either a color photograph
or line drawing. Appendices include a bibliography of cited texts, and one
of the most useful elements in the book, being a four-language comparative
lexicon (French, English, Spanish, German). As the author is a renowned horticulturalist,
the most important and relevant part of the book may be portions covering
cultivation in general and then the specific notes for each species. Additionally,
the descriptive and illustrative key to the species is certainly the most
comprehensive composed to date, combining the species of Smith & Downs
(1977) with all the species published since then. While most of the photos
represent plants in flower, too many are of sterile plants or line drawings,
yet the reasoning to include them was valid in to show at least something
even if the flowering individual was unavailable. There are also a number
of species misidentifications but these matters are insignificant in the greater
achievement of the volume as one of the most significant books on bromeliads.
This book is essential not only for French-speaking horticulturalists,
amateurs, and biologists, but for anyone interested in Tillandsia as much
of the text is universal...."
reprinted from Journal of the Bromeliad Society Vol. 52, #1
January-February 2002, page 38.
