Large, M. F., and J. E. Braggins. 1991

Reviewed by David M. Jarzen, Canadian Museum of Nature,
Ottawa, Ontario, in CAP Newsletter 15(2):22-23, 1992

New Zealand is one of those places most of us can only dream of visiting. I was extremely fortunate in 1979 when my research interests and field work allowed me to spend 15 days in the field on both of New Zealand's main islands. One of the observations which has always stayed with me was the impressive fern flora and the numbers of different ferns one could observe in only a small area. In particular, I recall the Woodside Creek Locality where I and my colleagues from the Canadian Museum of Nature and geologists from DSIR Lower Hutt were collecting the exposed marine outcrop sections of Late Cretaceous age along Woodside Creek (South Island). At one point, I took a stroll "up river" to do a little botanizing and at one spot no more than five metres in length along a cliff face overhanging the creek, I counted about 15 morphologically different frond types! New Zealand has about 211 species of ferns (and fern allies) of which 47% are endemic! No wonder it is sometimes referred to as the"land of ferns".

Large and Braggins have put together an excellent account (continuing the tradition of W.F. Harris, 1955) of the spores of New Zealand ferns and fern allies. The book, which at first appears smallish (17.5 x 24 cm) is a supplement to the New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1991, and follows the format of that journal. Within its pages, however, the smallness soon disappears.

The publication begins with an introduction noting the works of previous investigators and setting out the objective of the present paper. The authors note that since the time of Harris's publication (1955) several taxonomic revisions and advanced technology, including the use of SEM, warranted the publication of this supplement. Harris described 170 native taxa; the work of Large and Braggins includes 211 species (20 introduced) and three subspecies within 25 families.

In the section on Materials and Methods the authors take great care in explaining the advantages of using fresh versus herbarium specimens in the determination of spore maturity, spore colour and spore size. All material examined for this study was of fresh specimens, subsequently vouchered and stored for future reference. Details of preparation techniques are given for both LM and SEM observation. These detailed procedures are welcomed as all too often reference is made to "previous techniques", but here the reader could fully repeat the techniques and thus expect to obtain similar results.

The bulk of the pages (130) are devoted to spore descriptions. Each taxon is treated in the same format, providing details of spore morphology, description of the laesurae, perine and exine (spore wall). Following each description is a brief paragraph on distribution of the parent plant. The descriptions are grouped into major taxonomic categories following basically the classification and nomenclatural systems of Pichi Sermolli (1977) and Tryon & Tryon (1982). Preceding the spore descriptions is a key to the taxa investigated based on LM observations. I tried the key on a known extant taxon and found the key served adequately to identify to genus my "unknown" spore.

The figures number 637 individual black and white prints of all taxa and comprise both SEM and LM (both acetolysised and fresh material) photo-micrographs. Generally, the photomicrographs are well done, but in some cases the prints are too light (less frequently too dark) and for some SEM photographs only one face (usually the proximal face) is illustrated. Nevertheless, the photographs are useful and having the SEM and LM side by side is a real advantage to the palynologist trying to identify an unknown fern spore via LM. The associated SEM photos provide a three-dimensional interpretation of the adjacent LM photos. The illustrations are generally placed in family groupings along with the text, not grouped together at the end of the descriptions. I found this format easy to use.

Following the descriptions are seven pages of references, including papers up to 1990 and one "in press". The references seem complete up to 1990, although the authors would no doubt have found the recent book by Tryon and Lugardon (1991) to be an invaluable reference.

The publication concludes with two appendices: a list of all material examined; formulae and preparations of chemicals used in sample staining, mounting and acetolysation; and a glossary of terms used in the text.

I found the book easy to use and complete in its coverage. The authors have supplied well-written descriptions, accurate and complete measurements, and useful discussions on major groupings of taxa in which generalized morphological descriptors provide the reader with an overview of the variety (or lack thereof) of features to expect within each taxonomic grouping. I recommend this book to stand alone or act as a revision of the work of Harris (1955) to all palynologists involved in spore identifications, either extant or fossil.

References

Harris, W. F., 1955. A manual of the spores of New Zealand Pteridophyta. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 116. Wellington, Government Printer. 186 pp.

Pichi Sermolli, R. E. G. 1977. Tentamen pteridophytorum genera in taxonomicum ordinem redigendi. Webbia 31:313-512.

Tryon, A. F., and B. Lugardon, 1991. Spores of the Pteridophyta. Springer Verlag, New York. 648 pp.

Tryon, R. M., and A. F. Tryon, 1982. Ferns and allied plants, with special reference to Tropical America. Springer Verlag, New York. 857 pp.