Review

This bulky volume treats not less than c. 100 families, among which large families as the Araliaceae, Saxifragaceae (split in several families), Flacourtiaceae, Urticaceae, Moraceae, Proteaceae, Cucurbitaceae, and the Malvales families. This is a very large achievement, as it covers c. 2000 genera. Naturally, Hutchinson keeps to his narrow family concept and has here even extended this. Also several genera have been split, and a small revolution has occurred with Schefflera sunk in others have been reinstated, e.g. and Capparis; ; also sometimes old generic names long Osmoxylum against Boerlagiodendron. In the introduction the author states that the Cleomoideae will be segregated from the Capparaceae and be inserted next to the Cruciferae as a separate family, as they belong to the ‘Herbacae’; most of us regard the Cruciferae as a derived, specialized, largely temperate offshoot of the Capparaceae.