Peter Dallman's New Book
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Peter Dallman's New Book
- From: t*@eddy.u-net.com (Tim Longville)
- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:23:28 GMT
My own notion of this book is that it's a good introductory over-view
of the various Mediterranean regions but more useful, perhaps, for
potential eco-tourists or at least for those with a particular
interest in ecology rather than for practical gardeners with a
particular interest in plants in a garden context. It only deals with
a few 'indicator species' from each region and it only deals with them
in terms of their natural habitats (lots on geology and climate).
[Often, of course, this information about natural habitat also
provides useful information-by-implication about what and how those
(few selected) plants are likely to do in gardens - and it's true
that, by even more implication, how those selected plants may do may
also have implications about how others from the same region will do.]
This isn't really a 'criticism' of the book (it doesn't set out to be
a comprehensive guide to plants from each Mediterranean region),
simply an underlining of what it DOES set out to be. Perhaps the
compare-and-contrast sections (region A v. region B, etc) are the
sections I found most stimulating and thought-provoking. It's
pleasantly written and packs a good deal of sound knowledge into a
quite limited space (it's around 250 pages long: so each region only
gets 30-40 pages devoted to it). In summary, I'd say: worth getting
the paperback; unless you've got money to burn, though, I doubt it
justifies a hardback copy.
(My own Mediterranean-region-plant-book wish is that Martin Gardiner
of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the RBGE project on Chiloe
Island, Chile, would get around to finishing the book on the woody
plants of C. which he's been tinkering with and tinkering with for
years. So much of the flora of that region is still a mystery to most
gardeners, even the most interested.)
Tim Longville
