Die Vegetation der Erde nach ihrer klimatischen Anordnung: ein Abriss der vergleichenden Geographie der Pflanzen

Abstract

THIS important contribution to a branch of the science which, since the publication of A. de Candolle's “Géographie Botanique” and the promulgation of the Darwinian theories, has been daily acquiring greater value in the minds of philosophical naturalists, is the result of long study and persevering accumulation of data on the part of the learned author. Prof. Grisebach had already, in the “Linnsea” for 1838, given his first views on the limitation of natural floras by climatological influences; and since 1840 he has, in his periodical reports on the progress of geographical botany, entered more or less into the principles and conclusions which he has successively entertained or matured. He now supplies us in these volumes with a methodical digest of the facts he has collected, and of the conclusions he would draw from them. The result is a rich store of materials, which future investigators of the subject must necessarily have recourse to, and the arrangement adopted is perhaps the one best calculated to illustrate that branch of it which is more especially indicated by the title, the influence of climate and physical conditions on the stations and areas of species. But to the general naturalist the value of the work as a book of reference is much diminished by two great deficiencies; there is no summary of the conclusions he would draw from the facts he has detailed, and no index to enable the reader to turn to any individual fact, argument, or deduction, which may have struck him in the perusal of above 1,200 closely printed pages.

Die Vegetation der Erde nach ihrer klimatischen Anordnung: ein Abriss der vergleichenden Geographie der Pflanzen;

von A. Grisebach. 2 vol. (Leipzig: Engelmann, 1872.)