This book represents the most comprehensive compilation of data on threatened vascular plants ever published. It includes the names of some 33,000 plant species determined to be rare or threatened on a global scale. Conservation assessments were provided by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the National Botanical Institute (South Africa), Environment Australia, and CSIRO, The Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, together with hundreds of botanic gardens and botanists throughout the world. The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and the New York Botanical Garden have made major in-kind contributions.The result of 20 years work by botanists and conservationists around the world, it is intended as a conservation tool, a provider of baseline information to measure conservation progress and as a primary source of data on plant species. Most importantly, however, it provides the building blocks on which to base a worldwide effort to conserve plant species.

A tree is defined as a woody perennial plant, having a single elongated trunk with several branches spreading at a certain height which give shape to its canopy (crown). The trunk usually has a minimum diameter of 10 cm at chest height. The leaves may be deciduous (falling seasonally) or evergreen. Young trees with a trunk measuring less than 10 cm in diameter are called saplings. Most tree species are flowering plants or conifers. They are distributed throughout the world, with the highest diversity in rainforests of the tropical regions. The majority of tree species belong to the families Dipterocarpaceae (Dipterocarps), Fagaceae (Beech family) and Lauraceae (Laurel family). Trees are used to produce a variety of our needs, including timber, furniture, paper and medicine. They also play an important role in preserving the environment (ecosystems) by preventing land degradation and erosion, producing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide and managing microclimates.

This 2001 book provides a selective annotated bibliography of the principal floras and related works of inventory for vascular plants. The second edition was completely updated and expanded to take into account the substantial literature of the late twentieth century, and features a more fully developed review of the history of floristic documentation. The works covered are principally specialist publications such as floras, checklists, distribution atlases, systematic iconographies and enumerations or catalogues, although a relatively few more popularly oriented books are also included. The Guide is organised in ten geographical divisions, with these successively divided into regions and units, each of which is prefaced with a historical review of floristic studies. In addition to the bibliography, the book includes general chapters on botanical bibliography, the history of floras, and general principles and current trends, plus an appendix on bibliographic searching, a lexicon of serial abbreviations, and author and geographical indexes.

This well illustrated field guide describes about 500 of the most common and eye-catching plants growing on Bali and the adjacent Java, most of them are illustrated with pictures. It is a comprehensive and valuable field guide for tourists and locals. The first part of the book describes the vegetation of Bali. It gives an overview of the Balinese ecosystems. Monsoon forests in the south, moist rainforests in the mountains and dry deciduous forests on the northern slopes generate patterns of unique ecosystems all over the island. The second part of the book is dedicated to the plant species living on Bali. With 400 pictures and their accurate descriptions, the reader should be able to recognize the different species in its habitat. Additionally the book provides information about the traditional und the commercial use of the described plants and characterizes their ecological behavior. The field guide is an essential travel companion for all who love nature.

Fifteen years ago, approximately half the world population was estimated to live in continental and insular South-East Asia (Burma, Thailand, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Philippines). Then the region had a population growth of four million people every month, and the problem of malnutrition was acute for the rural population. International agricultural development organisations decided that their primary aim would be to double existing levels of agricultural production and, taking account of population growth, to double it again by the end of the century (Whyte 1976). Today, while global issues have greatly affected the parameters of the problem, the situation remains both serious and difficult. Despite impressive efforts in education and health, Indonesia for example, where population (179 millions) growth eased off only slightly between 1980 and 1990 (from 2. 3 percent to 1. 9 percent), is having to cope with increasing difficulties in managing natural resources and particularly its evanescent forest assets which, until 1986, were the second largest source of national revenue. Indonesia has the second largest surface area of tropical rain forests in the world (after Brazil) and thus all the problems linked with management and disappearance of those forests. The latest estimate gives a figure of 109 million hectares of forest in 1990, of which 40. 8 million hectares are production forests (Anon. -F AO 1990).