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[VOL. 36

and US, and we thank the staffthere for their hospitality. Constructive c o m m e n t s on the m a n u s c r i p t by Bob KraI and Dick WunderIin are greatly appreciated; i n f o r m a t i o n on endemics o f the Florida Lakes Region also was supplied by Dick Wunderlin. Literature Cited Horton, J.H. 1960. A monograph of Delopyrum Small, Dentoceras Small, Polygonella Michx., and Thysanella Gray (Polygonaceae). Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 1963. A taxonomic revision of Polygonella (Polygonaceae). Brittonia 15: 177-203. Judd, W.S. 1983. The taxonomic status of Stipulicidafiliformis (Caryophyllaceae). Sida 10: 33-36. Small, J. K. 1933. Manual of the southeastern flora. Univ. North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. Wunderlin, R.P. 1981. Polygonellapolvgama (Polygonaceae) in Florida~ Florida Scientist 44: 7880. BOOK REVIEW N e w Plant Sources for Food and Drugs from the N e w York Botanical Garden Herbarium. By Siri y o n Reis and F r a n k J. Lipp, Jr. H a r v a r d University Press, Cambridge, M A 02138. I S B N 0-674-61765-7. 1982. 363 pp. $25.00 (cloth). This reviewer welcomes the publication o f the c o m p a n i o n v o l u m e to a similar study undertaken of the H a r v a r d University H e r b a r i a published in 1973. This second work is a c o m p i l a t i o n o f t h o u s a n d s o f ethnobotanical citations f r o m speci m e n s contained in the N e w Y o r k Botanical G a r d e n H e r b a r i u m . Drs. y o n Reis and Lipp, along with seven assistants, c o m b e d and catalogued lhe a p p r o x i m a t e l y 3.5 million vascular plant specimens in the N e w Y o r k Botanical G a r d e n H e r barium, searching out those with labels mentioning use or c o m m o n name. The result is a work o f m o n u m e n t a l consequence to researchers interested in the utilization o f plants by people. Indices by family, genus, c o m m o n name, a n d even use greatly facilitate handling o f the material. F o r example, there is substantial industrial interest today in a salt substitute, as salt is thought to be d e t r i m e n t a l to health. Instead o f c o m b i n g through millions o f h e r b a r i u m sheets at N e w York, one can turn to the index where indigenous usage o f three plants used to prepare salt substitutes can be found: Eleocharis dulcis, Cadaba kirkiL and Apinagia richardiana-the first two f r o m Africa and the third f r o m Venezuela. Thus, the i m p o r t a n c e o f this catalogue containing 4571 citations is evident. T h e work covers a wide range o f plants f r o m the relatively well-known, such as ginger in G u y a n a ("entire plant boiled and used externally as bath to reduce fever by Waiwais") to s o m e o f the lesser-known families such as the Lardizabalaceae, in which Akebia trifoliata is noted to have edible fruits. This c o m p i l a t i o n as well as that f r o m the H a r v a r d University Herbaria, c o m prise an i m p o r t a n t resource which should be increasingly useful as science turns towards the m o r e unusual m e m b e r s o f the plant k i n g d o m to help solve s o m e o f society's pressing needs. This reviewer hopes that projects to catalogue the useful elements o f the other m a j o r herbaria in the world are soon begun in order to use this m a s s o f information to d o c u m e n t the i m p o r t a n c e o f the world's flora before it is further reduced in its species diversity. -- MICHAEL J. BALICK, N e w Y o r k Botanical Garden.