Il genere Aquilegia L. (Ranunculaceae) in Italia. The genus Aquilegia (Ranunculaceae) in Italy. Aquilegiarum italicarum in europaearum conspectus descriptio. 2015.43 b/w figs. & maps. 20 tabs. 687 p. Paper bd.

The author presents us with a comprehensive monographic revision of the columbines of Africa and Europe. The title of thebook is therefore an understatement, as the word Europe appears explained by the fact that the genus extends to Africa only marginally, with two species endemic to Morocco and Algeria). All 54 species recognised by the author are treated in full, each with synonymy, description, specimen enumeration, notes, and indication of habitat, distribution, phenology, etc. Those 18 that occur in, and 11 of which are endemic to, Italy are treated in greater detail, with keys (one to identify herbarium material, another for live plants), illustrations, and maps of their Italian distribution. Yet the presentation of the 36 extra-Italian species is far more than a synopsis, as the corresponding title, too modestly, tells. The species treated here are only a fraction of the known columbines (80 to 400 species worldwide, depending on different authors concepts), and Europe is not the primary centre of diversity of or origin for the genus. Southern Europe does, however, show secondary centres of diversity and speciation, to name the Balkan, Apennine and Pyrenean peninsulas and the Tyrrhenian islands. Europe is also the arguably main source of names published in the past under Aquilegia and the unchallenged centre of disparity of taxonomic concepts applied to the plants. Nardis monograph has successfully faced the challenge of defining and applying criteria for species-level classification that are based on a whole-population concept, noting but discounting individual aberrations, ontogenetic and environment-induced variation, and the effects of introgressive hybridisation. He thus applies modern concepts supported by a lifetimes study of the plants in the wild and extrapolating the experience thus assembled to other, non-Italian populations. .. Quote from review in OPTIMA Newsletter by W. Greuter.