Plant Red Data Book for Rodrigues. 1989. (WWF Pro- ject 3149). illustrated. VIII,241 p. gr8vo. Paper bd. (ISBN 978-3-87429-280-1)

From the Preface: The flora of the Mascarene Islands has attracted the attention of botanists since the earliest days of the islands'colonisation. During the past and present centuries collectors have been busy cataloguing the interesting plants of these islands, but it is only in recent years that we have seriously taken up their conservation. A very high percentage of the plants are endemic and many of these are now regrettably endangered. Out of the three Mascarene Islands the vegetation of Rodrigues, which remains the least studied, is the most disrupted and contains some of the world's rarest and most endangered species. It has been our good fortune to have with us someone as keen and energetic as Wendy Strahm, who has worked on both Rodrigues and Mauritius. This Red Data Book is the result of her hard work. The distribution of plants has been carefully mapped, cuttings and seeds have been collected for artificial propagation and the most endangered plant in the world, Ramosmani heterophylla, is being grown in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. This was only possible after a piece of the parent plant was sent to England in a combined air dash by Air Mauritius and British Airways, which Wendy and the Forestry Department helped to organise. Not content with just a Red Data Book for Rodrigues,she is now working on the much more ambitious task of writing a Red Data Book for the flora of Mauritius. The conservation problems of the Mascarene Islands need the efforts of talented people and I wish her luck. - Contents: Introductory Chapters (Introduction/ Geography/Botanical History/ The Vegetation/ Threats/ The Native Vertebrates/Conservation)/ Data Sheets on Endemic and Threatened Flowering Plants/The Ferns/ Appendices (Native flowering plants not included in the data sheets/ Checklist of introduced plants on Rodrigues)/ References/ Indexof Plants and Animals.