Books from Peter Goldblatt:

Gladiolus in southern Africa.

One of the most important botanical studies published in recent times, this monograph of the genus Gladiolus in southern Africa combines the artistry of two of the world's foremost botanical illustrators with the meticulous work of two highly respected biologists.

The exquisitely delicate watercolor paintings by Fay Anderson and Auriol Batten capture faithfully the fragile elegance of almost all the Gladiolus species in the region. The text, by Peter Goldblatt and John Manning, represents the distillation of many years of research. Their detailed entries for each of the 163 species include a comprehensive description of the plant, its synonyms, geographic range and biology, its evolutionary relationships and its taxonomic history. All the accounts are accompanied by distribution maps, and most by John Manning's finely executed line drawings which illustrate the plant's features in minute and accurate detail.

An extensive introduction relates the history, morphology, and biology of the genus.

Southern Africa is, without a doubt, the center of Gladiolus distribution, and this monumental work will become the major botanical reference for an important and very beautiful genus.

Peter Goldblatt is the B. A. Krukoff Curator of African Botany at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Throughout his botanical career he has concentrated his attention on the Iridaceae and has shown particular interest in its African members. His Gladiolus in Tropical Africa was published in 1996. John C. Manning is a botanist at the Compton Herbarium of the National Botanical Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. He has collaborated extensively with Goldblatt on studies of Iridaceae and has provided the line drawings for scientific publications and for books, such as this one and Gladiolus in Tropical Africa.

. 464 pp, 145 full-page watercolors, numerous maps and line drawings, 9 1/4 x 12", hardcover, 1-874950-32-6,©1998

GLADIOLUS IN TROPICAL AFRICA:

by Peter Goldblatt. Illustrated by John C. Manning.

Gladiolus is one of the largest genera of the horticulturally important plant family Iridaceae, yet despite its horticultural importance, the species of tropical Africa have received little attention.

Peter Goldblatt's Gladiolus in Tropical Africa is a comprehensive,well-illustrated account of the 82 species--one-third of the species in the entire genus--that occur in tropical Africa. Of these, 26 have been described as new to science and named by the author. This book is the result of more than five years of field, laboratory, and historical research and brings order to the heretofore fragmentary and confused state of knowledge

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