Floristic Regions of the World

This book began as a translation of Academician Takhtajan’s Russian-language book, The Floristic Regions of the World, published by Soviet Sciences Press in 1978. Like other translations of this works, it has been substantially rewritten and transformed by the author during the process, becoming a new book based on the old. At his request, I expanded the section on temperate North America, retaining his emphasis on endemic taxa, but with more attention to the dominant plant communities and the probable evolutionary history of the flora. Thus this area, which may be expected to provide the most readers of the present volume, also has the most detailed treatment. It will not escape attention that, even aside from North America, some regions are treated more fully than others. Obviously the author can write with more assurance about the areas which he is personally familiar. The published record for other areas varies in breadth and depth, and these differences are reflected in the treatment here presented.