Publication of Volume 2 of ‘Sell & Murrell’

Image courtesy of
Cambridge University Press

Philip Oswald has been in touch to share his pleasure at receiving the most delightful early Christmas present: a copy of the newly-published, and long-awaited, Volume 2 of Peter Sell's and Gina Murrell's Flora of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 2 is the penultimate volume of the five.

Philip told me “A small group of Peter's friends have collaborated to see this volume through the press and will soon be starting on the necessary work on the final volume of the five, Volume 1.

“This volume of 588 pages – very slightly less than in the previous one – covers the 18 families from Capparaceae and Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) to Saxifragaceae and Rosaceae, the last occupying pages 135–518 and including 173 pages with descriptions of 354 Rubus taxa.

“Sarah Holme has joined Gina Murrell in providing the line drawings for this volume, including three plates of elegantly drawn leaves of all the twenty Alchemilla species.”

Gina Murrell and Peter Sell, 2011
Image: P. Oswald

You can find out here about Peter’s many years spent in the Herbarium at Cambridge University Botanic Garden. You can also read an obituary of Peter Sell (1931-2013) and see some of the many tributes paid to him by his friends and colleagues here, here and here. Perhaps the finest tribute is the way they have collaborated to bring this Volume 2 to press.

For any British or Irish botanist keen to identify taxa below species level, the volumes of ‘Sell & Murrell’ are indispensable, so the publication of Volume 2 is certainly a cause for rejoicing. It is now available from booksellers, and Summerfield Books has it on special offer here at £105 (usually £125).

As Philip points out “The bright red cover of this volume, including a photograph of hawthorn berries, seems especially appropriate at Christmastide”.

Many thanks to Philip for the details above and to Katrina Halliday at Cambridge University Press for providing an image of the front cover of Volume 2.