Latest issue of New Journal of Botany now on-line

Small-leaved Lime
Image: John Crellin
http://www.floralimages.co.uk/page.php?
taxon=tilia_cordata,1

Issue 5.3 of New Journal of Botany has just been published and is available on-line.

The issue kicks off with a paper by three members of the Biology Dept at Edge Hill University and looks at Small-leaved Lime Tilia cordata and Large-leaved Lime Tilia platyphyllos. Can they be segregated along environmental gradients? How important are variations in soil and topography? 

This "first comprehensive account" is broadly consistent with what we already know, but the authors' discoveries about the influence of pH and soil moisture challenge received wisdom. 

Rory Hodd and Mackay's Heath
Image courtesy of Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington

Next up is a paper on Mackay's Heath Erica mackaiana, one of those plants found only in south-west Ireland and Spain. Two botanists from Ireland consider its distribution and habitats, and offer us new insights into, and ideas on, the origins of Mackay's Heath in Ireland and its hybrid with Cross-leaved Heath Erica tetralix. 

There are three other papers in the current issue (no more spoilers, I'll let you find out for yourselves what they're about!) along with our much-loved Plant Records section. If a native or alien plant has just been recorded for the first time in a county, or if a plant has just re-re-appeared for the first time since the 1970s, or if it meets the BSBI's criteria to be considered Rare or Scarce, then it will appear in the Plant Records section. This section is collated by the excellent Mike Porter, who is currently in the final stages of writing the new BSBI Handbook on violets, due for publication later this year. 

Five book reviews complete this latest issue, including one of a recent BSBI publication, the Hybrid Flora of the British Isles. Fascinating to read what an eminent Scandinavian botanist makes of the Hybrid Flora, published last summer and hailed on its publication as a "remarkable book... no other book of its kind exists for other parts of the world and consequently this book will surely set the standard for future hybrid Floras."     

If you are a BSBI member, you can read the latest issue right now by going straight to the new webpage for New Journal of Botany. Just use the Quick Link on our homepage and log in to the members-only area. If you have forgotten the username and password required to do this, please email us at njb@bsbi.org.uk - then you will be able to view or download all the content in the latest issue as well as our entire back catalogue. 

Large-leaved Lime
Image: John Crellin
http://www.floralimages.co.uk/page.php?
taxon=tilia_platyphyllos,1

There's also a rather swanky new facility for you to play with, thanks to our new publishers Taylor & Francis - you can now download an interactive pdf that you can annotate yourself, and you can also view papers on similar subjects in related publications. The New Journal of Botany webpages have also been revamped - we'd love to hear what you think of them. A prize to the first person who can spot the typo before we correct it ;-)

If you are not a BSBI member, you will still be able to view abstracts of the paper and can then decide if you'd like to join the society and read the papers in full. Let's be honest here - if you are just starting out in botany, some of the papers may not be your cup of tea. But New Journal of Botany is not the society's only periodical and there are lots of other perks to BSBI membership apart from our many publications (not to mention the substantial pre-publication discounts we offer to our members). Head over here to find out more.