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88
pages + 8 colour pages; 40 colour photos of Phlomis plus
50 B&W drawings of Phlomis. ISBN
0-9532413-0-0
The
original printing is now sold out, but it is available again
as a Lulu print-on-demand,
either as one volume Complete
in one volume(£11.70) Now also available as two print-on-demand
volumes to cut printing costs Complete
Text + line drawings printed in B&W (£3.84) and Colour
plates separately printed in colour(£3.42)
Reviews:
From
Taxon 47-Nov
1998:
Very
nicely done booklet.
From
a review by Brian
Mathew in Curtis’s
Botanical Magazine February 1999:
…Although
primarily a book for gardeners there is a lot of information
contained in this deceptively slim work and it is to be highly
recommended to all those who seek to learn a little more about
the plants they grow, and most gardeners have at some stage
cultivated a Phlomis, even if only the frequently seen
JERUSALEM SAGE, P. fruticosa.
…The real usefulness of the work comes in the accounts
of the species and their variants, arranged in three sequences,
section Phlomis (shrubs), section Phlomis (herbaceous
perennials) and section Phlomoides (herbaceous perennials);
the floral differences between the two sections are explained.
Within each of these groups the species are arranged alphabetically.
The information given about each follows a standard format
of Latin name + author and place of publication, synonyms,
distribution, flowering time, explanation of the specific
epithet and the botanical description. There are additional
notes about conservation status in the wild and comments about
relationships and differences from related species. The aim
has been to include all the species known to be in cultivation
at present. One interesting Appendix is ‘Phlomis
Distribution by Country’ giving lists of species to be
found in all the countries where the genus is to be found.
Other appendices cover the botanical terminology, the all-important
hair types and bibliographical references.
The usefulness of the work is enhanced by 39 good quality
colour photographs, most of them close-ups of the inflorescences
of Phlomis species; for those who think they are all
yellow, there is a good smattering of species with white,
pink and purple flowers.
The author subtitles the booklet ‘The Neglected Genus’.
I think that he has done a great deal to improve their image.
From
a review by Dick van der Werff in
New Rare and Unusual Plants—October 1998:
…In
depth and fascinating with colour photographs together with
propagation, cultural and (thank goodness) a section about
the naming of various species, clears up many points of confusion
from the past. There are so many more species of Phlomis than
I ever imagined.
A
Review by Tim Longville in The
Hardy Plant—Vol.21, No.1 Spring 1999:
The
NCCPG series of booklets on specific genera by their National
Collection holders promises to develop into a useful resource
for interested gardeners. The quality so far has varied from
title to title and the 'aim’ of the series—the market
at which it is directed, the degree of interest and expertise
which the reader is assumed to have—isn’t always
consistent: but this is almost inevitable given that collections
are mostly held, not by ‘professional institutions’,
but by individuals who themselves began simply as ‘interested
gardeners’ and have had to turn themselves into plant
historians, botanists and taxonomists as it were ‘on the
job’. (I’ve heard—the story may be apocryphal,
but I doubt it—of at least one collection holder who,
when sweet-talked into taking on an orphaned National Collection,
squeaked plaintively, ‘At least tell me who the world
authority on these plants is,’ to be told sternly, ‘As
of this moment, dear, you are.’ This is either frightening
or fun, horrifying or invigorating, depending on your extra-horticultural
views on such weighty matters as The State v. The Individual.
I pass by in discreet silence.)
Jim Mann Taylor is one of the most ‘professional’
of these self-created ‘experts in a genus’, since
he is a trained taxonomist and also runs a well-known and
respected nursery, Just Phlomis, devoted to his passion.
It is no surprise that his contribution to the series is the
largest (and most expensive) so far. He has also had the good
sense to have his taxonomical and botanical hand held by Ian
Hedge of the RBG Edinburgh. As a result his booklet goes a
long way towards being of ‘standard monograph’ size
and quality. It is arranged in a straightforward and sensible
way, with initial brief chapters on classification, distribution,
propagation, cultivation and related matters, followed by
a comprehensive account of all of the species presently in
cultivation, either in private or botanic gardens. That account
is divided, first, into the two main subsections of the genus—
Phlomis and Phlomoides—according to the
classification Jim Mann Taylor accepts (his history of its
classification problems is clear and succinct), and the Phlomis
subsection is then further subdivided into Shrubs and Perennials.
Each species entry includes a brief, formal botanical description,
notes on its distribution in the wild, an explanation of the
meaning of its Latin name, and line drawings designed to illustrate
features helpful in identification. There is also a central
section of eight colour plates, each containing four or five
colour photographs of different species. The size is small
and the quality, either of reproduction or originals or both,
is variable, but they are useful at least in giving a quick
‘taste’ of the considerable (and I suspect to most
of us surprising) range of attractive foliage and flower-colour
which the genus has to offer.
Indications of garden value, however, are restricted to a
system of symbols, simply meaning ‘good’ or ‘outstanding,’
both ‘in the author’s opinion’. As a result, the
booklet is most useful as an identification guide. As a result
of its severely formal arrangement, too, it is more informative
than entertaining. It is not ‘light reading.’ As a
guide for the gardener, it is useful but only to a limited
extent. A comment such as, ‘Some forms in cultivation
are less hardy than others’ (of P. lycia, for instance),
doesn’t get the innocent amateur much further forward.
Indeed, my main regret about the booklet is that it is so
resolutely impersonal in tone and so little concerned with
gardens. Given the sub-title The Neglected Genus it isn’t,
I think, unreasonable to have expected an explanation of and
an argument against that neglect and some account of the reasons
behind the author’s own interest in these plants—and
to be somewhat disappointed to have found neither.
This is particularly true for the half-hardy enthusiast. Many
Phlomis hover interestingly on the borderlines of hardiness
and many of the lesser-known species which Jim Mann Taylor
lists sound as though they might make attractive additions
to a garden or a section of one devoted to half-hardy plants,
particularly, perhaps, to someone attempting a ‘Mediterranean’
planting. How useful it would have been, therefore, to have
had a reasonably detailed account of his own experiences with
these plants in his own garden, both in relation to their
ease or otherwise of cultivation and to their aesthetic and
practical ‘siting’ in a garden context. Perhaps, with
or without the collaboration of the NCCPG, he might be inspired
to move on to that as his next ‘writing project.’
On the strength of the depth of knowledge he displays in this
booklet, I’d certainly be happy to reserve my own copy
in advance.
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