An old textbook updated for the 21st century

One of the first things you have to do when training as a field botanist is to learn to use identification keys. Plant identification guides that rely on colour illustrations have their limitations, even for those species that have conspicuous flowers. So, while the illustrations are a useful back-up, serious ID guides dispense with them (or just use them to illustrate points of detail) and rely instead on using what are called dichotomous keys, whereby you narrow down the possibilities through a series of choices - e.g. "leaves round, go to (2); leaves oblong, go to (21)"; then (2) and (21) narrow down the choices further until you arrive at an identification so species level (Latin name, of course). You then test this by reading the description in the text and if it doesn't seem right you have to go through the key again. It's painful at first but, as you get to know the more common species you can tell a lot of them on sight, or you know which features to check.

Anyway, the textbook that most of us botany students in Ireland used for decades was that prepared by the late David Webb, a colourful and eccentric man who was Professor of Botany in Trinity College Dublin for many years. This was first published in 1943 and went through numerous editions subsequently, the last (until now) being prepared in collaboration with Dr John Parnell and Dr Declan Doogue in 1996. That last edition, while it had many new features (including new drawings), suffered because of a lot of mistakes that appeared in the printed text.

However, it has now been largely rewritten by Dr John Parnell again, with my very dear friend, Tom Curtis, the person with the best botanical eye and memory for detail of anyone I know. The new edition, published by Cork University Press, with colour diagrams this time, was launched last week. I attended the event, in Trinity College, and it was an occasion for meeting many friends and colleagues from the Irish botanical mafia, some of whom I hadn't seen for many years (for some reason, many of them had aged considerably in that time - I can't think why!).

So, if you are interested in learning about botany, I encourage you to get out on field trips with people who have experience in plant identification. And if you live in Ireland, buy a copy of the book.

Unfortunately, in Switzerland there are lots of new species to learn...

Here are some photos from the launch, including one of the authors (John Parnell at the podium and Tom on his right). There is also a picture of Professor Webb. You will see what I mean about eccentric - this was taken on a good day!