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Anatomy of the Monocotyledons

The nine volumes of Anatomy of the Monocotyledons published.

The monographic volume series Anatomy of the Monocotyledons was initiated by Prof. C. R. Metcalfe, former Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory, as a companion to the Anatomy of the Dicotyledons volume series. Prof. David Cutler and Miss Mary Gregory subsequently took over as editors and continued the programme. Since their retirements from the core staff, they have continued to perform this role, though this situation will require review in the longer-term. In 2002 Dennis Stevenson was taken on board as a consultant editor for the USA. Individual volumes authored by contributors from around the world (including RBG Kew) are edited and produced at Kew.

The series focuses on providing detailed comparative descriptions of vegetative anatomy (leaf, petiole, stem, wood and sometimes root, rhizome, bulbil and tuber) arranged in a systematic context using up-to-date classifications.  Descriptions are supplemented by illustrations including line drawings, and since 1982, light and scanning electron micrographs.  Relevant literature is reviewed, supported by the Plant Micromorphology Bibliographic Database maintained at Kew. In some volumes a summary of diagnostic characters is included.

All volumes to date have been published by Oxford University Press; this represents a total of nine volumes and 3778 pages, giving anatomical details about more than 1000 genera in about 50 families. The first volume (1960) covered Gramineae, and most recently (volume 9; 2003) Acoraceae and Araceae. At least a further four volumes are planned in the next ten years, on Orchidaceae, Asparagales, Liliales and commelinid monocots. Revisions of two important volumes are underway: the palm volume is currently being revised by Tomlinson and Fisher (USA) and the grass volume by Steve Renvoize (RBG Kew Honorary Research Fellow). 

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