World Checklist of Dioscoreales: Yams and their Allies

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Authors: Rafael Govaerts, Paul Wilkin, Richard M K Saunders. 84pp. 234 x 156 mm. Paperback, ISBN 9781842462003, Kew Publishing 2007.

Dioscoreales are a small but systematically and economically significant order of monocotyledons. The most diverse and important member is the yam genus, Dioscorea L., a source of dietary starch at macroeconomic to rural community levels. Other species of Dioscorea provided the chemical basis of corticosteroid drugs and oral contraceptives. Ally families comprise the unusual, largely achlorophyllous (heteromycotrophic) Burmanniaceae and the relatively unspecialised Nartheciaceae. The World Checklist of Dioscoreales lists all validly published names of yams and their allies, providing the source of their publication and indication of which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms, making it a standard nomenclatural reference for further research into this important family.

Media reviews:

The book provides an invaluable reference for applied yam researchers, e.g., pathologists, geneticists, plant breeders, conservationists, foresters, ethnobotanists, ethnoarchaeologists and anthropologists, Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 2(1), 2008

Rafaël Govaerts has worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew since 1994. He generates synonymised taxonomic lists for selected families and has completed all Monocot families. All of the other authors are involved in different aspects of Myrtaceae research.

Paul Wilkin has worked in the Lilioid & Alismatid monocot section of the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew since 1993 and is a specialist in the systematics of Dioscoreales (yams and their allies) with experience of the taxa worldwide, but especially in Africa, Madagascar and Thailand. He has published or has in press 31 peer-reviewed papers on the order, and has supervised four postgraduate students working on its systematics and in allied disciplines.

Richard Saunders is currently an Associate Professor at The University of Hong Kong, where he has worked since 1992. His research focus is the systematics, phylogenetics and reproductive biology of angiosperms, particularly the Annonaceae, Burmanniaceae and Schisandraceae.