1. BRAZIL: CONGRESO NACIONAL SOBRE ESSENCIAS NATIVAS
In September 1982, a national symposium was held at Campos do Jordão, São Paulo (Brazil), on the distribution, ecology, variation, management and utilization of native species. The Proceedings of the meeting have recently been published as a special issue of Revista do Instituto Florestal (Vol. 16A, 1982; 2010 pp.; in Portuguese, some papers with English abstracts).
The three books contain a wealth of information on little - known tropical and subtropical tree and shrub species, bringing together basic information necessary for their conservation and sound utization. They convincingly demonstrate the applicability of proven methodologies, used for widely-grown plantation species, to the natural vegetation of Brazil, and encourage further studies and experiments in this respect.
The proceedings of the meeting are divided into 8 sections, as follows: (i) General (10 papers); Session 1. Anatomy, taxonomy, physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology (7 invited, 13 voluntary papers); Session 2. Phytogeography, ecology and inventory (5 invited, 33 voluntary papers); Session 3. Silviculture, management, agrosilviculture and improvement (7 invited, 59 voluntary papers); Session 4. Parasitology, pests and diseases, damage caused by inorganic factors (fire, pollution, floods, etc.) (2 invited, 5 voluntary papers); Session 5. Timber and pulping quality of native species (5 invited, 10 voluntary papers); Session 6. Legislation, economic aspects, planning (7 invited, 4 voluntary papers); Session 7. Wildlife, watershed management, national parks and protected areas (5 invited, 15 voluntary papers); Session 8. Land use planning and landscaping, urban forestry (6 invited, 14 voluntary papers).
The address of the Editorial Committee is: Instituto Florestal, Caixa Postal 1322, São Paulo (S.P.), 01000 Brazil.
2. MEXICO: PRIMERA REUNION NACIONAL SOBRE ECOLOGIA, MANEJO Y DOMESTICACION DE LAS PLANTAS DEL DESIERTO
In January 1980, a meeting was held in Monterrey, Mexico on the ecology, management and domestication of desert plants. The proceedings of the meeting were published as Special Publication No. 31 (November 1981; 527 pp.; in Spanish) of the Mexican Forest Research Institute, INIF (see address below).
Major chapters in the publication, each containing a number of papers, include information on the following species:
(i) Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis); (ii) Yucca (Yucca spp.); (iii) Nopal (Opuntia spp.); (iv) Guayule (Parthenium argentatum); (v) Candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica); (vi) Lechugilla (Agave lechugilla).
In addition, general information on ecology, taxonomy and management is included in one chapter; “Other species”, in the last chapter, includes information on Jatropha, Atriplex, Nolina, Agave, Cucurbita, Larrea, Pistacea, Phoenix and Ceratonia spp.
The address of the publishing institute is:
Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales,
Avenida Progreso 5, Coyoacán 04110 D.F., Mexico
