This publication is based on a draft prepared by William M. Ciesla, previously with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service and subsequently at the Forest Department of FAO, Rome. Many people provided valuable assistance and information for the compilation of this paper including Klaus Janz, Swedish Board of Forestry, Stockholm, Sweden; Vidar John Nordin, Ottawa, Canada; Victor Brunette, la Fédération des Producteurs de Bois du Québec, Longueuil, Québec, Canada; Adriano Jose Carpapinha Gino, Fabricantes de Cortica em Pranchas, Azaruja, Portugal; Peder Gjerdrum, Norwegian Forest Research Institute, Høgskoleveien, Norway; Leontios Leontiades, Nicosia, Cyprus (Formerly of FAO and Director of Department of Forestry, Republic of Cyprus); Hernan Peredo, Universidad Austral, Valdivia, Chile; Davide Pettenella, Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-forestali, Universidade Padova, Italy; Friedrich Schlegel, London, England (Formerly of FAO and Universidad Austral, Chile); M.P. Shiva, Centre for Minor Forest Products, Dehra Dun, India and P. Tiburzi, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana di Biblioteconomia, Vatican City.
The author also wishes to thank Maris Rabollini of Rome, Italy for arranging a visit to the Vatican Library in 1993 to gather information on the use of oak galls for production of ink and to his wife, Patricia M. Ciesla, whose extensive collection of cookbooks provided much of the information on how to prepare the edible products derived from this diverse group of trees. Her equally extensive collection of literature on the fibre arts provided much of the information on natural dyes and the silkworm industry.
This draft was widely circulated within and outside FAO for peer review, and benefited from the detailed comments of: John Coppen, previously with the Natural Resources Institute, United Kingdom; Steve Wilson, International Flavours and Fragrances, Hangzhou, China; David Pilz, Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA-FS; and: El Hadji Sene, Christian Hansen, Robert Scharpenberg, Laura Russo, Christel Palmberg-Lerche, Joachim Lorbach and Christopher Prins from FAO. Formatting and layout of the publication were carried out by Tina Etherington and Marco Perri. Updating and adding of some more information and pictures, as well as the overall guidance and coordination for the preparation, editing and publication of the final document was provided by Paul Vantomme, Non-Wood Forest Products Officer, FAO, Rome.
