Bamboos of Sabah: Sabah Forest Records (no 14); The

In 1958 Professor R.E. Holttum, one of the foremost bamboo specialists of our time, wrote”… the first thing a user of bamboo needs is the ability to distinguish one kind from another; and the second thing is the need of names which have a definite meaning.” The Bamboos of Sabah is a culmination of years of work by Dr Soejatmi Dransfield that fulfils those needs. When she first looked at Sabah bamboos in the 1970s a great many species were still not documented and many had not even been systematically collected. As she became more convinced that a careful, practical guide was required, the Forestry Department in Sabah encouraged her to undertake field work and herbarium documentation in association with the Herbarium of the Forest Research Centre at Sepilok, Sandakan. In this book she emphasises the value of understanding bamboos through field studies. It is extremely gratifying to see her work supported by both the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K., where she is an honorary research associate, and various agencies in Sabah which have common links with the Forestry Department in its endeavour to better understand and manage the plant resources of Sabah. In particular, at a time when many of us realize the extent of the importance of bamboo as a component of natural and modified forest communities, and as a useful group of plants, her book testifies to the importance of careful scientific work and spirited cooperation between institutions. This book is the first practical guide to the bamboos of Sabah written by a specialist with first-hand experience working on Sabah bamboos. More than being a statement of fact, this embodies the dedication that Dr Soejatmi Dransfield has given as a taxonomist, persevering through her research in Sabah and back at Kew, to the time when the account was finalised and edited at the Forest Research Centre at Sepilok. Through her knowledge and hard work, we can now claim that the bamboos of Sabah have received proper taxonomic documentation