The habitat. Morphology and ecology. Distribution of rheophytes. Cultivation of rheophytes. Wby are rheophytes confined to streambeds.The riddle of the willow-like leaf-shape. Autonomous evolution and the derivation of the rheophytes. Census of rheophytes of the world.

The mountain flora of Java constitutes a unique natural heritage of Indonesia and indeed of the whole world. The most informative and most beautifully illustrated book ever written on this rich resource is doubtlessly The Mountain Flora of Java written by the late renowned Dutch biologist C.G.G.J. van Steenis, with unsurpassed paint drawings of 456 flowering plant species by Amir Hamzah and Moehamad Toha. The first edition from 1972 was sold out fairly soon. Brill is therefore proud to publish this edition of this seminal work at this point in time. There are three very good reasons to reprint the Mountain Flora both in English and in the Indonesian language. - First of all there is the importance of this flora for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of the vulnerable mountain ecosystems of Java. - Secondly, the unique style and quality of the 456 plant portraits by Amir Hamzah and Moehamad Toha. - Thirdly there is the science, explaining and interpreting the rich botanical diversity in the mountains of Java. Although written over 40 years ago Van Steenis' approach to the study of botany can still serve as an example and inspiration for young botanists, conservationists and policy makers.

Although the only publication with a realistic claim to the title "The plant diver sity of Malesia" is Flora Malesiana itself, we have hesitatingly chosen this title for the present proceedings volume. Past, present and future work on the Flora Malesiana project was the subject of a successful symposium held in August 1989. This book contains only a selection of the papers presented at that meet ing, yet it covers a much greater diversity of themes than just the inventory of botanical diversity. It even goes beyond the boundaries of the vast Flora Malesi ana region in several of its chapters. The role of the founder of the Flora Malesiana Project, Professor C.G.G.J. van Steenis, repeatedly recurs in several chapters; not only as director of and contributor to the project, but also as a pioneer in the fields of Malesian vege tation, conservation and biogeography, and as an enlightened systematist whose ideas and practical recommendations for taxonomic delimitation still largely apply. Botanical information made available in regional and local floras is of vital im portance for applications such as the exploitation of natural forests on a sus tainable yield basis. for establishing gene banks for the benefit of agriculture. forestry and horticulture. and not in the least for nature conservation. Several chapters are devoted to these themes. Floristic studies are also at the basis of the biogeographical essays and vegetation studies included in this book.