The derived soils of serpenitized ultramafic rocks often contain toxic quantities of magnesium, and are nutritionally unbalanced for most plants. Despite their sparse ground cover, many of their species are endemic or rare and there is often a sharp contrast with floras of adjacent areas.
The book will become a standard reference for all those interested in soil-plant relationships and will provide a stimulus for further research in this aspect of biogeography and geobotany.' Science ... to congratulate the editors on producing this excellent and exhaustive work on the ecology of world regions with serpentinized rocks. I am sure that this exciting and hiterhto neglected field will be well served and encouraged by the appearance of this important work.' New Zealand Jrnl of Ecology, 16: 2