400 BOOK REVIEWS Ancient Woodland: its History, Vegetation and Uses in England. By Oliver Rackham. 1980. xii +402 pp., figures. London: Edward Arnold. GO. Dr Rackham’sresearches into the ecology and history of ancient woodland are opening our eyesto the fact that where such woodland can be identified it can tell us a great deal about man’srelationships with treeseven back as far as prehistoric times. Such woods are pieces of living landscape archaeology. This book is particularly to be welcomedat this time when modernland use offers a major threat to these woods; againand again woods are written off as “coniferized”. Even where they are in crown ownership,asin the New Forest, activities such as oil-drilling can threaten them “in the national interest”. Rackham is showing us that from such woods can come fundamental information about both contemporary and past ecology; indeedhe questions some of the traditional assumptions of palaeoecology such as the climax theory or the supposed thermophilous character of lime (Tilia). The term ancient woodland is used by the author to include woods, either primary or secon- dary, which were in existence before AD 1700. In some cases it can be shownthat there may be an unbroken connectionwith the primeval wildwood. This is suggested by the presence of plant communities and species which are non-invasiveand have strong affinities with primary woods; they can persisteventhough the canopy species have changed or evenbeenremoved, but they do not move readily into new areas. It mustbe made clear that this book deals with ancientwoodlands in England,not ofEngland. It doesnot treat the country as a whole but deals almost entirely, sometimes in tedious detail for the non-specialist, with woodsin eastern England between the Thames and the Wash. This hasbeen the author’s own area of research, but he points out that in this region there is a great range of woodland types-he identifiesover 30-some of them even being more characteristic of the Highland Zone of the country. But there must be important types not represented, and when the ancient woodlands of other parts of the country have received the samedetailed study that Rackham has given to the East Anglian onesit is to be expectedthat even greater differences will emerge. Separatechapters are devoted to the main tree species associated with ancient woods and theseare invaluable ecologicaland historical studies. Again, the regional bias comes in: horn- beam (Curpinus) would feature much lessimportantly in a countrywide treatment, while a chapter on elms would take on a very different pattern. I would like to see Rackham’s treatment of yew (Taxus) but it is not now significant in East Anglia and is not included. The regional biasalso extendsto the literature cited; though there is a bibliography of over 900 references there are omissions of key works dealing with other areasand other allied lines of research. The author’s own contact with other research seems to be largely confined to that centred on Cambridge. A componentpart of Rackham’s fieldwork has been observations on the soilsof the ancient woods. He hasmeasured four parameters-pH, and percentages of sand,clay and loess. (This last would hardly justify inclusion on a countrywide basis,though sometimes important in this area.) This somewhatstereotypedapproach is reflected in the use made of the soil data. Correlationsseem to be static, with little appreciationof the dynamics of soil/vegetation systems. For instancehe describes the occurrenceof mull and mor under different species at different pH values, but he doesnot make it clear that the mull/mar system is a dynamic one dependent upon suchfactors as age and density of stand, ground vegetation and invasive woody species. The cost of the book is prohibitive (f50), but having bought it for this review (admittedly at author’s discount rate) I personally do not begrudge the price. The book will be in constant usefor it contains so much that is not available anywhere else.Rackham’s field observation, both of floristics and of other features such asearthworks, is remarkableand, together with his diligencein seeking out historical evidence, provides an unusually reliable basis for interpreta- tion. Moreover, his evaluation of important problemsis informed and convincing; his treat- ment of the Elm Decline and of Dutch Elm Disease, for example,is masterly. I wish the book every success and look forward to a similar work covering a wider geographical area, but with the present rate of woodland destructiontime is short. Geofrey Dimbieby