We were excited by all the opportunities presented to incorporate evolutionary questions into research on clonal plants. In terms of what readers may gain from these papers, several benefits were apparent. Readers interested in broad ecological patterns associated with clonality will be most interested in the first chapter by Klimes and colleagues. This chapter tackles the difficult task of trying to assess the frequency of clonal plants in the flora of central Europe. We suspect this chapter will be cited in the introductions of many future papers on clonal plants.
Subsequent chapters deal with specific areas of research within the clonal plant arena.
Every chapter ends with suggestions for future research, and consequently, the book is a wealth of information and ideas for anyone developing projects on clonal plants. For readers looking for help with methods, the book includes a review of issues related to spatial modeling of plant populations and to the study of natural selection in situations where genets exist as multiple ramets. Those researchers interested in applied topics will find the last chapter by Pysek on plant invasions and clonality valuable. We had a few minor complaints that are very biased by our own interests. The production, dispersal and establishment of clonal propagules are topics only briefly discussed.