Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 1997
In the beautifully-illustrated book of rare and threatened plants of Greece (Phitos et al. 1995), the selection of species is based strictly on the four World Conservation Union (IUCN) categories of ‘extinct’, ‘endangered’, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘rare’ (Lucas & Synge 1978). The Swedish ‘red data’ book of plants (Aronsson et al. 1995) adds ‘care-demanding species’ to the list. Five percent of the total number of vascular plant species in Greece are included in the Greek book, while 23% of the vascular plant species in Sweden are in the Swedish book. This latter percentage may appear to be sufficiently large, but is it?