Dear Colleagues,

the Committee for Mapping the Flora of Europe is proud to present the new volume 16 of the Atlas Florae Europaeae dealing with the fourth part of Rosaceae (Cydonia to Prunus, excl. Sorbus). As the previous volumes, this publication is a product of cooperation of a large team of European botanists representing all the countries of Europe.

Volume 16 covers woody taxa of the traditional subfamilies Maloideae (excl. Sorbus) and Prunoideae which are rich in cultivated and naturalized species. Hybridization and apomixis are common in these groups, making another challenge to their treatment. On the occasion of this mapping work, the notoriously problematic genus Cotoneaster has been essentially revised for a better distinction between its native and alien taxa. The taxonomic and nomenclatural synopsis presented in AFE is imported to Euro+Med PlantBase, one of standard online resources on plant taxonomy and nomenclature. As by-products of the mapping, 5 AFE notes were published on critical cases of nomenclature of Cotoneaster, Crataegus and Aronia (Sorbaronia).

We cordially thank all the collaborators of the project Atlas Florae Europaeae for the efforts to organize the mapping process on the national / regional level and submitting their valuable information to the Secretariat of the Committee for Mapping the Flora of Europe, and therefore making this compilation possible. Please accept your personal copy of this new volume of Atlas Florae Europaeae as a compliment on your work for this project. We would much appreciate you informing your libraries and colleagues that the printed book is available, as well as the earlier volumes, from the Finnish bookshop Tiedekirja (http://www.tiedekirja.fi/, shipping worldwide; price 75 EUR).

The work on the challenging genus Sorbus, alone constituting the next volume 17, is expected to be completed within the year 2014. We are glad to say that the distribution data for volume 18 (the beginning of Fabaceae) have been essentially received and are being processed now. We are looking forward to more cooperation with you and all our colleagues in continuation of the mammoth task of covering the whole European flora with comprehensive distribution maps.

With best regards,

Pertti Uotila                                         Arto Kurtto                                           Alexander Sennikov