The research that has culminated in the pUblication being introduced . worldwide) save by one or two of this Manual was in the first place undertaken private conifer enthusiasts. My own efforts at 1 for a new edition of the book Manual of Cultivated recording data at Devizes made possible the Conifers by P. den Ouden and Dr B. K. Boom appearance in 1979 of a larger book: Manual of (both now deceased), published in 1965. Dwarf Conifers. That book was clearly in effect The claim in that book to have included every a partial up-dating of the den Ouden and Boom cultivar published since 1753 was not entirely book under revision, so the decision was made realised, and the stated objective, i. e. that the book to produce an entirely new work, with the present should serve as a basis for the international register title and with the following objectives. that was even at that date under consideration required a lot of space to be devoted to quite 1. To bring the taxonomy into line with current archaic information. practice. Each of the authors of the Manual of Cultivated 2. To extend the species descriptions and make them (by the use of side headings) more easy Conifers was well qualified for the task. P. den Ouden had been systematically collecting conifer to use. 3. To supply some form of 'keys'.