This volume should be seen as an extension to both the existing publications for pollen identification and traditional floras based on gross morphology. In the NEPF a pollen type provides the basis for a hierarchical construction around which the diversity of palynomorphs can be organised and interpreted. It is not a physical specimen in a herbarium, as is the type of a species name, but rather a published account comprising detailed descriptions and comprehensive illustration. In Volume VIII of "The Northwest European Pollen Flora" the following families are studied: Osmundaceae, Azollaceae, Salviniaceae, Droseraceae, Aizoaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Rhamnaceae, Vitaceae, Betulaceae (incl. Corylaceae), Myricaceae, Onagracea and Lythraceae.

The Northwest European Pollen Flora