if you wish to order any of these, email Scott
A Field Guide to Plants
of Costa Rica.
Margaret Gargiullo. 2008. ISBN: 0195188241. 544
pp., 1400 color illustrations. Hardcover. $74.50
Field Guide to Plants of Costa Rica is a must-have reference guide for beginner
and expert naturalists alike. It provides a thorough survey of more than 850
plant species, each entry accompanied by color photos and a concise yet detailed
narrative description. Plants are conveniently grouped by the different types of
vegetation: palms, tall trees, shrubs, woody vines, herbaceous vines, herbs,
grasses and ferns. Along with 1400 color photographs, the guide also includes an
illustrated glossary of plant parts, five maps of Costa Rica, and laminated
covers for durability in the field. With so much readily accessible information,
this book is essential for exploring Costa Rica's common and conspicuous flora
from the plants growing along the roadside to the best natural parks.
Cacti of Texas: A Field Guide.
A. Michael Powell. 2008. ISBN: 978-0-89672-611-6. 400 pp., 314 color photos, 124
maps. Softcover. $34.95
One hundred thirty-two species, subspecies, and varieties of cacti may be found
in Texas. About one hundred of them occur in the state’s Trans-Pecos region, one
of the most cactus-rich areas of the United States, but at least one kind can be
found in every county of the state. This volume is an identification guide to
the genera, species, and varieties of Texas cacti, with maps showing the
distribution of each. Based on the comprehensive reference Cacti of the
Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Regions (2004), by A. Michael Powell and James F.
Weedin, this field guide provides briefer, less detailed treatments of the
entire state’s species for educated general readers. More than three hundred
beautiful full-color photographs of the cacti in flower and in fruit, each
placed with its description in the text, highlight the book. Readers may
identify cacti using color photographs of the plants, keys, distribution maps,
and descriptions of the vegetative characters, flowers, and fruits. The
introduction—full of details about the biology and morphology of the family
Cactaceae and the uses, horticulture, and conservation of cacti—is an important
reference for general readers. A glossary of cactus terms, an exhaustive list of
literature, and a thorough index complete the book.
Lost Crops of Africa: Volume III: Fruits.
National Research Council. 2008. ISBN: 0-309-10596-X. 380 pp. Paperback. $99.00
This book is the third in a series evaluating underexploited African plant
resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume
describes 24 little-known indigenous African cultivated and wild fruits that
have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by
scientists, policymakers, and the world at large. The book assesses the
potential of each fruit to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security,
foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each fruit
is also described in a separate chapter, based on information provided and
assessed by experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and
Volume II African vegetables.
Plant Names: A Guide to Botanical
Nomenclature. Roger Spencer. 2007. ISBN: 9780643094406. 176 pp.
Paperback. $49.95
Plant Names is a plain English guide to the use of plant names and the
conventions for writing them as governed by the International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature and the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.
It covers the naming of wild plants, plants modified by humans, why plant names
change, their pronunciation and hints to help remember them. The final section
provides a detailed guide to web sites and published resources useful to people
using plant names. The book incorporates the latest information in the most
recently published Botanical and Cultivated Plant Codes, both of which are
technical scientific publications that are difficult to read for all but the
most dedicated botanists and horticulturists. From botanists to publishers,
professional horticulturists, nurserymen, hobby gardeners and anyone interested
in plant names, this book is an invaluable guide to using the potentially
confusing array of scientific, commercial and common names.
Monocots: Comparative Biology and
Evolution, Poales. J.T. Columbus. 2007. ISBN: 978-0-9605808-7-5.
682 pp. Hardcover. $125.00 This volume and its companion, Monocots, Comparative
Biology and Evolution, excluding Poales 2006, contain papers presented at the
Third International Conference on the Comparative Biology of the Monocotyledons,
Monocots III, and the Fourth International Symposium on Grass Systematics and
Evolution, Grasses IV, hosted by Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont,
California, in 2003. This work contains 42 original scientific papers from the
conferences whose goals were, in part, to offer a strong core program in
systematics while incorprating newer, relevant fields such as developmental
biology and genomics,and to address the timely and challenging issue of data
integration.
Florula de la Reserva Ecologica Inkaterra.
Luis Valenzuela G. 2007. ISBN: 978-603-45043-0-1. 448 pp. Softcover. $35.00
In the late 1980s, Dr. Alwyn H. Gentry and Dr. Enrique Forero conceptualized the
idea of local floristic inventories that would culminate in the publication of
descriptive floras of areas previously selected in Amazonian Colombia and Peru.
... The project in Colombia was conducted in the Amacayacu National Natural
Park, in Amazonas, and concluded with publication of the Flórula del Parque
Nacional Natural Amacayacu, Amazonas, Colombia, in 2005. In Peru, projects were
conducted in two selected areas: in Iquitos, culminating in publication of the
Flórula de las Reservas Biológicas de Iquitos, Perú: Allpahuayo-Mishana,
Explornapo Camp, y Explorama Lodge, in 1997; and in the Reserva Cusco Amazónico
(today called Inkaterra Reserva Amazónica) in the Madre de Dios region,
culminating in the presentation of this work. The Flórula de la Reserva
Ecológica Inkaterra compiles all currently known vascular species in the Reserve
and nearby areas, such as Rolin Island, Concepción Field Station (ATI), and Lake
Sandoval. ... The work consists of two main parts: the introduction and the
descriptive flora, which includes 127 families, 593 genera, and 1,266 vascular
plant species.
Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges: An
Introduction to the Genus Carex (Cyperaceae). Andrew L. Hipp.
Due March/April 2008. ISBN: 978-0-299-22590-2. 280 pp., 62 color illustrations,
157 maps. Hardcover. $65.00
Sedges are among the world’s most diverse and ecologically important plant
families, with almost two hundred species in Wisconsin alone. These grass-like
plants, found mostly in wetlands, are increasingly popular with landscapers and
home gardeners. Learning to identify sedges is challenging, however, and the
available technical guides to the sedge family can be overwhelming to a
nonspecialist. Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges is a beautifully illustrated
introduction to the largest sedge genus, Carex, which alone makes up about 7
percent of the flora of the Upper Midwest. Written primarily for naturalists,
wild plant enthusiasts, and native landscapers, this book is unique in its
accessible format and illustrations. With this book, readers can learn to
recognize key structures needed to identify approximately 150 Carex species
found in Wisconsin. Author Andrew Hipp shows how to identify many of the major
groupings of sedges that are used in guides to the genus throughout the world.
For botanists who are not experts on sedges, he also provides guidelines for
distinguishing among similar species. Readers should be able to identify more
than 90 percent of the sedges they find in the field using no more than this
guidebook and a hand lens. Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges includes information
on habitat and range drawn from Hipp’s extensive field experience and inspection
of thousands of herbarium sheets.
Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern
Rockies: Revealing Their Natural History. Carolyn Dodson. Due
Spring 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8263-4244-7. 192 pp., 143 color photos, 48 line
drawings, 1 map. Paperback. $27.95
More than a field guide, Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies offers
cultural and botanical essays that present useful and fascinating facts about
seventy-five species of wildflowers, including strategies for survival, plant
evolution, origins of common and scientific plant names, family characteristics,
and their roles in human history.
The Laramie and Medicine Bow Mountains of southern Wyoming, the principal ranges
in Colorado, and the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, and Sandia Mountains in New Mexico
are home to over a thousand species of wildflowers. The striking samples
included here were selected not only because they are characteristic of this
region, but also because they have interesting stories to tell. Grouped by
family and arranged in natural order, each featured profile is accompanied by a
color photo and most include a drawing by wildflower artist Walter Graf.
The Encyclopaedia of Antique Roses. Vol.
IV. R.E. Edberg. 2007. ISBN: 0-9722787-3-7. 149 pp. Hardcover.
$210.00
Containing 60 full-size (8 & 1/2” x 11”) full-colour laser-printed facsimile
reproductions of the original chromolithographs of roses as published in the
French “Journal des Roses”, January, 1894, through December, 1898. Western ARS
members will remember Bob Edberg as an Associate Editor of Modern Roses 11, and
as a 1999 recipient of the Lester F. Harrell Award from the Huntington Botanical
Gardens, San Marino, California, “for significant contributions to the study,
preservation and popularity of old roses”. Included with the English translation
is the original French descriptive text for each rose, plus 5 obituaries and a
Foreword by Milton Nurse, the editor of the “Historic Rose Journal” of the Royal
National Rose Society. The 148 text pages and 60 coloured plates are printed on
acid-free archival stock; the book is 9 inches wide by 12 inches long by about 1
& 1/2 inches thick. Vol. I $210.00 Vol.II $220.00 Vol.III $195.00
Flora of China.
Illustrations, Volume 22. Poaceae. 2007. ISBN:
978-1-930723-61-0. 937 pp. Hardcover. $140.00
Both volumes are devoted to just one plant family, the grasses (Poaceae or
Gramineae), and no group of plants is of greater economic importance. The
Poaceae range from the Asian bamboos within the tribe Bambuseae to the widely
cultivated rice, wheat, barley, and maize or corn (Oryza, Triticum, Hordeum, and
Zea), as well as many grasses used for animal forage, all plants of unparalleled
importance to human life. Nearly half of the species of grasses treated here
(ca. 800 out of ca. 1,800), including many woody bamboos, are found only in
China. A special introductory section describes and illustrates the structure of
these plants to facilitate identification and provides a glossary of
terminology.
Flora of China, Text Volume 12.
Hippocastanaceae through Theaceae. 2007. ISBN:
978-1-930723-64-1. 534 pp. Hardcover. $125.00
Eighteen plant families are described in this volume. Among these,
Hippocastanaceae comprises the horse chestnuts and buckeyes; Sapindaceae, the
soapberry family, includes the fruits lychee and longan, and species valued for
their wood; Balsaminaceae, the balsam family, mainly comprises Impatiens;
Rhamnaceae includes Rhamnus, once used for making charcoal for gunpowder, and
ornamental plants that contain yellow and green dyes; Vitaceae contains the
grapes and numerous other vines; Tiliaceae includes the basswoods, lindens, or
limes; Malvaceae contains Hibiscus, cotton, and okra; Bombacaceae includes
kapok; Sterculiaceae, the source of chocolate, also yields timber; Actinidiaceae
includes the edible kiwifruit; and Theaceae includes many ornamental species of
Camellia, as well as C. sinensis, the source of tea.
Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica, Volumen
VI, Dicotiledóneas (Haloragaceae-Phytolaccaceae). B. Hammel.
ISBN: 978-1-930723-60-3. 933 pp. Hardcover. $125.00
Melastomataceae, with 303 species of mostly understory trees, is by far the
largest family in this volume. Together with the two next largest
families,Lauraceae (146 species) and Malvaceae (98 species), also of mostly
woody plants, these three families account for 40% of the species in the volume.
This identification manual includes brief formal descriptions and informal notes
about each of a total of 54 families, 296 genera, and 1396 species. Keys to all
the genera and species are also included. The treatments are illustrated with
343 line drawings, 54 black-and-white photographs, and 8 pages of color plates.
Acanthaceae to Myricaceae: Water Willows
to Wax Myrtles. Robert H. Mohlenbrock. Due March 2008. ISBN:
0-8093-2790-2. 416 pp., 327 illustrations. Hardcover. $67.00
Acanthaceae to Myricaceae: Water Willows to Wax Myrtles, the third of four
volumes in the Aquatic and Standing Water Plants of the Central Midwest series.
This easy-to-use illustrated reference guide covers aquatic and standing water
plants for the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri,
Nebraska, and Kentucky (excluding the biologically distinct Cumberland Mountain
region of eastern Kentucky), from spearmint to wintergreen, from aster to
waterwort.
The volume identifies, describes, and organizes species in three groups,
including truly aquatic plants, which spend their entire life with their
vegetative parts either completely submerged or floating on the water’s surface;
emergents, which are usually rooted under water with their vegetative parts
standing above the water’s surface; and wetland plants, which live most or all
of their lives out of water, but which can live at least three months in water.
Mohlenbrock lists the taxa alphabetically, and within each taxon, he describes
the species with the scientific names he deems most appropriate (indicating if
his opinion differs from that of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), common
names, identification criteria, line drawings, geographical distribution,
habitat description, and official U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetlands
designation as described by the National Wetland Inventory Section in 1988.
Physiological Ecology of Tropical Plants.
2nd Edition. Ulrich Lüttge. 2008. ISBN: 978-3-540-71792-8. 458
pp., 302 illustrations. Hardcover. $79.95
Since the publication of the first edition of this book ten years ago,
international research into the physiological ecology of plants in the tropics
has increased enormously in quantity and quality. This brand new edition brings
the story right up to date. New approaches have been developed in remote
sensing. At the other end of the scale, molecular biology has come on in leaps
and bounds, particularly regarding ecological performance of tropical plants,
e.g. in understanding the adaptation of resurrection plants to the extreme
habitat of inselbergs. In this fully revised and updated second edition the
wealth of new information has made it necessary to break large chapters down
into smaller ones. Tropical forests which occupy about half of the entire volume
of the book are now arranged in five chapters covering structure and function
under the influence of environmental cues and including epiphytes and mangroves
as part of the tropical forest complex. Savannas are now treated in two
chapters. Meanwhile, coastal salinas have been combined with a new section on
the Brazilian restingas in a chapter on coastal sand plains.
Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Texas.
Paul Martin Brown. Due March 2008. ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-3159-0. 336 pp., 295
color photos, 96 b/w illustrations, 69 maps. Paperback. $34.95
Field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Texas is the first native orchid field guide
to cover each of the Lone Star State's eco-regions.
This valuable and comprehensive resource for the orchid taxonomist, dedicated
enthusiast, or casual hiker and lover of the outdoors covers more than 50
species and orchid varieties, several of which are new to Texas and, in some
cases, even brand-new to the orchid world. It also includes numerous color and
growth forms. This handy guide includes all the essential tools--field
photographs, diagnostic line drawings, and useful reference keys--to quickly and
easily identify an orchid discovered in the wild. A checklist of the state's
wild orchids and charts listing optimal flowering times and distribution by
region make this guide user-friendly year-round. In addition to the many insider
orchid-hunting tips, botanist Paul Martin Brown recommends trip itineraries
offering the fullest viewing of native orchids at their peak seasons.
Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the
Midcontinental United States. Second Edition. By D. M. Huffman,
L. H. Tiffany, G. Knaphus, and R. A. Healy. Due March 2008. ISBN: 1-58729-627-6.
384 pp., 300 color photos, 21 drawings. Paperback. $39.95
This completely revised second edition provides all the information necessary to
identify mushrooms in the field in the midcontinental region of Iowa, Illinois,
Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin: the tallgrass
prairies and the western parts of the eastern deciduous forests.
The first edition has been improved in significant ways. The authors have
updated scientific names, added photos where there were none and replaced poor
photos with better ones, improved the keys, added some species and deleted
others, added a section on truffles, and annotated the bibliography. There were
originally 224 species; now there are 248. Some of the new photos-125 in
all-serve as a second photo for a species, where it is helpful to show details
that cannot be viewed in a single photo.
The authors describe each species' cap, gills, stalk, annulus, and season when
it is most likely to be seen as well as such characteristics as edibility and
toxicity. In their detailed and lively introduction they discuss the economic
and environmental aspects of fungi, basic mushroom biology, nomenclature,
edibility and toxicity, and habitats and time of fruiting. Most important are
the keys, which lead the dedicated reader to the major groups of fungi included
in this guide. The section on mushrooms includes keys to their genera in
addition to the species within each family discussed, and each of the subsequent
sections has a key to the genera and species except where so few species are
discussed that a key is not necessary. The volume also includes a glossary and
two bibliographies, one with general and one with technical references.
Brazilian Fruits & Cultivated Exotics for
consuming in nature. Harri Lorenzi. 2006. ISBN: 85-867174-24-0.
672 pp., 1214 color photos. Hardcover. $95.00
It is the largest work ever published on fruit in Brazil, covering 827 different
kinds of native and exotic fruit consumption in nature. It is the result of
extensive research on the subject in the last 5 years in the whole Brazilian
territory.
Robert Wight and the Botanical Drawings
of Rungiah & Govindoo. H. J. Noltie. 2007.
Book 1. The Life and Work of Robert Wight
Book 2. Botanical Drawings by Rungiah & Govindoo: the Wight Collection
Book 3. Journeys in Search of Robert Wight
This trilogy forms the second in a series of illustrated works devoted to
collections of botanical drawings made by Indian artists for Scottish
surgeon-botanists, held in the library of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In
the central volume are reproduced some 200 of the drawings commissioned between
1826 and 1853 by Robert Wight (1796-1872) from the artists Rungiah and Govindoo.
The first volume documents Wight's life and work as an East India Company
surgeon and his major contributions to taxonomy and economic botany. The third
volume is a travelogue, describing the author's journeys in search of Wight in
Britain and India.
A fascinating tale emerges of the exploration of the South Indian flora, and of
the workings of the East India Company who were always on the look out for
potentially exploitable natural resources. While most of Wight's botanical work
(including the commissioning of the drawings) was done in his leisure time, and
paid for from his own pocket, the Company from 1835 employed him as an economic
botanist, and for ten years he was in charge of an experiment on the cultivation
of long-staple American cotton based around Coimbatore. Wight employed local
plant collectors who travelled widely through South India, often accompanied by
an artist. These journeys took them through what are now the states of Tamil
Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Many of the resulting collections are held in
the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, where Wight studied botany in 1816 and 1817
- these include some 23, 000 herbarium specimens and 500 original drawings.
In 2005 the taxonomic part of the project was published as The Botany of Robert
Wight. This dealt with the taxonomy and nomenclature of Wight's more than 1200
new species and 100 new genera, and won the 2005 Stafleu Medal awarded by the
International Association of Plant Taxonomists.
The purpose of the present work is to make these wonderful drawings (only eight
of which have ever been published in colour) available to a wider audience: they
represent a fascinating and important part of the shared culture of Britain and
India.
Approx. 500 pp. about 300 figures. ISBN of set: 978 1 906129 02 6: set price
$255.00
The Macrolichens of New England:
Descriptions, Color Illustrations, Identification Keys, Conservation Status.
James W Hinds and Patricia L Hinds.
2007. ISBN: 0-89327-477-1. 600 pp. Hardcover. $65.00
With over 600 pages, 400 color illustrations, and 35 years of fieldwork,
research, and photography by the authors, The Macrolichens of New England is the
most comprehensive work of its kind. The volume includes: descriptions of 98
genera and 461 species; an introduction to general lichen morphology; a glossary
of terms for less experienced readers; advice on collecting lichens and
performing chemical tests; a review of the ecological role of New England
lichens and the geography, geology, climate, conservation status, and major
biogeographical zones for lichens in New England; identification keys, both
general and genus-specific, to 502 species, including the 461 New England
species and 41 additional species known from adjacent states and provinces that
could occur in this region; and synonyms, misapplied names, common names,
morphology, chemistry, worldwide range, usual substrate, distribution in New
England, and comparisons with similar species.