Product Description
Families of Flowering Plants of Australia: An Interactive Identification Guide (Revised Edition) is an identification and information package for all of the plant families, native and naturalised, in Australia. It enables the user to: quickly and easily identify a plant to family level; learn about Australia's plant families from text descriptions and notes; and view more than 1,500 full-colour photographs or drawings of representative species.

The new browser in this version interface enables quick access to the rich stores of information or to the identification key, using the latest web-integrated Lucid Player. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1885.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Product Description
The Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants represents the first comprehensive taxonomic treatment of succulents in thirty years. It covers over 9000 taxa of all succulents except Cactaceae. This up-to-date work is ideally suited for anyone interested in these fascinating plants, including hobbyists, plant scientists, horticulturalists and herbarium staff.This volume on monocotyledons presents succulents from 17 families and 64 genera, totalling some 1100 species and over 200 infraspecific taxa. The families Agavaceae, Aloaceae and Doryanthaceae are covered in their entirety. The most important genera are Agave (Century Plants) with approx. 200 species, and Aloe (Aloes) with about 450. Other major genera included are: Haworthia, Bulbine and Sansevieria, each with approx. 60 species. In addition, a wide variety of bulbous xerophytes from several genera are described.

Keywords: desert plants, plant systematics, succulents, xerophytic adaptation, monocotyledons ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Barely Illustrated Handbook of Succulents
Considered by many to be the ultimate references on the subject matter, the 6 volume set published under the series title "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants" is a real let down. The series attempts to capture comprehensive information relative to identification of species based upon the cut and dry taxonomic and morphologic features, typical of these types of guides. Where the books fail is in the lack of illustrations. The total species illustrated under each genus seems to be a random scattering of fair to outstanding photographs. The images are too small to be really useful for detailed examination. Although the book does illustrate some of the odd ball species, it fails miserably in providing enough images to make it worthy of the title "Illustrated". The cost of the series is quite high, but not unusual for a book with such high print and construction standards. The amount of money you save by not buying this volume is better spent picking up some of the older works on the subject matter that are truly illustrated. In closing, a lot of money for text that can be found online and with better pictures for free. Avoid unless you are an avid collector and need an identification key that was dated the day it was printed.

Monocotiledoni
Il libro è ben fatto (forse un po troppo stringato nelle descrizioni) e le foto a colori precise e di esemplari molto esplicativi. Forse l'aggiunta di chiavi per la determinazione delle specie sarebbe stata un aggiunta gradita da molti... e la maggior grandezza delle foto sarebbe stata un plus valore.

Il libro comunque rimane un must ! ... Read more

Product Description

--Natural History

Customer Reviews (1)

an integrated system of classification of flowering plants
This book is a classic and should be part of the reading list in an advanced and intermediate systematics and plant taxonomy class. Lets not forget the many descriptions of the families and the systematic discrepancies that the author said need to be carefully studied. It is easy to think that in todays phylogenetics classification Cronquist's contribution would not fit, but that is not the case with this book in which morphological, anatomical, palynological, biogeographical and paleobotanical data offer a unique picture of each taxonomic group, regardless of todays results by means of other techniques. The book is a wealth of information. ... Read more

Product Description
The popularity of native North American plants has soared in recent years, for many good reasons. Whatever draws you to native plants, you’ll find no better or more authoritative guide than Allan Armitage. Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost horticulturists, Armitage describes more than 630 species and cultivars of perennials, biennials, and annuals that are native to the United States, bringing to each plant a wealth of practical knowledge and the full weight of his experience and expertise. Each entry includes a general description of the plant plus essential data you need to grow it successfully, including habitat, hardiness, correct garden site, maintenance, and propagation—all in a clear, easy-to-use format. Whether you are a native plant enthusiast or simply wish to use plants that work in the landscape, you’ll find everything you are looking for in this readable, information-packed volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

An Armitage Appreciator
This is a good book for the gardener who wants to "go native" with attractive flowering plants. When I purchased this book on line, I was looking more towards the "native" side of prairie use and not ornamental horticulture use per se. I think the mistake is mine; Armitage does a wonderful job of discussing and displaying attractive native flowering plants for the garden area. If you like this book and want more detai. look into his defining book on perennials: Herbaceous Perennial PLants, A Treatise on their Identification, Culture, and Garden Attributes. I believe it is without equal.

Armitage's Native Plants
I received this book very quickly and in excellent condition, exactly as described.I find Armitage's books (this is my third) to be informative, beautifully illustrated, and entertaining to read.The author is witty and opiniated, besides being very well informed.I look forward to ordering more of his publications, especially if Amazon makes them available!

Armitage's Native Plants for North American Garderns
Really great book.I got it from the library and just couldn't get enough of it....so I bought it and am glad I did.Great conversational writing makes it a joy to read.Really helps you figure out what plants will work best for you.

Great Book on Gardening with Natives
I gave this book as a gift and have heard wonderful things about it.This book is very useful for help planning for choosing native plants and for figuring out where to plant natives in a garden.

Armitage's Native Plants
Good presentation of native plants, but could have more photos of some of the more obscure species.The book is slanted more toward the southeast and east U.S.Representation of western species is not as strong as it could be, but overall a very interesting book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Get the 1999 edition.
The 1990 edition has been superceded by the 1999 edition. Be sure to get the current one.

An extraordinary work.
Comprehensive, beautifully illustrated with botanical drawings. A stunning work of scholarship, it is the ultimate reference for Hawaiian flora. Two large volumes. Intended for professionals, but amateurs like myself whopersist (and use the glossary at the end of volume two) find itfascinating. Be sure to get the 1999 edition rather than the one from adecade earlier. ... Read more

Product Description
Drawing from a lifetime of teaching botany, Dr. Nels Lersten presents the study of the structures and processes involved in the reproduction of plants in his text Flowering Plant Embryology. This richly illustrated reference text, with more than 350 figures and illustrations, presents general angiosperm embryology as it applies to economically important plants. The unique focus on economically important species increases the relevance of this book to today’s students and researchers in the plant sciences.

Lersten emphasizes the plant species that affect human livelihood, including weeds and other cultivated plants that are used for commercial products. Selected from the thousands of economically important plants, the examples chosen for illustration and discussion are familiar, especially to students from North America, Northern Europe, and Japan. Although the emphasis of this book is economically important plants, the information within applies to almost all flowering plants.

Extremely readable and well-written, this book is neither dense nor academic in tone. Lersten treats topics with a uniformity of style and organization that enhances comprehension. Terms are well-defined and the derivation of each is explained to further facilitate student learning. The book presents research results, hypotheses, and speculations about why things are as they are, with supporting facts and specific examples that provide a firm foundation for students’ understanding of embryological diversity among economic plants. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good Guidebook
I always appreciate having a guidebook for the specific area that I am in and this guidebook is better than most.However, I have a few complains that are typical of guidebooks like this.1. The photos could be improved.2.There needs to be a bit more information as to when these plants sprout and bloom so one can tell when to look for each species. A chart might be nice.3.There needs to be some sort of key to give people a starting place for identifying species.The complaint I have heard the most from people using this book in the field is that they get frustrated just flipping through pages trying to find the plants by photo.On the positive side, there are some excellent keys for species identification within families.A list of species by habitat type would also greatly improve the book (i.e. roadsides, creek beds, moist areas, dry hillsides, high elevation, beaches etc.)

With more than 160 species of flowering plants
Filled with 224 color photographs as well as extensive descriptions, drawings, and a wealth of factual information, Wildflowers Of Unalaska Island: A Guide To The Flowering Plants Of An Aleutian Island by Suzi Golodoff is a superbly presented and enthusiastically recommended identification guide to more than 160 species of flowering plants. Ideal for readers of all experience levels in floral matters from recreational hikers to professional botanists, Wildflowers Of Unalaska Island is a truly first-rate, "user friendly" resource for quick reference, which includes Aleut (Unangan) Native American names and ethnobotanical information on the wild and hardy plants of this enduring environment.

Review of Wildflowers of Unalaska Island
Book Report

"Wildflowers of Unalaska Island"
by Suzi Golodoff
University of Alaska Press --- $19.95
ISBN 1-88963-18-6

I have just finished browsing through this wonderful guide to plants of an Aleutian island. This is the first book with color photographs to address this part of Alaska. Having visited the island, some years ago, I am fully aware of the fabulous flora that exists there. The flowers are very easy to see as the only trees are a few that were planted in a sheltered spot in town by some early explorers.

The book includes about 160 plants and lists scientific, common, and Aleut names. The text gives detailed information on identification and uses of plants by the local people. The drawings accompanying the text are very good, some even art quality. These are, probably, one of the greatest attributes of the book. Unfortunately, not as much attention was given to good, clear and precise photography. I have discovered that about 75% of the public needs a good photographic color image to aid them in plant identification. His type of photography takes an enormous amount of time and effort in order to proper display flower characteristics as well as leaf shape and substance. These items can often be extremely important to proper identification.

The book is well organized and precise but will, probably, not be used very much as a guide in the field. It is too cumbersome to easily extract specific information from the book. It will, nevertheless, make a great addition to any wildflower enthusiast's reference library.

Review of �Wildflowers of Unalaska Island�
"Wildflowers of Unalaska Island"
by Suzi Golodoff

I have just finished browsing through this wonderful guide to plants of an Aleutian island. This is the first book with color photographs to address this part of Alaska. Having visited the island, some years ago, I am fully aware of the fabulous flora that exists there. The flowers are very easy to see as the only trees are a few that were planted in a sheltered spot in town by some early explorers.

The book includes about 160 plants and lists scientific, common, and Aleut names. The text gives detailed information on identification and uses of plants by the local people. The drawings accompanying the text are very good, some even art quality. These are, probably, one of the greatest attributes of the book. Unfortunately, not as much attention was given to good, clear and precise photography. I have discovered that about 75% of the public needs a good photographic color image to aid them in plant identification. This type of photography takes an enormous amount of time and effort in order to proper display flower characteristics as well as leaf shape and substance. These items can often be extremely important to proper identification.

The book is well organized and precise but will, probably, not be used very much as a guide in the field. It is too cumbersome to easily extract specific information from the book. It will, nevertheless, make a great addition to any wildflower enthusiast's reference library.

Verna E. Pratt, Author, Lecturer, Photographer, Publisher ... Read more

Product Description
This beatifully presented book is an authoritative survey of the floral diversity of Europe, Asia and Africa. It presents more than 260 species of flowers, grasses, herbs, rushes, sedges, trees, shrubs, and aquatic and carnivorous plants, many of which are common species that are easy to identify. Included too are rare and endangered species. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lovely Overview Book
This is a lovely book with a nice, not overly scientific way to describe the plants and their habitats.I can't imagine most individuals would need a fieldguide type book that spans such a large area, that they would prefer something more targeted.This would be a good book if you were trying to incorporate more wildflowers into your garden from similar habitats outside of where you live. It also provides a nice introduction to habitats and endangered species, many of which deserve to be preserved.

I was hoping to find a similar book just on Asia but could not find one.What I really wanted was an English language book just on wildflowers in Japan. ... Read more

Product Description
This encyclopaedia contains a comprehensive treatment of the taxonomy of the families and genera of ferns and seed plants. The present volume, the fifth in this series, deals with three major groups of dicotyledons, the Capparales, Malvales, and Non-betalain Caryophyllales. The taxonomy of these groups, which comprise 40 families and 752 genera, is based on the results of the most recent research. This is especially true of the families Cruciferae and Malvaceae, to which more than two thirds of the genera treated in this volume belong. The integration of morphological information and the results of molecular studies have led to a revised classification and have opened the way to an understanding of character evolution in these strongly diversified groups. ... Read more

Product Description
The Front Range of Colorado is one of America’s most famous and spectacular summer playgrounds. Thousands of people from all over the nation visit our Rocky Mountains each year to enjoy the scenery and the many types of recreational activities which the region provides. Not among the least of the scenic attractions to be found here are the lavish displays of wild flowers in the mountain meadows and alpine heights, the vast expanses of cool, green forested lands, the brilliant splashes of autumn color of our aspens and sumacs, and the endless rolling grasslands of the eastern plains. There are very few places in the United States where so many types of vegetation are crowded into such a relatively small area, and where in the space of a few minutes time one may alternately bake in the climate of the desert, and shiver in the climate of the far north.

Learning to recognize the plants is a first, faltering step toward understanding a flora. Endless vistas of opportunity to study emerge as one becomes aware that we really know little about our flora beyond the identity of the species. Their life histories, uses, migrations, significance to aboriginal cultures, and so on, are largely uncharted. Amateurs can find much satisfaction and may make real contributions to science by delving deeply into some small area of the field. In Great Britain and elsewhere the amateur has always been the forefront of biological science. Darwin and Mendel were distinguished amateurs. More Americans should join their company. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A compact S. Rocky Mountain field guide with botanical keys
This is a compact book, though it is fairly inclusive. This book had most of the plants I saw in my Rocky Mountain travels and the keys worked reliably well. There are no species descriptions, so when you key it down to the species, you are left there in the key, with no further information. I guess this helps keep the size and weight of the book down, but then I need to carry other field guides to flush out the species information. There are a few helpful well-wrought black and white illustrations as well as a very few color photographs. The books main virtue is its keys which are admirable. Thank you Mr. Weber, I will keep bringing this field guide with me, and look forward to updates (hopefully). ... Read more

Product Description
Flowers are the first love of most gardeners.From sunflowers as big as dinner plates to delicate bleeding hearts to showstopping red-hot pokers,The New Flower Gardener: An Inspiring Guide to the Most Captivating of Flowering Plants is a razzle-dazzle gallery of blooms that even the newest gardener will want to grow. Whether you're just starting out or have an established garden that could use some pizzazz, author Pippa Greenwood has written a practical guide on how to choose, decorate with, and grow an astonishing flower garden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

best book for a beginning gardener
This book has all the things that it has taken me four years to learn through trial and error: what flowers bloom at the same time, what to do, when, and how, ideas for keeping clematis roots cool.:)Although it has a few design tips, its focus is mostly on individual plants.It has glossy two page spreads on 41 different plants, as well as sections in the front on general seasonal garden care and propagation.The information is concise, helpful, and manageable.You can look at the pages, enjoy the pictures, take what information you want and leave the rest.In the wintertime when there are no flowers outside, you can revive yourself with the the beautiful Dorling Kindersley photographs. Chemical fertilizers and insecticides are suggested occasionally, but most of the methods are organic.My only complaint about this book is that it is written for a slightly warmer climate than my own zone 6.This is not a complaint so much as a wish:I wish someone would write a book like this for my zone!Still, most of this information transcends hardiness zones and should be helpful to anyone who is starting a flower garden.Don't make the same mistakes I did, buy this book instead.

Very, very nice book
The categorization is fresh and appealing, and the section on each plant has exactly the information I wanted.I would have liked a little more about the varieties listed as her "favorites."There aren't too many unusual plants, but this book is so nice to read and look at I've spent a lot of pleasurable time with it.

Beautiful!
I love flower picture books, and this is one of my favorites.The photography is outstanding! I especially like the back instruction pages with sections devoted to topics such as winter flowers, fast growing flowers, flowering climbers, flowers for shade,scented flowers, flowers to attract butterflies, etc ...

Beautiful to set out on a table and instructional as well.A must for all flower lovers. ... Read more

Product Description
The origin, early evolution and basal phylogeny of angiospermscontinue to be areas of ferment in botanical research. Rapid progressis being made, in part due to the unprecedented number of approachesnow available and to the increased amount of empirical data. Thetopics of angiosperm structure and evolution are covered in severalchapters that discuss vegetative and reproductive characters, as wellas discuss the implications of ancestral angiosperm characters for anherbaceous origin. The last chapters discuss the phylogeny ofangiosperms from a structure and molecular perspective. ... Read more

Product Description

Great progress has been made in our understanding of pollen-pistil interactions and self-incompatibility (SI) in flowering plants in the last few decades. This book covers a broad spectrum of research into SI, with accounts by internationally renowned scientists. It comprises two sections: Evolution and Population Genetics of SI, Molecular and Cell Biology of SI Systems. The reader will gain an insight into the diversity and complexity of these polymorphic cell-cell recognition and rejection systems. Heteromorphic and homomorphic SI systems and our current understanding of the evolution and phylogeny of these systems, based on the most recent molecular sequence data, are covered. Further, the book presents major advances in our knowledge of the pistil and pollen S-determinants and other unlinked components involved in SI, as well as the apparently diverse cellular regulatory mechanisms utilised to ensure inhibition of “self” pollen.

Product Description
This book by a founding member of the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society takes a historical approach. Ms. Grenfell traces the introduction of hostas from Japan through Macao to Europe two hundred years ago, detailing the work of nineteenth and twentieth century botanists on the genus, and tracing the sequence of extraordinary mistakes and coincidences which have caused such havoc in hosta nomenclature. There are full and detailed descriptions of the species and a listing and descriptions of more than 150 recommended cultivars, some of which may be better known among English and Continental growers than in the United States. In addition to the color photographs, there are 27 botanical drawings by Jenny Brasier, who has won three Gold Medals from the Royal Horticultural Society for her illustrations. Published at $39.95 Our last copies available at $19.98 ... Read more