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Botany
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Books on Growing Plants are in a separate section
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General Botany
K.J. Dormer, Shoot Organization in Vascular Plants“In this book I have tried to set down some of the more widely applicable principles governing the growth and behaviour of the shoot system in the higher plants, and to illustrate these principles by reference to the research literature.” —from the author’s Preface.
Contents:
1. The Initiation of New Shoots
2. The Measurement of Growth
3. Cell-enlargement and Cell-division
4. The Succession of Parts
5. The Symmetry of the Shoot
6. The Vascular System
7. The Shoot System in its Environment
References
Index
Syracuse University Press, 1972. 240 pages, illus., about 6½ x 9½ inches, hardcover. New, remainder, no dust jacket.
Item #193. Shipping weight: 1.5 lbs. Publisher’s price: $22.95. Your price: $5.50
James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris, Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary, Second EditionAnyone who has encountered technical botany has, by definition, encountered a complex set of botanical terminology. Most good manuals will have a glossary, but few are illustrated. Also, the meaning of a term in one flora may be different than the use in another (perhaps depending upon the “lineage” of learning of the author!). This book, then, fills the need for a comprehensive illustrated glossary which presents alternate usages.
I’m no authority on botanical terms, but I have made extensive use of glossaries in many different works. Along with the common ones, the authors have found some obscure terms that I have never encountered before. Have you ever heard of “ringent,” for example? It means “Gaping, with widely spreading lips, as in some corollas,” and the accompanying figure clearly shows what is meant. (Turns out I’ve seen lots of ringent corollas, but never had known the term to describe this!) And if you read of a “cucullate” structure, you’ll be able to learn it is hooded.
As a whole, the book defines more than 2700 taxonomic terms, and gives over 1900 illustrations of them. It is an extremely helpful work for both amateur and professional botanists.
Published by Spring Lake Publishing, 2001 (revised). 216 pages, about 7 x 10 inches, paperback. New.
Item #495. Publisher’s price: $18.95. Your price: $18.00 (out of stock)
William T. Stearn, Botanical Latin, Fourth EditionMany decades ago, when William Stearn was asked to help translate a botanist's technical description of a plant into Latin in order to meet the international rules of botanists, he discovered that there was little help to be had in the existing literature. So after two, much interrupted, decades of preparation, he wrote the book that he had needed, "primarily a tool for taxonomists, a 'do-it-yourself' Latin kit." Since first being published in 1966, the book has been reprinted several times and is now in its Fourth Edition, and in paperback for the first time starting in 2004.
As Stearn points out, although Classical Latin is the basis for the Latin of botanists, the latter is an evolved form which has specific conventions and which has incorporated other languages (particularly Classical Greek) into its volcabulary and even its grammar. The book is invaluable for avoiding the pitfall of simply making literal translations of English into (bad) Latin when describing a new species or other taxon for publication. But it is also fascinating for those of us who just want an insight into the process of botanical description, for guidance in pronouncing botanical names, for a history of the development of scientific nomenclature for plants, and for the extensive vocabulary with thousands of terms (many illustrated) which help make us aware of the specific features we need to look at when describing plants.
Part One includes sections on "Development of Botanical Latin Terminology" and "The Latin Alphabet and Pronunciation". Part Two is on Grammar. Part Three covers "Syntax and other matters" which include full examples of specific Latin descriptions of representatives of various groups of "plants" (in the broad, old sense, including fungi and lichens), and sections on Punctuation, Habitats, Geographical Names, Colour Terms, Greek Words in Botanical Latin, Formation of Names and Epithets in Latin, Prefixes and Suffixes, and more. Part Four contains the Vocabulary of over 170 pages and the Bibliography.
Published by Timber Press, 2004 (2007 reprint). 546 pages, about 6½ x 9 inches, paperback. New.
Item #767. Shipping weight: 2.8 lbs. Publisher’s price: $29.95. Your price: $25.00 (Out of stock; unlikely to restock this year)
Randy G. Westbrooks, Invasive Plants: Changing the Landscape of America: Fact BookProduced by the Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds, this book outlines the problem of alien species of plants. Some of these were introduced accidentally, some deliberately as ornamentals, but many are causing serious changes in ecosystems across the country. Covered in this book are sections on weed problems in croplands, yards and gardens, rights-of-way, rangelands and pastures, forests, deserts, wetlands and waterways, special problems of Florida and Hawaii, natural areas, parks and refuges, recreational areas, and private preserves, with additional sections on “Wildlife, Plant Communities, & Biodiversity” and “Human and Animal Health.” Intermingled with the above sections are “Invasive Plant Primers” which discuss particular species as case studies.
This book is not a comprehensive identification guide to weeds, however. It can be considered a wake-up call to land managers and the public to an often overlooked and serious problem, and a great source of facts for groups and individuals who are trying to awaken others to the threat. Numerous color photographs and range maps.
Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds, 1998. 109 pages, about 8½ x 11 inches. Paperback. New.
Item #299. Shipping weight: 1.4 lbs. Publisher’s price: $18.00. Your price: $16.00
Choosing a Field Guide or Flora
So, you want the perfect field guide—one which includes every kind of plant you're ever going to find, describes them in simple, completely nontechnical language, and shows them all in sharp, full color photographs—and which sells for under $10.00. Yes? Dream on!
One problem is that plants are so variable and the state of knowledge of their classification is so incomplete, no book, even the most technical, has them all. Previously unknown species of plants are still being described even here in the Western U.S., and others are being "discovered" when botanists decide, after further study, that what was once thought to be a single variable species is really two or more related species.
Another problem is that, unless you want a book which covers a fairly small area, no book that is compact enough to take in the field is going to be able to include all known species. The beginner might guess that each medium- to large-state in this country has dozens of kinds of wildflowers, when in reality, the number is in the thousands!
The temptation for the beginner in choosing a field guide is to select the one book with the most color photos. The problem with that is twofold: First, color—yes, even flower color—is of relatively minor importance in identifying a species. Most important are details a beginner would usually not think to look for, such things as the number and position of the flower parts, position and shape of leaves, and the size and general appearance ("habit") of a plant. Usually these details are depicted better with line drawings than by even the best color photos. Unless the beginner already has developed an eye for detail from other sciences or from the visual arts, he or she can be easily misled by a dependence on color.
The second problem for the beginner is that any given area will probably have many more species of plants than can be covered in any one book, as mentioned above. The best book for beginners for any given area is often the one most specific to that region since these will give you more of the species you're looking for. If you want to learn the name of the wildflowers of the Grand Canyon region, for example, you'll be more successful if you use a book covering only the Grand Canyon than, say, the Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers, Western Region. Although the latter is a fairly comprehensive guide, it tries to cover half the country with about 600 photos and will necessarily leave out even many common species in any given area.
So the one perfect field guide does not exist, but there may be one which is best for you, at your level of expertise, and for the region you want to explore. Botany is one of my specialties and I'll do my best in the descriptions in these pages to give you my considered judgment of the strengths and limitations of each field guide for your needs.
—Lee Dittmann
Botanical LinksSouthwest Colorado Wildflowers, Ferns & Trees (actually covers entire Four Corners area, not just southwest Colorado)
Original content copyright © Lee Dittmann of Mindbird Maps & Books.
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