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Reviews (1)

More Information Amazon!
Have not actually read the book or ever seen such.

amazon.com needs to more prolific with its printed description of the WILDFLOWER book by F Venning and M Saito. Such as illustrations per page, quality of illustration, any geographical zone in North America not covered, flower type breakdown style such as species, genus, family, etc or is that random. Generally the discription in the web site does not tell much of a story. More please. Tell me about that. ... Read more

Book Description

No flower painter has so linked his name and immortality with a single genus as has Redouté with the rose. The three-volume Les Roses is Redouté’s most famous work, and its 170 hand-colored plates the most frequently reproduced of all botanicial illustrations. Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) was born into a family of Belgian painters, and at the age of 23 left for Paris to pursue his studies. He ultimately served as drawing master to the queens and princesses of France for half a century, from Marie Antoinette to Marie Amélie. Many of the paintings for Les Roses were made from the hundreds of varieties in the Empress Josephine’s rose garden at Malmaison. This Octavo Edition reproduces one of only five copies printed in large folio format on vélin paper, with a double set of plates, plain and colored, and includes, for the first time, a complete English translation. Commentary by Sandra Raphael. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

get lost in a real world
I saw this book in my doctor's office waiting room, I was swallowed up in it during my wait. After my appointment I stayed and looked more, amongst the sneezing feverish folks even! Beautiful inspirational drawings! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Awesome
Thsi book was a perfect bookb for someone who wants to know the straight facts about Botany. For example, a college student might enjoy useing this book because it is packed with so much information.

Excellent Introduction to Botany
This book is a must for anyone seriously interested in learning about plants and their relation to the other living kingdoms. It is richly illustrated and covers material clearly and in-depth. I have used the first edition for over eight years as 1) a good read and 2) a reference that continues to inform me as a serious gardener as well as an educated layman. The book emphasizes the evolutionary adaptative aspects of plants to their environment. Starting from the basics of chemistry, it covers plant anatomy, physiology, gernetics, and taxonomy. It is a wonderful resource.

U.C. Student
This was our text for Bis. 1C (Winter 98) at U.C. Davis. The book was well illustrated, but was far too in-depth for an intro course. I found lecture notes more useful. ... Read more

Book Description

How do you know when you're face to face with a fringe-leaf ruellia? Is that particular flower button gayfeather or dotted gayfeather? And what about the pod clinging to your pants-could it have come from a pointed-leaf tick-trefoil?

For anyone venturing out into the wilds of Kansas and contiguous states, identifying plants just got a whole lot easier. This is the first book on Kansas wildflowers or weeds to appear in 25 years. It supersedes earlier guides not only in the number of species it includes-plus its coverage of grasses-but also in its spectacular, true-to-life color photos.

Michael Haddock has assembled a guide to 264 wildflowers along with 59 grasses, sedges, and rushes. These comprise many of the state's most common and conspicuous species-as well as some seldom encountered or listed in field guides-and include many that are found throughout the Great Plains.

Wildflowers are arranged first by dominant color groups for quick identification, then by family within each color category so that the user can compare a species with similarly colored flowers. Each entry for flower or grass includes a complete profile for any given plant: scientific name, family, common name(s), flowering period, height, distribution and habitat, life span, basic morphological characteristics, and notes on historical food and medicinal uses where applicable.

The book also features "finding aids" that allow one to narrow a specimen to a smaller number of possible matches-sometimes more quickly than by comparing it to the photos. These lists were created with the non-specialist in mind and are based on basic vegetative and floral features that are usually easy to determine.

Perfect for backpack or glove compartment, Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas offers a wealth of quick-access information graced with color that leaps off the page, making plant identification a joy rather than a chore. It's a book guaranteed to send even chronic homebodies out into the Great Outdoors in search of these elusive blooms. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Awesome Guide for Plants that are "In Bloom".
This is a fantastic book for those that love the wildflowers of the Kansas Prairie.I have not found and easier guide to help me learn and ID Kansas wildflowers.However, if you are interested in the taxonomy and ID prior to or beyond the flowering stage, of those plants that interest you, this book may disappoint you.I would not fail to recommend it to like minded associates.Peace! ... Read more

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Reviews (1)

Color the flowers, don't pick them.
Dover flower coloring books are hard to beat. Inexpensive & accurate, they are ideal for older children & adults & well-suited for a set of colored pencils rather than crayons. American Wild Flowers would please even Ladybird Johnson.

Bob Rixon ... Read more

Book Description

This authoritative and magnificently illustrated presentation of the art of flower depiction in the West is the third volume in a series of catalogues that describe the rare in some cases unique books, manuscripts, and other works of art conserved at Oak Spring Garden Library, Upperville, Virginia, a collection formed over many years by Rachel Lambert Mellon.The author, Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, has selected more than one hundred items from Oak Spring's extensive holdings, which include superb manuscript florilegia, botanical prints, books of instruction of every kind, still-life and vanitas paintings, and various ornamental ceramics and textiles.Among them are examples by some of the greatest names ever to have worked in either scientific or decorative botanical art Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, Georg Dionysius Ehret, Nicolas Robert, and Pierre Joseph Redoute.

An Oak Spring Flora is thematically organized, with topics ranging from Tulipomania and women artists to Dutch and Flemish painting and the search for exotics in remote lands.In her introductions the author provides the personal and contextual backgrounds that are essential for a real understanding and appreciation of floral illustration past and present.The sheer beauty as well as extraordinary skills encountered in, for example, manuscript florilegia by Jacob Marrel and Maria Sibylla Merian, hand-colored books by Pierre Vallet and G. B. Ferrari, and flower studies by John Constable and others, are testament to the high status accorded floral illustration over the centuries.

The latest addition to the Oak Spring Garden Library series will be of great interest to collectors of rare books and fine-art historians as well as to botanists, garden historians, and gardeners in general.

1997, 504 pages.9-5/8 x 11-1/4 inches, including 200 illustrations, over 157 of them in color. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A great botany reference!
This is one of the few text books I kept after the class. It's an invaluable general botany reference. The text is very readable, yet covers the material in great depth, which is no small feat considering the scope of the book.

I have reached Enlightenment
After meditating upon chapter one by the river a top the mountain, my essence dissociated from my body and i saw Buddha in a vission.

Translation: get this book!

never tought botany could be entertaining
When I first looked at this book I didn't tought I would learn so much from it. The book can get you interested even if you aren't interested from the beginning. The layout is excellent and written in a very userfriendly way. Really recommend it!

Terrific book; scholarly, thorough, accessible, entertaining
I read this book in random chunks, as a volunteer for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, but found the parts I read (long books are normally read by multiple readers, in order to prepare recorded versions as quickly as possible) so fascinating that I came back to buy the book for myself and read it all.

Profusely illustrated (and I will say that many of the illustrations are a Major Pain to describe aloud!), _very_ well organized, and deeply insightful, the book has an excellent style; elegant and readable without any loss of information. It contains descriptions both of the history of botanical research and the state of current knowledge (expanding by leaps and bounds), and points the way into the future. Highly recommended!

--Diana Gabaldon, Ph.D.

Excellent introductory text
I am a self-taught biology student with a special interest in botany. I've read sections of and otherwise skimmed all the plant biology texts printed in the past 40 years. This book is the one I bought for myself and read cover to cover and still refer to often. I recommend it highly, the more so for the solo reader. ... Read more

Book Description

Admired by plant enthusiasts, botanists, and nature lovers of all ages, wildflowers comprise one of the most beloved—and diverse—groupings of flora in South Carolina. Although relatively small in size, the Palmetto State hosts a remarkable variety of wildflower species, from the trillium and bloodroot that brighten its forests to heliotrope and common toadflax that dot the state's roadsides and fields. With color photographs (all by Richard D. Porcher) and extensive descriptions of more than 680 species, A Guide to the Wildflowers of South Carolina offers a complete and indispensable reference for finding and appreciating these natural treasures.

Employing the same innovative approach Richard D. Porcher used in Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry, he and Douglas A. Rayner simplify the task of identification by grouping species according to habitat. For each species identified, the authors include interesting facts—many not widely known or readily available—about rarity, suitability for garden cultivation, and origin of common and scientific names.

Of added interest, the botanists share itineraries for more than fifty wildflower expeditions and short essays on a variety of topics, including carnivorous plants, Carolina bays, native orchids, medicinal plants and folk remedies, poisonous plants, edible plants, and the role of fire in natural communities. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Very Informative
I took a class this summer and one of the Text we used was the Guide to Wildflowers of South Carolina. This book is very informative and gives many different topics for each plant listed. Later I met Dr. Porcher and he really knows his stuff.

Beautiful WildFlowers in The Country
My husband and I moved to the country,living on 5acres surrounded by woods.We have all kinds of beautiful wildflowers growing here.A guild to wildflowers in s.c.has helped us to identify alot of these flowers.what a wonderful book to have around.Its just full of helpful information on these plants. ... Read more

Book Description

This beautifully illustrated work is an invaluable reference which includes entries on more than 300 families of flowering plants, from Acanthaceae to Zygophyllaceae.Entries on each family consist of concise and readable accounts of the distribution, diagnostic features, classification, and economic uses of its members.More than 200 family entries are illustrated in full color, as are the comprehensive glossary and the informative introduction to the forms, structure, ecology, uses, and classification of flowering plants. Originally published in 1978, this new edition has been updated and corrected by Professor Heywood--one of the world's top authorities-- and is arranged taxonomically.The book serves as a classic reference that will be valued by naturalists, horticulturists, botanists, and everyone who enjoys the colorful elegance of plants. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great general reference
The book is a good, fundamental reference for flowering plants. I use it to supplement courses in botany and find it popular with my students. Indices & glossary are excellent, as are the figures for identifying features of reproductive and vegetative anatomy of plants. ... Read more

Book Description

From the Big Bend to the Big Thicket, from the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas is blessed with a dazzling array of wildflowers. Of the many species that adorn the state, Texas Wildflowers provides clear and concise descriptions for more than 300, complemented by 381 stunning full-color photographs. Not only the most prevalent species but also rare and unusual plants of startling beauty are illustrated and described.For more than three decades Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller have photographed the wildflowers of Texas, and their most exquisite photographs are reproduced here. The loveliest flowers from all regions of the state are represented, from the graceful calopogon orchid of the Big Thicket to the surprisingly delicate blooms of the Trans-Pecos cacti. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Still the best, after all these years.
I received a copy of "Texas Wildflowers" when I was in middle school, in preparation for a class assignment to collect, identify and preserve a variety of Texas wildflowers. I have held on to my copy for the past 18 years, and it's still the best book for identifying Texas wildlflowers! The photos are superb, and the location and identifying information for each flower is informative and interesting.

My only complaint is the book isn't bound in a weatherproof binding so I can bring it along on my annual wildflower photography visits to Texas locales such as Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park; McKinney Falls State Park; Inks Lake State Park and Burnet, Texas.

Un excelente libro de campo
Texas Wildflowers es un excelente libro para el biologo de campo, ya que cuenta con bellas fotografias de los ejemplares revisados en el libro. Es una ayuda para los estudiantes de botanica de Texas y el Noreste de Mexico. Solo le falta un indice por especie y uno por color de flores para su mejor manejo en campo. ... Read more

Book Description

Peterson First Guides are the first books the beginning naturalist needs.Condensed versions of the famous Peterson Field Guides, the First Guides focus on the animals, plants, and other natural things you are most likely to see.They make it fun to get into the field and easy to progress to the full-fledged Peterson Guides. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wild Flowers of NC
Excellent reference book for use in describing flowers growing in North Carolina at certain times of year.

Wild flowers of North Carolina
This is a good book to bring along on day hikes. Clear photos and identifying information. It is not about gardening wildflowers. ... Read more

Book Description

The Plant-Book is widely accepted as an essential reference text for anyone growing or writing about plants. In over 20,000 entries this comprehensive dictionary provides information on every family and genus of seed-bearing plant (including gymnosperms) plus ferns and other pteridophytes, combining taxonomic details with invaluable information on English names and uses. In this new edition each entry has been updated to take into consideration the most recent literature and over 2,500 new entries have been added, ensuring that The Plant-Book continues to rank among the most practical and authoritative botanical texts available. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Just the Best!
I purchased this reference a few years ago. Once I received it and began using it, I wondered how I'd ever gotten along without it. The author's British and so the dictionary's common names are more often "British" than "American", but it is still the handiest plant dictionary I have. It is a little larger than pocket size, but it is still small enough to be held comfortably in one hand.

A review is superfluous
This book does not need a review. Anybody who is involved in plants, other than the garden kind, knows full well that this is an essential reference. Quite up to date too, which is pretty amazing in view of the pace that science sets. There is an enormous mass of data in here, printed on very thin paper, making for a very handy book that will fit a spot near where you need it, which is likely to be often.

My most used reference book
As a graduate student in ecology I often encounter unfamiliar genera in the literature, and a quick peek in Mabberley gives me enough taxonomic grounding to keep plowing ahead. By constantly referring to this book, I have greatly improved my knowledge of plant relationships. ... Read more

Book Description

California Trees & Wildflowers, An Introduction to Familiar Species, is a must-have, reference guide for beginners and experts alike. Whether you're on a nature hike or taking a stroll in your neighborhood, you'll want to take along a copy of this indispensable guide.

The Pocket Naturalist(tm) series is an introduction to common plants and animals and natural phenomena. Each pocket-sized, folding guide highlights up to 150 species and most feature a map identifying prominent sanctuaries and outstanding natural attractions. Each is laminated for durability. ... Read more

Book Description

Generations of plant scientists have been fascinated by alpine plant life - with the exposure of organisms to dramatic climatic gradients over a very short distance. This comprehensive text treats a wide range of topics: alpine climate and soils, plant distribution and the treeline phenomenon, physiological ecology of water-, nutritional- and carbon relations of alpine plants, plant stress and plant development, biomass production, aspects of reproductive biology, and human impacts on alpine vegetation. Geographically the book covers all parts of the world including the tropics.This new edition of Alpine Plant Life has been fully updated. It now includes over a hundred new references, new diagrams, revised and extended chapters, and a geographic index. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This is the Bible for Trillium gardeners
The book has three main sections. The first section is an introduction which contains 6 pages about Trillium history, native geography, and plant relatives. 25 pages about the anatomy, biology, and ecology of Trillium. 13 pages on horticulture and propagation. 7 pages on conservation and bioethics.

The second section addresses Trillium taxonomy. It contains 6 pages on taxonomy, 13 pages on a taxonomic key to species, and 160 pages describing 38 species of Trilliums. Each species is fully described by common name, scientific name, key anatomy characteristic, flowering season, habitat, geographic distribution (including a map of distribution), varieties and forms.

The third section contains extra species information, glossary, and index. There are 22 pages about 5 Asiatic species, 8 page Glossary, 6 page Bibliography, and a 5 page Index by species.
In addition, there are 78 full color photographs. Photography is crisp and clear. Each species is presented in one or more large images.

This book is a classic! The writing is genius! It is informative, timely, and absolutely fascinating. Every detail you could imagine is revealed about this interesting collecting of plants. Whether your interest is as a botanist, horticulturalist, conservationist, or perennial gardener, you will find the information to be complete and exceptionally well written.

The book is a monograph on Trillium. It is the single key source of information on this genus. It is such a great blend of botany, horticulture, and inspired writing, that all other genus specific books will have to be measured against this work. I really loved the way the authors brought together all these diverse facts into one very readable text.

If you love Trillium and want to learn more about this beautiful plant - buy this book!

A long-overdue treatment of a complex, beautiful genus.
After almost half a century of exploration, study, and propagation, Fred and Roberta Case have produced a masterpiece. "Trilliums" offers a thouough discussion of the spring wildflowers variously known as 'wake-robin', 'sweet Beth' and 'Trinity Lily'. The book isn't perfect-the range maps look slightly tacky and may be inaccurate in a few cases-but the text is excellent and the color photographs are outstanding. Professionals and amateurs will find this book very satisfying. ... Read more