Guide to Flowering Plant Families
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Book Overview
Understanding the flowering plants of any region begins with the recognition of families. This remarkable volume, created to serve students, professionals, and other plant enthusiasts, covers 130 temperate to tropical families common in North America with detailed illustrations and modern referenced commentaries. Each family discussion includes a diagnosis and summary of characteristics, distribution data, important economic members, and pollination ecology. The book's most striking feature is Zomlefer's 158 original pen-and-ink plates depicting intricate dissections of 312 species.
The content of the family discussions is geared to readers who have completed one introductory biology course. For readers less familiar with botanical terminology, Zomlefer provides an illustrated glossary of 551 terms with more than 300 drawings. Other important tutorial features are twenty-two detailed charts that compare pertinent characteristics of certain related plant groups and a general chart that summarizes the salient features of the families covered in the text. Both amateurs and professionals will particularly enjoy the chapter on examining, dissecting, and sketching live material.
The content of the family discussions is geared to readers who have completed one introductory biology course. For readers less familiar with botanical terminology, Zomlefer provides an illustrated glossary of 551 terms with more than 300 drawings. Other important tutorial features are twenty-two detailed charts that compare pertinent characteristics of certain related plant groups and a general chart that summarizes the salient features of the families covered in the text. Both amateurs and professionals will particularly enjoy the chapter on examining, dissecting, and sketching live material.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0807844705
ISBN13:9780807844700
Release Date:January 1995
Publisher:University of North Carolina Press
Length:448 Pages
Weight:2.79 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 8.4" x 10.9"
Customer Reviews
4 ratings
Excellent, but not for the beginner
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
This is the last word in botanical family id. But the vocabulary is very dense, which makes Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary an essential adjunct to it.
Great resource for a beginner
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
I got this book because I needed to learn about plants and I needed a no nonsense, basic introduction to the plant families of the world--not just trees, not just herbs, and not just information from one part of the world. This book is all that and more. The descriptions of each family use botanical terminology, there are clear line drawings of the taxonomically informative characters, and economically important species are listed in each family. Because I am not an expert on plants, I can't comment on the accuracy of the information, but I can say that this book has been a great resource for me, as a novice botanist. My only complaint (and this is a minor one, because this is not supposed to be a field guide) is that I am unfamiliar with many of the families and color photos would really help me to learn to recognize the plants in nature. I highly recommend this book.
Great Reference
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
This book is awesome for finding taxonomic ranks, especially that above family status. I work with plant ID's and really use this book to help with finding the obscure ones.
Wonderful reference!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Once again Wendy Zomlefer has provided us with a beautiful, yet very functional, work of art. This book is an excelent reference for both the general public and the seasoned botanist.
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