Product Description
An introduction to the botanical richness of one of southern California s major waterways The Santa Ana River is the largest watercourse in the heavily populated coastal plain of southern California. Despite the encroachment of urban development, however, the river and its environs are home to over eight hundred plant species. In this seminal guide to the flora of the Santa Ana River, Oscar F. Clarke and his team have compiled descriptions of three hundred species, accompanied by 3,200 images and illustrations. The book also serves as an introduction to basic botanical concepts, applying phylogenetics the study of evolutionary relationships between species to taxonomic structure. Surprising connections emerge with an understanding of the relationships between these plants, as well as between the trees, flowers, and other types of flora in all regions of the world. The culmination of a lifetime of botanical study, this guide is a must-have for anyone interested in learning more about green, growing things.
Customer Reviews:
For beginners and others. Beautiful........2007-04-26
Oscar Clarke's book on the Santa Ana River has a very special meaning for Southern California. It illustrates the surprising and beautiful results from imported water. The most dramatic demonstration is in the Santa Ana River. Superficially the Santa Ana doesn't appear to be such a great river. But that is because most of the flow is underground. And much of that water was imported. Users along the course pass the used water to the soil beneath them, and it joins the flow.
The result is a springtime display (and year-round too) of water-loving plants, and drier species on the slopes above. The magic of imported water brings back the floristic beauty that we might have supposed was lost with the "development" of Southern California. Of course we also get species that were considered alien, but many of them are beautiful too.
Oscar's easy and natural approach to evolution-based systematics is described on Page 5. He tells how to remember the series: kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, species. For the huge Sunflower family, this series is not sufficient to bring order, and the family is divided into 14 tribes (as listed on Page 355) before dividing further into genus and species.
Oscar's description of tribes in the Sunflower family appears to be a traditional listing, similar to that in Munz, P.A. "A Manual of Southern California Botany" (1935), referenced by Oscar. But there has been some moving of particular genera to different tribes, some merging of tribes, some name updates, and the addition of two tribes from Africa, including that of the Freeway Daisy.
Getting technical for a moment, I can remark that the division into tribes is imperfect, with overlaps and uncertainties due to the contrary effects of speciation and evolutionary convergence. More recent floras such as the encyclopedic and authoritative 1993 Jepson Manual attempt to improve upon the tribes with newly constructed "groups", but I think the imperfection remains.
The book is an easy introduction to flower hunting for beginners. But those who have lists of flowers from past jaunts, and would like to recall pleasant memories, can also use it. There can be confidence that nearly every species along the Santa Ana River is included.
Brilliant and not limited to the Santa Ana River.......2007-03-19
This is, by far, the best book I've ever seen on botany with incredible pictures, phenominal keys, and a useful description of the plants that puts them in a perspective that helps the reader to understand how these plants fit into the rest of the planet's botany.
The authors' understanding of botany is exceptional.
The title of the book might limit its audience but botanical professionals and novices alike will find this book extremely useful and engaging.
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Plant Diversity of an Andean Cloud forest: Inventory of the Vascular Flora of Maquipucuna, Ecuador (University of California Publications in Botany)
Grady L. Webster , and
Robert Rhode
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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ASIN: 0520098307 |
Book Description
Based on work spanning a decade, this study of the Maquipucuna area on the western slopes of the Andes discusses the climate, vegetation, ecological relationships, and flora, and emphasizes the importance of the Maquipucuna area as a biological reserve. In addition to the checklist of the flora, which enumerates 1,650 species (including 228 species of pteridophytes and over 200 species of orchids), appendices give information on floristic composition of communities, distribution of epiphytes, and elevational ranges of families and genera. The illustrations include a map, landscapes, and characteristic species.
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Origin and Relationships of the California Flora
Peter H. Raven , and
Daniel I. Axelrod
Manufacturer: California Native Plant Society
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0943460271 |
Customer Reviews:
Still the essential flora for southern California.......2001-06-04
Published after Munz's death more than 25 years ago, A Flora of Southern California remains an essential tool for plant identification in this part of the state.
Neither this nor the Jepson Manual is a book for an unguided beginner. Amature botanists will find this (or any true flora) intimidating as they begin to work with it. But with persistence and, probably, a field course in plant identification, they will learn that no wildflower guide, even with its nice pictures, can substitute for a flora for its exhaustive coverage and (usually) objective, though often difficult, identification keys.
Botany students and professionals need to make accurrate identifications, and need all the help they can get. Picture books, the newer Jepson Manual, local or regional floras and lists and (ESPECIALLY) access to a reference collection all are essential. Don't overlook Munz!
I use them both every day, but if I were permitted only one reference source for my work in southern California (the deserts and the coastal region south of Santa Barbara), I would select Munz over the Jepson Manual.
Using Munz's keys in southern California, the user need sort through only about half the taxa that appear in the larger State floras, so identifications are faster. Further, many (but of course not all) of Munz's keys use better characters than those in the Jepson Manual. But it is Munz's descriptions of the plants' geographic ranges that make his book indispensable. He used text (rather than geographic codes as in the Jepson Manual) and place names in his descriptions. And for plants that are narrowly endemic to one area, he made that clear. While I do not object to the Jepson Manual's geographic codes, I have been seriously disappointed with its incomplete, inaccurrate, and unnecessarily vague geographic ranges.
Other useful features in Munz's work not found in the Jepson Manual are flowering seasons (shown as months, e.g., May-June) and chromosome numbers. The latter are especially useful when confronted with seeming intermediate specimens, to help resolve suspicions about hybridization.
Sadly, botany instructors and students seem to believe that the Jepson Manual (1993) rendered Munz's works (this and his larger California Flora of 1959, w/ 1968 supplement) obsolete. They have not. While much of the nomenclature has been changed in the newer work, only some of the revisions represent real improvements in taxonomy. Just as often, name changes are silly splits within obviously cohesive groups. And in botany, newer names are not necessarily "right." I would expect much of the taxonomy in the Jepson Manual to revert to that of earlier works in future floras.
....
Munz's S. California Flora.......2000-03-29
Crammed into 1,086 pages is a fine reference work covering nearly every known vascular plant of Southern California. The book contains definitions of its geographical boundaries, an introduction to plant families, the main text, and concludes with a glossary prior to its index. In the index one will find both the common and scientific names.
In order to cover such a vast amount of material, Dr. Munz does not have long descriptions of each plant, rather he is brief but pertinent. The main identifying features are listed, and often a fine line drawing is available.
Dr. Munz is an expert in California botany, and it shows in this standard work. This is an essential tool for all those who need vital plant information for identification purposes.
The only flaw I find, is that he does not fully cite his references, which is needed to validate species reclassifications. This text should also be supplemented with newer works for information on newer species and the changes in some classifications. All in all a fine book, well bound and printed.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent BOTANICAL key to plants growing in California.......2000-06-06
This is a technical book for keying out plants growing in the wild in California -- both native and naturalized species. This includes detailed botanical descriptions from plant kingdom Divisions down to species and sub-species and everything in between. Each species is described in detail and where it is found is described.
However, no information on garden culture or ornamental uses is provided. Therefore is is not the book to buy if you want information on gardening with native plants.
Customer Reviews:
A good resource........2002-05-21
"Several plant taxa reach their northern distribution limit on the coastal lowlands of San Diego County... several taxa ... occur in the San Diego County mountains as the southern limit of their ranges." Beauchamp makes this modest observation in his exhaustive catalog of the flora of San Diego County, California, one of the most biologically diverse areas in the United States, if not the world. The book is a wonderful resource for anyone fascinated with this diversity. Beauchamp's catalog has no photos or drawings of the plants, and minimal descriptions. Latin taxonomy is used; where common names are mentioned, it is in a most general way. For these reasons, whether you are a botanist or an interested novice (like myself) you will want supplemental resources. However the illustrated field guides, although easier to obtain, are less thorough. Beauchamp's Flora also lists areas in which the various species are found, and does so in a less general way than do the popular field guides. The location specificity can be very helpful, if, for instance, you find yourself questioning whether wild buckwheat occurs in the Bucksnort Mountains (but you will need to know the Latin name for what is called wild buckwheat). The book also lists the frequency of occurrence in cited locations. This volume may be hard to find, but it is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the region's botany.
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- Thomas would be pleased
- An Indispensible Work for the Committed Landowner
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Flora of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California: A Manual of the Vascular Plants
John Thomas
Manufacturer: Stanford University Press
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Binding: Paperback
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California Native Plants for the Garden
ASIN: 0804718628 |
Customer Reviews:
Thomas would be pleased.......2007-02-10
The book was at a descent price, and had the option for free shipping- very nice! The book came on time, and I was pleased with fast shipping and condition of the book. Well done.
An Indispensible Work for the Committed Landowner.......2004-04-11
I am a property owner in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This flora has been indispensable to me as a guide by which to restore my land. Its keys are, for the most part, comprehensible and useful to the amateur. Its detailed references to where the plants were found are a blessing in a region with enormous climate and soil variations. It is purely a scientific work by a man who loved the land.
The Santa Cruz Mountains have an incredibly complex flora. They are located at the confluence of three major botanical regions: North Coast, Central Coast, and Inland. As a consequence, a single parcel can have a bewildering array of plants. On my fourteen acres alone, I have distinguished over 240 species, of which 60 are exotics. Without a good flora, I would be lost, killing things that are native and letting exotics pass simply because the task of weeding is so physically and intellectually overwhelming.
The rewards of this kind of work can be equally overwhelming, and I owe a personal debt to botanists such as Thomas. I am astonished that this was but a graduate dissertation. I can only say that I wish his ability, integrity, and energy was more common.
Modern flora, although blessed with the benefit of DNA analysis, can be needlessly complicated with innumerable "subspecies" that, from my observations, may only be hybrids or simply variants based upon distinctions important only to the professional career of the botanist. Although Thomas' book may be in that respect somewhat dated, it is also a blessing. I am often faced with making distinctions on attributes belonging to separate "species" that are shared by individuals on the same parcel! Jepson, while equally indispensable and supposedly definitive, can, in that respect, be maddening. "Plants of the San Francisco Bay Region," by Beldeman and Kolzoff and "Coastal County Plants from Santa Cruz to Mendocino," by George Pikkaranien, although less comprehensive than Jepson, are, in some respects, more useful, if only because of the photographs and references to attrributes of typical habitat.
I use Thomas, Pikkaranien, and Beldeman/Kolzoff to get close with my identification, confirm it with the CalFlora web site (where the photographs are usually poor), and complete the identification process using Jepson, both the text and the online version, which sometimes don't agree. My only criticism of Thomas is that I wish there were more of those excellent drawings.
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- The definitive Yosemite Flora Guide
- a yosemite nature lovers dream flora book
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An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park
Stephen J. Botti
Manufacturer: Yosemite Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0939666987 |
Customer Reviews:
The definitive Yosemite Flora Guide.......2002-08-16
We purchased this book in Yosemite and talked with Stephen Botti at length. He is a conscientious student, and now master, of Yosemite plants. Before our hike, we studied his book and were rewarded on the trail with plants he described. The book is full of color pictures; a nice reminder of what we saw in Yosemite this summer on those cold days back home in winter.
a yosemite nature lovers dream flora book.......2001-11-09
this long awaited nature book, although expensive, is worth every single penny. AS a long time lover of yosemite I thought I had fairly well explored its flora wonders---wrong. For the last two months I have consulted its index, made lists and notations, and dreamed about next spring.
Product Description
The only annotated catalog of the native, naturalized, and adventive vascurlar plants of mainland Santa Barbara County, adjacent related areas, and four nearby Channel Islands. Illustrated with line drawings.
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- State Atlas Review
- Very good except...
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Iowa Atlas & Gazetteer
DeLorme
Manufacturer: Delorme Mapping Company
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North Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer (North Carolina Atlas and Gazetteer)
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Indiana Atlas & Gazetteer
ASIN: 0899333362
Release Date: 2004-03-01 |
Product Description
You'll always have exactly the right kind of map with the uniquely versatile DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer. These indispensable atlases cover individual states with unequaled detail, including back roads, land contours, lakes and streams, boat ramps, forests, wetlands, trailheads, campgrounds, public lands, hunting and fishing spots, and much more.
Customer Reviews:
State Atlas Review.......2006-06-25
There just is not a better book or piece of information to have than a state atlas when travelling. With the atlas, you are able to get (off the beaten path), see the "hard to get to" areas of the United States, and actually get back on track again. You will do all of this and never get lost!
These books are amazing. Not only do they have all the gravel roads but even the dirt roads! Buy the Atlas, you won't be sorry.
Very good except..........2003-01-23
This atlas, like other products from DeLorme, provides high quality maps. It contains very useful information and detailed maps of the entire state. There are no city maps in the atlas which is its only flaw. Larger metro areas like Des Moines, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities ought to be shown in greater detail.
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