Grasses of Barbados - Poaceae (Sida, botanical miscellany)

Product Description

The easternmost island in the Lesser Antilles, Barbados is a grassy botanical crossroads inhabited by plants whose affinities are African, Asian, South American, Mesoamerican, and endemically Antillean. This small, cosmopolitan island has hosted human and animal visitors for millennia. Even the earliest settlers, Amerindians emanating from South America, were agriculturists and mariners, and no doubt brought cultivated plants and weeds with them. Then came persons with African and European ancestry as well as sailors and vacationers from every corner of the earth. All brought livestock with grass-bearing fodder and manure, garden plants, and weeds. Moreover, seeds and fruits wash up on the white sand beaches; migratory birds pass through; and wind born dust descends from distant African storms. Not all the plants are newcomers. Despite being one of the worlds most densely populated nations, Barbados is still home to minimally disturbed gullies and forest remnants, including the well known biological localities Graeme Hall Swamp and Turner Hall Woods. Here persist species remaining from the pre-human flora. Thus the grass flora of Barbados is an intriguing medley. On the heels of the Sedges of Barbados, this work includes 79 grass species growing free from cultivation. Each is described and keyed, and many are illustrated with black and white photographs. Biological and distributional notes are included, as are useful field recognition characteristics, synonymy, and literature citations. Almost every species was collected by the authors between 1996 1999, and these collections along with historic specimens in the Barbados National Herbarium are cited for each species. A history of grass floristics in Barbados is provided along with references to relevant literature. Previously reported species that are no longer encountered and newcomers to the flora are highlighted. This is the first-ever grass flora for Barbados based on specimens and prepared in a manner consistent with modern standards. The work is indispensable for anyone concerned with the botany, ecology, natural history, agriculture, and horticulture in Barbados, and it will be useful on the numerous less-studied Caribbean islands. As conservation and eco-tourism increase in importance simultaneously with residential and resort development, such floristic studies will become increasingly useful. There is a strong and growing conservation movement in Barbados, yet the flora is inadequately known. Co-author Ayanda Holder is a Barbadian student, who will carry her knowledge of grasses into her leadership role. A goal of this book to help such Caribbean students, teachers, naturalists, and leaders promote the growing familiarity and fascination with the fragile and intriguing plant life of Barbados and the entire Caribbean.

Customer Reviews:

Buy it for the photography.......2006-02-28

Not the most complete reference book on the subject, but the distinctive black-and-white phototography is excellent. A very different visual treatment than you'll find in most other books about Chesapeake Bay lighthouses.

Old Standby - Good on History.......2000-05-20

This was one of the first lighthouse books for this region, and because of that, it's kind of dull compared to some of the more recent ones. However, it's great for people who want historical information (for example, lighthouses that have been torn down) and for people who want a comprehensive list of area lighthouses, not just the most photogenic or easy to get to lighthouses!

Forgotten Beacons: Lighthouses & Lightships of the Chesapeake Bay

Average customer rating:

Some inaccuracies, photos not useful and poor quality
An Excellent Look Back

Forgotten Beacons: Lighthouses & Lightships of the Chesapeake Bay
Patrick Hornberger
Manufacturer: Eastwind Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews:

Some inaccuracies, photos not useful and poor quality.......2003-05-27

Somewhat disappointing. Not well written, poorly researched.

An Excellent Look Back.......2000-11-08

This book is a excellent companion to another great work by author Linda Turbyville entitled Bay Beacons: Lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay, which describes the existing lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay region. Like that earlier work, this book is a must-have for lighthouse and history enthusiasts desiring to learn more about the lighthouses and history of the Chesapeake Bay.

The book is divided by three time periods, and describes the lighthouses and lightships constructed during each of them. The text is teaming with interesting information on the lights themselves and the time period under which they were constructed, with information on their physical construction, the people involved, local events surrounding the lighthouses and lightships, and their ultimate demise.

Glossy black and white photographs abound throughout the book for each lighthouse or lightship under discussion, with lengthy descriptive text accompanying them which highlights the particulars of each light and its ultimate disposition (retirement and/or destruction). Other photos and text of interest include lighthouse lenses, attendant apparatus, unique lighthouse construction methods, lighthouse keepers, keeper's quarters, lighthouse tenders and depots.

A final chapter concerning the Maryland and Delaware Canal ends the book, along with a summation of the final years of manned lighthouses and the Coast Guard's ultimate automation of the remaining lights that dot the Chesapeake Bay. It's a wonder to consider how many lighthouses and lightships were implimented in the Chesapeake Bay over the years. The reader will be left to conclude that the end of an era has indeed passed along with these "forgotten beacons."

Book Description

For lighthouse lovers in the Empire State, this charming guide to New York's coastal beacons features more than thirty-five historic structures situated on the Great Lakes, Long Island, and the Hudson River.

Customer Reviews:

If I didn't know better..........2006-05-04

Let me start by saying I didn't want to review this book because my own book on the same subject will be released in approximately two months. But after receiving this book yesterday and reading it over, I felt there were some things that needed to be pointed out, especially with regard to the information presented about Long Island's lighthouses.

This book contains a great deal of incorrect information. This seems to be a problem with Globe Pequot's lighthouse books, but it is especially inexcusable with regard to Long Island's lighthouses, as there is a tremendous amount of accurate and publicly accessible information available. Here are just some of the problems:

Page 8: "Horton's Point, built in 1790." Horton's Point was commissioned in 1790, but the property for the lighthouse could not be obtained until the 1850s (from Charles and Hannah Payne). The lighthouse itself was not built until 1857.

Page 11: The photo and description of the Montauk Point optic is outdated. Since 2001, the lighthouse has housed a VRB-25, not the DCB-224 "airport-style rotating lamps" shown. The photo on the previous page is also quite old, showing the top of the tower as white, and the band on the tower brown. The lantern roof is now black, and the tower stripe was painted a more historically accurate reddish-brown in 1999.

Page 13: Race Rock was not first lit "February 21, 1879." According to the Lighthouse Board's 1879 Annual Report, "the light shone from the tower for the first time on January 1, 1879." Also, it is not a red and white flashing light, although it had been years ago when the old Fourth Order Fresnel lens (an unusual part-classical/part-bivalve lens) was in the tower. The characteristic is now flashing red.

Page 14: "after the [Little Gull Island] light was automated in 1978, the Coast Guard demolished the dwelling." That 1940s dwelling was torn down in 2002, 24 years after automation.

Page 15: "a team of laborers spent two weeks sawing through the big cylinder [the brick Shinnecock Bay tower] and, finally, down it came like a mighty redwood." Actually, the contractors shored up the base of the tower's interior with timbers, jackhammered the bricks away on one side, and lit the timbers on fire. When the timbers burned through, the tower fell over.

Page 17: "the builders piled hundreds of tons of broken stone around the [Orient Point Light's] base." The first rocks, about 9244 tons of them, were installed between September 1902 and May 1903, when the lighthouse was already a few years old. Also: "Painted brown at the top and white on the bottom..." It was brown, from head to toe. Finally: "[Keeper] Anderson served for twenty years in the Coffee Pot." Anderson served two years there (1899 to 1901). According to official documents, after he completed his service at Orient Point, he was later appointed as the First Assistant Keeper at the Twin Lights at Navesink in 1903, where he was until at least 1912. Anderson also served with another native Norwegian, Arthur Jensen, at Eaton's Neck.

Page 18: "From 1903 to 1904 Stella Prince served as keeper of the Horton Point Light... Appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, she was one of only a few women ever to receive official appointment as a lighthouse keeper." These statements are false on several points: During the last quarter of 1903 and first quarter of 1904, Prince served as an Acting Laborer, appointed by the Treasury Department, while Keeper Robert Ebbitts recovered from a broken leg. Also, there were several official female keepers in the area. At nearby Old Field Point, for instance, Mrs. Edward Shoemaker, Elizabeth Smith, and Mary Foster all served as the station's official keeper. There were also many official female assistant keepers in the area and throughout the United States. Also, the site's museum is not housed in the tower. It is located on the first floor of the dwelling, and in an adjacent oil house. It is worth noting that the photo on page 19 dates back to at least 1993, prior to the completion of the restoration of this lighthouse, including the rebuilding of a wooden porch, some iron work, and other details.

Page 20: The Old Field Light was not "completed in 1868," although that is the date cast into the base of the tower. It was completed in 1869; the materials arrived on site too late in 1868 to build the lighthouse. Also: "It replaced an earlier, though similar, structure." The earlier lighthouse was a 30-foot octagonal stone tower with a detached stone dwelling, not at all similar to the rectangular 1869 granite dwelling with a beveled square cast-iron tower mounted on the front of the roof. Finally, it does not serve as the Village Hall. The original keepers' dwelling handles that duty.

I could go through the rest of the book's 90-ish pages and point out more errors, both blatant and subtle, but the above should make the point that the research and writing was done without respect for the history of the sites, or the readers of this book.

On the positive side, there are some nice color photos, a map showing the stations included in the book, a glossary of lighthouse terms, and the book's price is cheap (considering the problems with the text, you might just be getting what you are paying for, though).

The final test for me is the thought that school kids will be using this book as a reference. These children will trust that Jones and Roberts, as well as the folks at Globe Pequot, have respect for the subject matter and their readers. This trust, in this case, is misplaced, and historians, docents, and future researchers and writers will have to work that much harder to correct the inaccuracies in the book. I have a couple of young writers that I mentor -- this book will serve as a "what not to do" example for them.

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Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses Map & Guide
Peter Bachelder , and Robert Hartnett
Manufacturer: Hartnett House Map Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Map

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ASIN: 1888216239

Book Description

Illustrated map and guide to every standing lighthouse in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Each lighthouse is located on a highway map of the region. Thirty illustrations, commissioned expressly for the map, show the beauty and styles of Mid-Atlantic lighthouses. Also shown are "lost Lights," and maritime museums. The guide gives brief histories of each lighthouse, as well as specific directions to the site, or the best viewing spots.

Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, 2nd: Hudson River to Chesapeake Bay (Lighthouse Series)

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Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, 2nd: Hudson River to Chesapeake Bay (Lighthouse Series)
Ray Jones
Manufacturer: Globe Pequot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0762730420

Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses (Lighthouse Series)

Average customer rating:

These books are good for finding the lights that are in them
Gorgeous pictures and informative text
Great Picture Book for Lighthouse Lovers

Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses (Lighthouse Series)
Ray Jones
Manufacturer: Globe Pequot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1564409848

Book Description

This book takes readers on a regional tour of 49 lighthouses and 4 lightships from the Hudson River to Chesapeake Bay.

Customer Reviews:

These books are good for finding the lights that are in them.......2002-04-16

There are directions and other info for finding and visiting lighthouses. They do not always show all lights for a given area. The photos are all color. I own 3 of these books. There are not many other guide books out there so if you are looking for guide books these are good to have. Since there are so many books in this series I thought I'd help people find them easier. This is the series.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
American Lighthouses
California Lighthouses
Eastern Great Lakes Lighthouses - I own this one
Western Great Lakes Lighthouses - I own this one
Southeastern Lighthouses - I own this one
Southern Lighthouses
New England Lighthouses
Mid Atlantic Lighthouses
Gulf Coast Lighthouses

Gorgeous pictures and informative text.......2002-04-12

I love Atlantic coast lighthouses and this book is a dream come true, chock full of images and info on mid-atlantic lighthouses and light ships, including how to get to each one that is open to public. A must for lighthouse lovers, esp. those like me who love the mightly Atlantic!

Great Picture Book for Lighthouse Lovers.......2000-08-04

Bruce Roberts is one of the best lighthouse photographers working in the U.S. today. He and his partner Ray Jones produce great lighthouse travel guides. For each lighthouse featured, you get a great picture from Roberts, a little historical story from Jones and directions of how to get to the lighthouse. Lighthouse lovers could scarcely ask for more.

Sentinels of the Shore: A Guide to the Lighthouses and Lightships of New Jersey

Average customer rating:

Lighting the Way
At last, a guide to New Jersey's lighthouses!

Sentinels of the Shore: A Guide to the Lighthouses and Lightships of New Jersey
Bill Gately
Manufacturer: Down The Shore Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Touring New Jersey's Lighthouses

ASIN: 0945582374

Book Description

When people think of New Jersey's lighthouses, most think of a famous few: Barnegat, Sandy Hook, Twin Lights, and Cape May. But did you know that from New York Harbor, down along the coast to Cape May and up the Delaware Bay, the total number of lightstations, past and present, is 49? Surprisingly, 26 New Jersey lighthouses remain standing today. This comprehensive full-color hardcover guide includes all of the present and former lighthouses and lightships that are part of the state's maritime history. This book provides historical information as well as stories of the keepers and notable achievements, and includes 40 full-color photographs. Directions and locations for visitors are provided. The book also includes a thorough lighthouse bibliography and color fold-out map of all past and present New Jersey lightstations, and can be easily slipped into a large pocket or backpack.

Customer Reviews:

Lighting the Way.......2002-10-14

This is a great little reference book for those who travel the NJ waterways and/or have an interest in the history of the NJ lights. In addition to the more well known NJ lights such as "Old Barney" at the Barnegat Inlet and Twin Lights in Sandy Hook, Gately's book lists them all, including some which no longer stand.

Although very interesting, many of the listings leave the reader wanting more details. I hope a new edition, at some point, will provide more!

At last, a guide to New Jersey's lighthouses!.......1998-08-25

For those who love lighthouses -- traveling to them, photographing them, and reading about them -- Bill Gately's Sentinels of the Shore is a welcome guide and a lovely little tome anyone would be delighted to receive as a gift. It's also an important tribute to numerous historically significant lighthouses, such as Navesink Twin Lights, a unique set of multiple beacons that once served as a testing station for new optics and illuminants; Sandy Hook, the oldest standing, operational lighthouse in the U.S. and an excellent example of Colonial architecture; the Statue of Liberty, herself a lighthouse that still lifts a symbolic beacon over New York Harbor; and stately Barnegat Light, guardian of New Jersey's "Graveyard of Ships" and one of the state's most-visited sentinels. Inside, readers will find up-to-date information and color photos of about 30 other lighthouses. The defunct lightships also are included, along with historical sketches and rare archival material. There's a friendly, full-color foldout map showing the location of the lights and detailed directions for travelers. The author, an active preservationist and member of several lighthouse societies, has done a thorough job researching and presenting the lights of the Garden State, past and present. This one is priced right, pretty, and useful, but also enjoyable. It can go easily from the car glove box to the sitting room coffee table to the bedside bookshelf.

Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast (Pictorial Discovery Guide)

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Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast (Pictorial Discovery Guide)
Elinor Dewire , and Paul Eric Johnson
Manufacturer: Voyageur Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0896585700

Book Description

Interest in the history and preservation of lighthouses has never been stronger. Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast details the history of lighthouses and much more, and shows why these structures continue to fascinate us. Discover what life for lighthouse keepers was really like. Learn about the history of U.S. colonial lighthouses and the role lighthouses have played in several wars. Meet the brave, nefarious, and colorful characters who served as lighthouse keepers and government overseers. Learn about lighthouse technology and architecture and find out how these treasures are being preserved. Paul Eric Johnson’s photography has been published throughout the world in books, magazines, calendars, and advertising.

Average customer rating:

COOL BOOK

Lighthouse of the Atlatic Seaboard

Manufacturer: Browntrout Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 1563138131

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COOL BOOK.......2004-03-01

AS YOU ALL KNOW I COLLECTED LIGHTHOUSES

Lightships: Floating Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast

Average customer rating:

A Fantastic Lightship Book

Lightships: Floating Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast
Wayne Kirklin
Manufacturer: History Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Product Description

Moored near shifting shoals and treacherous reefs, lightships remained on station during all weather conditions and played a vital role in keeping America's waterways safe for navigation. From 1820 to 1985, light vessels warned of treacherous seas and pointed the way to safe harbors. In Lightships, author Wayne Kirklin chronicles the eighty-five ships that protected the mid-Atlantic coast and they heyday of these special craft. From New York Harbor to the southernmost edge of North Carolina's notorious Cape Fear, Kirklin details the unsung role this fleet played in keeping America s merchant marines safe. Read Lightships to discover a forgotten but vital element of American maritime history.

Customer Reviews:

A Fantastic Lightship Book.......2007-09-21

This is a great book on a little known subject. Everbody knows about lighthouses and there is a tremendous amout of lore that goes with them. Lightships, really just floating lighthouses, can be much more interesting.

The book is well researched and very well written. It will be a joy to those few lightship buffs and it will make enthusiasts out of any other readers.

A good read!

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