Guide to Flowering Plant Families / Edition 1

by Wendy B. Zomlefer

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807844700
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/27/1995
Edition description:	1
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	818,336
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Dr. Wendy B. Zomlefer is a curator at the University of Georgia Herbarium. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in botany from the University of Florida and her B.S. in botany from the University of Vermont. She is a plant taxonomist with numerous scientific publications and also has over twenty-five years experience as a professional scientific illustrator.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Wendy Zomlefer has written a scholarly but eminently readable book that is highlighted by her superb drawings. This work will be an invaluable tool in the taxonomy lab."—Rudolf Schmid, University of California, Berkeley



The major flowering plant families have rarely been presented in so accessible a manner as in Zomlefer's new book. I highly recommend it to all plant enthusiasts."—Brian M. Boom, New York Botanical Garden

Editorial Reviews

Highly recommended!

"Castanea"

A book for taxonomists and for book lovers, a pleasure to hold and to open at any point.

Neil A. Harriman, "Economic Botany"

Anyone enthusiastic about plants should have the volume on their shelves.

Sandra Knapp, "Nature"

As taxonomically accurate as it is beautiful, and fills a real need in the community of systematic botanists.

Walter S. Judd, "Systematic Botany"

Superbly executed. . . . An impressive amount of thought, labor, and firsthand experience with plants obviously went into this synthesis.

Rudolf Schmid, "Taxon"

"A book for taxonomists and for book lovers, a pleasure to hold and to open at any point.

Neil A. Harriman, "Economic Botany""

"Anyone enthusiastic about plants should have the volume on their shelves.

Sandra Knapp, "Nature""

"As taxonomically accurate as it is beautiful, and fills a real need in the community of systematic botanists.

Walter S. Judd, "Systematic Botany""

"Superbly executed. . . . An impressive amount of thought, labor, and firsthand experience with plants obviously went into this synthesis.

Rudolf Schmid, "Taxon""

From the Publisher

This comprehensive, illustrated guide characterizes 130 flowering plant families common in the native and naturalized floras of the temperate and tropical regions of the United States. Arranged according to Thorne's classification scheme, each family entry contains descriptions of major plant parts (leaves, flowers, fruits), distinguishing chemical and morphological features, distribution data, major genera and species in the group, economic plants and products, and commentary on pollination biology and taxonomic problems. High-quality pen-and-ink artwork by Zomlefer, a plant taxonomist and scientific illustrator, is used to illustrate the important family characteristics of over 300 representative species. Information on botanical illustrations, comparative data charts, an illustrated glossary, and a family summary chart with floral formulas round out this quality work. This affordable taxonomy textbook is an excellent purchase for every library supporting horticultural or botanical studies.-Teresa Elberson, Lafayette P.L., La.

Library Journal