Plants and Trees Books

Sonoran tree communities range from coastal mangroves along the Gulf of California to pine forests atop the Sierra Madre on the continental divide, with thornscrub and tropical deciduous forest filling many of the gaps. While many genera familiar to gringo tree-watchers can be found in Sonora's 285 species-dendroflora -- such as pines, oaks, junipers, alders, ashes,cottonwoods and willows -- most are tropical Americans pressing on their northern boundaries. This new sylva, the first of the state of Sonora, documents the tree species of this enormous oft-overlooked region.And it does so with extraordinary grace and style, blending careful plant science with elegant botanical illustrations and photographs, and clear, accessible writing. For example, "The acorns are eaten fresh and are often consumed in local cantinas - the floors becoming littered with the empty shells" (Emory oak) and "No other Sonoran oak has leaves so densely velvety and fuzzy on both surfaces" (Chihuahua oak).
Among the ecological,historical, and descriptive information in the species narratives are the English, Spanish, and local Indian names of the taxa, as well as shrewd evaluations of the numerous nomenclatural and taxonomic issues that surround many of the species. As a writer of tree books who values reliable, original, and clear information on the dendroflora of botanical regions, I consider this book a rare find. Its authors have spent many years in fruitful field study of a rugged and undervalued region and have produced a volume of the highest quality. Their publisher has done a fine job of designing and manufacturing this attractive contribution to the Mexican flora.

I love this book, I had the priviledge of meeting Carl G. Hunter a couple of years ago and am very proud that he has done such a great job on producing this book. If you are in Arkansas, this book is still available at most State Parks, though at the original sale price.

This book is so interesting. There is so much information inside this little book it is just great. Easily readable for kids and tells them everything they could want to know about trees, from the very top, to the very bottom. Makes a walk through the woods so much fun, being able to point out all the different trees and seeds you now know from reading this book. We love it!

This book has some of the best line drawings and descriptions. It is a must if you are trying to ID the many species of trees in the Coastal Plain.

This book is a must have for professionals in the horticulture industry, especially if you are working in a tropical or sub-tropical environment. It is also easy to understand for the home gardener! The descriptions are truly great and there is a color picture of almost every plant mentioned. I have borrowed a friend's copy numerous times to get information for work. I definatly recommend finding a copy for yourself.

Marcelo Villegas's books on Guadua construction and the history of the Colombian building and their bamboo culture. I purchased this book in a bookstore in Bogotá in 2002 and it really blew my mind. I alter returned to Colombia to visit the areas photographed in the book. I later started a business and I can honestly say if it were not for this book and his net book New Bamboo I would have never had the inspiration to start this exciting business. The book is not as intensive as his proceeding book New Bamboo but I could not recommend high enough.

The recent proliferation of books on tropical ecology is a goodthing, but it might make it difficult to decide which books toread. I've read almost all the books on tropical ecology and taughtseveral tropical ecology courses, and this is the best work I've seenyet. It is definitely not a text book and should not be used as such,but it covers all the major issues in tropical ecology while focusingon one of the best studied neotropical ecosystems: Barro ColoradoIsland. I recommend this book to anyone interested in tropicalecology.

John Pape is an affable gardening expert in Fresno, California. He hosts a gardening show called "The Art of Gardening" on public television. I enjoyed this book because the information is local to Central California. It helped me to select a new tree for one part of my yard and to diagnose a problem with an oaks tree in another part.

A wonderful educational book for all ages. Although the summary indicates this book is for children 9-12, I used this book for a presentation on the rain forest to children from 5-6 years old. The teacher of the class enjoyed the book so much, she is requesting a copy for her classroom. If anyone is considering a trip to a tropical environment with children, this would be a fabulous book to take along.

This First Nature book about Flowers, by Usborne is informative, colorful and fun. With lots of information being offered, there are also activities that kids can do, like the one corner of the book is like a flip book. Fan the pages and you can see a flower bloom. There is even a fun flower ID quiz in the back.

This book definitely would have been a hit when my kids were little!

Happy reading, and take time to smell the real flowers too!

Marykay
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