Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants
"A beautiful book, with 500 full-color photographs and a scientific, yet understandable, way of describing exactly what was what...cultivates appreciation for backyard blooming things."  --Bob Morris, Ft. Myers News Press, 23 September, 1984."A book with beautiful colored slide reproductions of Florida wild flowers, welcomed by professional and amateur botanists as well as people who enjoy nature and wish to know only the common names of plants."  --Helen Correll, Fairchild Tropical Garden.Earlier books on Florida wildflowers are either too brief, not illustrated, or have a marked horticultural slant. Here 500 out of 3500 species are briefly but well described and photographed. The characteristics for each plant are coded, and there are further technical references. The key to the code is diagrammed on the end covers and explained in the introduction, so read it well before using the book. Small dot range maps, a time-of-flowering diagram, and a 3-cm bar scale are part of each description. A glossary, a key to genera, and an index to plant names conclude the book. Plants mentioned in the text, but not illustrated, are in parentheses in the index. They add up to an additional 215 species. This is a welcome book, both for Florida residents and for the many visitors to the state who are intrigued with the new and interesting plants they encounter.  --Book Reviews/ Winter 1984For years I have kept an eye peeled for a comprehensive book on the flora of Florida. Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants is a selection of 500 color plates, with descriptions, of native and naturalized plants found throughout Florida. An outstanding advance toward filling the gaps on the flora of Florida, and commendable effort by the authors. Common names as well as scientific names are given for each species along with an often breathtaking photograph, a straightforward and informative text, and a key character summary code. The code is a noteworthy feature packed with additional information on plant habit, leaf and flower characteristics, further references, season of bloom, and distribution in Florida.  --Carol S. Lotspeich, Palmetto, February 1983We have, in Florida, the richest and most intriguing plant life in the United States, botanical experts say. But is there a comprehensive, current, reasonably priced book that thoroughly covers the state's native and naturalized flora? Bell, professor of botany and Director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at the University of North Carolina, provided the non-technical text for this elegantly definitive book. The photos were taken by Taylor, a Winter Haven native, now Chief Park Naturalist for the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants is for natives and visitors, for reference and for sheer reading and looking pleasure. It also is geared for service to conservation.  --Ed Hayes, The Orlando Sentinel, Sunday, January 16, 1983--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.