Synopses & Reviews
Winter, when plants are dormant and their leaves may have fallen, is a challenging time to identify woody flora. Designed especially for winter use and featuring almost six hundred illustrations, this taxonomic guide describes some nine hundred plant species by their twig, bud, and bark characteristics. All the trees, shrubs, and woody ground covers that grow without aid of cultivation in the Southeast are presented here, in a single reference.
Includes the following:
- native plants, as well as naturalized exotic species known to occur in at least two locations in the Southeast
- geographical coverage from east Texas and northern Florida to southeastern Kansas and southern Delaware
- spring or summer features of a plant in the absence of any reliable winter diagnostic features
- a map of the guide's coverage area and nearly six hundred illustrations that show distinguishing characteristics of twigs and buds
- a brief introduction to botanical terminology and the use of taxonomic keys, descriptions of various habitats and physiographic regions of the Southeast, a glossary, a list of references, and an index that includes common and scientific names
Review
"There are so many 'tree books' but Lance's volume is extraordinary—so many taxa, excellent illustrations, good keys, and useful comments from someone obviously with deep first-hand experience. It's hard to imagine how it could be improved, much less approached by a competing facsimile. It's a classic and surely will be in use for a long time"--Guy Nesom, Sida
About the Author
Ron Lance is the nursery curator at Chimney Rock Park in North Carolina. His previous books include Hawthorns and Medlars. Lance has worked for more than twenty-five years in the fields of botany, zoology, and horticulture in such roles as instructor, specimen collector, field technician, researcher, and manager of horticultural facilities.