Product Description

Did you know that the smell of sassafras blowing offshore convinced Columbus he was near land? Or that the American sycamore, which has the largest tree trunk in the eastern forest, can live for 500 to 600 years? Or that in the period before the American Revolution, patriots designated a sycamore tree in each colony as a "Liberty Tree" -- a meeting place for plotting against the British?

These facts are just a few of thousands you'll find inBotanica North America, an encyclopedia of the wonderfully diverse North American native plants by noted Canadian garden writer Marjorie Harris. This charming compendium is filled with more than 420 entries that provide essential information on each plant's physical attributes, natural history, common uses, and ethnobotany. There are also fascinating, often surprising anecdotes about plants you won't find anywhere else. From the Eastern forest to the desert, this beautifully written volume roves across the continent exploring how climate and plant life have affected, aided, and inspired us, from the first Native Americans to North Americans living in the twenty-first century: "The lonely majesty of a wind-swept jack pine has inspired generations of poets and painters," Harris writes. "These trees endure in spite of terrible weather . . . a jack pine forest has a dense, closed canopy with an understory of cherry, blueberry, hazels, bracken, and sweet fern along with trailing arbutus."

Comprehensive and engaging, Botanica North America is also filled with lush photographs of plants in their natural habitat and insightful quotes from a variety of gardening experts and amateurs, from naturalist Rachel Carson to famed conservationist John Muir.

Here is a reference no gardener or environmentalist should be without.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140585 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-23
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.63" h x 8.84" w x 11.22" l, 6.60 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 688 pages

Amazon.ca
From California coastal redwoods to Arctic poppies and the sugar maples of the eastern forest, the native plants that surround us spring to life in Botanica North America by Canadian gardening doyenne Marjorie Harris. Weighing in at nearly seven pounds, this encylopedic reference is divided into 10 regions, with striking photographs to illustrate each plant province. Of the 15,000 native plants that grow in North America, Harris features the 420 or so that mean the most to people. She describes each plant's physical attributes, natural history, common uses, and ethnobotany. Harris visits landscapes as varied as the boreal forest, the tundra, and the desert. Her descriptions--whether of the montane's Indian paintbrush, the desert's hedgehog cactus, or the pussy willow of the Swamp Forest--are captivating:

According to a Polish legend, a cat whose kittens had fallen into a river when they were chasing butterflies was crying loudly at the edge of a river. Hearing her cries, the nearby willows swept their graceful branches into the waters to rescue the tiny kittens. The kittens held on tightly to their branches and were safely brought to shore. Each springtime since, goes the legend, the willow branches sprout tiny furlike buds at their tips where the tiny kittens once clung.

Harris also relays a powerful conservationist message: We can't save a plant or an animal in isolation--we have to save the whole habitat, she advises. Understanding native plants and how each one fills a tiny niche in a vast ecosystem is essential to protecting habitat.

Harris's enthusiasm for her subject makes each native plant seem as interesting as it is important. For the environmentalist, gardener, and lover of nature, this reference is indispensable. --Carolyn Leitch

From Publishers Weekly
With over 420 entries and more than 670 pages, this encyclopedia by Canadian gardening writer Harris (In the Garden, Favorite Garden Tips, etc.) provides a comprehensive celebration of the trees and flowers native to North America. (Harris defines "native" as "a plant that can be documented to have been in North America prior to European contact.") Her book emphasizes the historical and medicinal aspects of its entries. For example, under "Flowering Dogwood," Harris notes that Native Americans used the tree as "an indicator plant" whose blooms let them know when it was time to plant corn and that dogwood's bark contains the same malaria-treating ingredient as quinine. This volume is a good choice for those who are interested in ecologically conscious gardening and botanical history.
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From Booklist
Harris is currently editor of Gardening Life. Botanica North America, which took five years to write, is certainly her major work.

In separate chapters North America is divided into 10 plant communities: "The Eastern Forests," "Swamps and Wetlands," "Florida," "The Boreal Forest," "The Prairie," "The Desert," "California," "Montane," "The Tall Trees," and "The Tundra." A map illustrates the areas crossing state and provincial boundaries. The Florida plant community is the southern half of the state, and "Tall Trees" includes part of northern California. Prairie runs from Texas to the southern part of Alberta.

Throughout the text Harris stresses plant ecology and the importance of preserving the natural world. The 420 plants included are native--documented to have been in North America before exploration by Europeans (1450) and still in existence. Plants that are considered the most important historically, ecologically, or economically are first in each chapter, followed by other plants arranged in botanical families. Each entry includes botanical, ethnobotanical, geographical, and historical information. We learn that sphagnum moss was used by Native Americans to line diapers, and in World War I it was encased in muslin and used for surgical dressings. Dogwood berries are high in fat, and robins depend on them for energy in migrating from the south. Quotations, poems, and excerpts from books and articles are scattered through the text and well documented. The photographs are all in full color, and many are full-page or double-page spreads. Unfortunately, the index includes only plant names.

The two-volume Botanical Garden (Firefly, 2002) might be considered similar, but it is more of an identification source. Botanica North America concentrates less on identification and more on how North American trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals have survived and flourished. It is a necessary acquisition for public and academic libraries with a strong botanical collection. Gardeners will love to have their own copies to read in the dead of winter or on a warm summer evening. RBB
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