Product Description

This book bridges a long-standing gap between obscure references in tropical botany and the gardener's need for an accurate, practical guide with clear photographs. Incorporating the latest advances in plant taxonomy from the definitive text of Dr. Walter Judd, the book is a rare work of scrupulous research and magnificent photography that will be as useful to the gardener as it is to the botanist. Kirsten Llamas exhaustively documents more than 1400 flowering trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants commonly grown in tropical and subtropical gardens. She provides thorough information on cultivation for each plant, including growth characteristics, light exposure, cold hardiness, invasive tendencies, and unique horticultural features. More than 1500 color photos of magnificent flowering specimens make this book as much a pleasure to browse as it is a resource for research. Sure to appeal to gardeners, landscapers, nurseries, collectors, botany students, florists, and botanical gardens, Tropical Flowering Plants promises to be a staple reference for decades to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #402603 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-15
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 3.90 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 424 pages

From Booklist
Tropical plant enthusiasts who enjoy cultivating unusual blooms and green thumbs seeking practical advice on how to care for rare specimens will embrace Llamas' up-to-date guide to a wealth of species that should flourish in USDA zone 9 or do equally well if nurtured indoors and brought outside in summer. Arranged according to botanical families, plant listings open up a wondrous world of evergreen shrubs, bulbous herbs, epiphytic vines, and clustering palm trees. Scientific names are linked to common ones for clarity, while descriptions contain insightful details regarding plant origins, habitats, and cultivation requirements. The straightforward yet engaging writing style, along with a profusion of telling photographs depicting leaf shapes, showy flowers, and tree forms, will help in identification as well as in selecting plants to grow, whether one gardens in a greenhouse, on a windowsill, or outdoors in a sun-drenched climate. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
[This book is] top shelf from a production standpoint and from an information standpoint I like everything about it. Ray Rogers, American Gardener, May/June 2004 (American Gardener )

Imagine 50 years' worth of memories of the world's best botanical gardens ... Then imagine all of those photographs you wished you had taken on your visits to those gardens. Now you have an idea of this wonderful book. ... [This] well-researched and beautifully produced book will make a fine addition to any library whose patrons are gardeners as well as botanists, and artists as well as scientists. G. C. Stevens, Choice, February 2004 (Choice )

The book is comprehensive, its packed with pertinent information and its accurate. Especially important, it has up-to-date nomenclature, and it is well-illustrated. (Seattle Olympian )

Review
Tropical Flowering Plants is a lifetime treasure. Clear Englebert, FungShway.com, November 28, 2003