front cover of Acanthaceae to Myricaceae
Acanthaceae to Myricaceae
Water Willows to Wax Myrtles
Robert H. Mohlenbrock
Southern Illinois University Press, 2008

Veteran botanist, scientific author, and professor Robert H. Mohlenbrock brings the full depth of his expertise and scholarship to his latest book, Acanthaceae to Myricaceae: Water Willows to Wax Myrtles, the third of four volumes in the Aquatic and Standing Water Plants of the Central Midwest series. This easy-to-use illustrated reference guide covers aquatic and standing water plants for the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kentucky (excluding the biologically distinct Cumberland Mountain region of eastern Kentucky), from spearmint to wintergreen, from aster to waterwort.

The volume identifies, describes, and organizes species in three groups, including truly aquatic plants, which spend their entire life with their vegetative parts either completely submerged or floating on the water’s surface; emergents, which are usually rooted under water with their vegetative parts standing above the water’s surface; and wetland plants, which live most or all of their lives out of water, but which can live at least three months in water.

Mohlenbrock lists the taxa alphabetically, and within each taxon, he describes the species with the scientific names he deems most appropriate (indicating if his opinion differs from that of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), common names, identification criteria, line drawings, geographical distribution, habitat description, and official U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetlands designation as described by the National Wetland Inventory Section in 1988.

Acanthaceae to Myricaceae is an essential reference for state and federal employees who deal with environmental conservation and mitigation issues in aquatic and wetland plants. It is also a useful guide for students and instructors in college and university courses focusing on the identification of aquatic and wetland plants.

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Flowering Plants
Evolution above the Species Level
G. Ledyard Stebbins
Harvard University Press, 1974

One of the world's leading evolutionary biologists here reexamines the evolutionary history of flowering plants. This important book is the first to interpret the phylogeny of flowering plants in the light of modern knowledge about genetics, developmental biology, and ecology.

Mr. Stebbins is concerned with the evolution of genera, families, and other higher taxa; his analysis is based upon a unified theory that identifies the same fundamental processes at work in the origin of both species and the broader taxonomic categories. He shows, however, that subspecific evolution depends primarily on the natural selection of vegetative characters, whereas the emphasis at the transspecific level is on reproductive characters.

Major changes in evolutionary direction are interpreted as resulting from an interaction of environmental change and the inherent capacity of the organism to alter preferentially in some ways and not in others. The author facilitates this discussion by examining reversibility in certain simple evolutionary trends.

After reviewing basic principles and exploring major patterns of evolution in flowering plants, Mr. Stebbins turns to their actual history. On the basis of a detailed analysis he concludes that the most primitive forms are not represented in any extant category and are not found in the fossil record. His work gives definitive weight to the researches of others who have postulated a monophyletic origin of the angiosperms from a single, extinct group.

Although this beautifully illustrated volume will prove indispensable to botanists, it will be of great interest also to any student of evolutionary theory, theoretical biology, and ecology.

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Flowering Plants
Pokeweeds, Four-o'clocks, Carpetweeds, Cacti, Purslanes, Goosefoots, Pigweeds, and Pinks
Robert H. Mohlenbrock
Southern Illinois University Press, 2001

Robert H. Mohlenbrock provides a definitive account of the pokeweed, four-o'clock, carpetweed, cactus, purslane, goosefoot, pigweed, and pink families in Illinois.

Flowering Plants: Pokeweeds, Four-o’clocks, Carpetweeds, Cacti, Purslanes, Goosefoots, Pigweeds, and Pinks is the fifteenth volume of the Illustrated Flora of Illinois series and the ninth devoted to dicots, or plants that have two seed-leaves, or cotyledons, upon germination. Each of the 141 plants is beautifully illustrated by Paul W. Nelson.

Nelson shows the full habitat of the plant and close-ups of various vegetative and reproductive structures that are crucial for the identification of individual species. Each illustration includes detailed drawings of the flowers, fruits, and seeds of the plant covered. Mohlenbrock provides a complete description of each species as well as a discussion of the nomenclature and habitats, and his fifty-three years of experience enable him to present little-known diagnostic features for many species. Range maps show the county distribution of each species in Illinois. Mohlenbrock includes a statement giving the overall range of each species in the United States as well as a detailed key for the identification of the species.

Flowering Plants contains many plants whose obscure flower parts make them exceedingly difficult to identify. The close-up illustrations of these parts will aid the user of the book immensely in identification of the species. Included are several species previously unknown in Illinois.

New illustrations, which include detailed drawings of the flowers, fruits, and seeds are presented for each species covered in this book. Mohlenbrock’s fifty-three years of experience enable him to present little-known diagnostic features for many species.
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Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction
Edited Spencer C. H. Barrett
University of Chicago Press, 2008
The first volume to address the study of evolutionary transitions in plants, Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction brings together compelling work from the three areas of significant innovation in plant biology: evolution and adaptation in flowers and pollination, mating patterns and gender strategies, and asexual reproduction and polyploidy. Spencer C. H. Barrett assembles here a distinguished group of authors who address evolutionary transitions using comparative and phylogenetic approaches, the tools of genomics, population genetics, and theoretical modeling, and through studies in development and field experiments in ecology. With special focus on evolutionary transitions and shifts in reproductive characters—key elements of biological diversification and research in evolutionary biology—Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction is the most up-to-date treatment of a fast-moving area of evolutionary biology and ecology.
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Nelumbonaceae to Vitaceae
Water Lotuses to Grapes
Robert H. Mohlenbrock
Southern Illinois University Press, 2010

In this fourth and final installment in the Aquatic and Standing Water Plants of the Central Midwest series, veteran botanist Robert H. Mohlenbrock identifies aquatic and wetland plants in eight central Midwestern states, which include Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Kentucky (excluding the Cumberland Mountain region), Missouri, and Nebraska.

Nelumbonaceae to Vitaceae: Water Lotuses to Grapes contains 346 highly informative and technically accurate illustrations as well as ecological information, nomenclature, and keys for plants in the aforementioned families, including white water lily, fireweed, smartweed, mild water pepper, hawthorn, and wild strawberry. Mohlenbrock identifies and describes each plant in concise and readable prose and indicates its usual habitats and the states in which it occurs.

As with previous volumes, Mohlenbrock organizes each species into three groups: truly aquatic plants, which spend their entire life with their vegetative parts either completely submerged or floating on the water’s surface; emergents, which are usually rooted under water with their vegetative parts standing above the water’s surface; and wetland plants, which live most or all of their lives out of water.

With Nelumbonaceae to Vitaceae, Mohlenbrock completes the four-volume series organizing and identifying wetland plants in the central Midwest. The botanical series will aid many, from teachers and students to state and federal employees, focused on conservation efforts and mitigation issues.

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The Ornaments of Life
Coevolution and Conservation in the Tropics
Theodore H. Fleming and W. John Kress
University of Chicago Press, 2013
The average kilometer of tropical rainforest is teeming with life; it contains thousands of species of plants and animals. As The Ornaments of Life reveals, many of the most colorful and eye-catching rainforest inhabitants—toucans, monkeys, leaf-nosed bats, and hummingbirds to name a few—are an important component of the infrastructure that supports life in the forest. These fruit-and-nectar eating birds and mammals pollinate the flowers and disperse the seeds of hundreds of tropical plants, and unlike temperate communities, much of this greenery relies exclusively on animals for reproduction.
            Synthesizing recent research by ecologists and evolutionary biologists, Theodore H. Fleming and W. John Kress demonstrate the tremendous functional and evolutionary importance of these tropical pollinators and frugivores. They shed light on how these mutually symbiotic relationships evolved and lay out the current conservation status of these essential species. In order to illustrate the striking beauty of these “ornaments” of the rainforest, the authors have included a series of breathtaking color plates and full-color graphs and diagrams.  
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Phylogeny and Evolution of the Angiosperms
Revised and Updated Edition
Douglas Soltis, Pamela Soltis, Peter Endress, Mark Chase, Steven Manchester, Walter Judd, Lucas Majure, and Evgeny Mavrodiev
University of Chicago Press, 2018
Although they are relative latecomers on the evolutionary scene, having emerged only 135‒170 million years ago, angiosperms—or flowering plants—are the most diverse and species-rich group of seed-producing land plants, comprising more than 15,000 genera and over 350,000 species. Not only are they a model group for studying the patterns and processes of evolutionary diversification, they also play major roles in our economy, diet, and courtship rituals, producing our fruits, legumes, and grains, not to mention the flowers in our Valentine’s bouquets. They are also crucial ecologically, dominating most terrestrial and some aquatic landscapes.

This fully revised edition of Phylogeny and Evolution of the Angiosperms provides an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of the evolution of and relationships among these vital plants. Incorporating molecular phylogenetics with morphological, chemical, developmental, and paleobotanical data, as well as presenting a more detailed account of early angiosperm fossils and important fossil information for each evolutionary branch of the angiosperms, the new edition integrates fossil evidence into a robust phylogenetic framework. Featuring a wealth of new color images, this highly synthetic work further reevaluates long-held evolutionary hypotheses related to flowering plants and will be an essential reference for botanists, plant systematists, and evolutionary biologists alike.
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