From one of the region’s foremost mushroom hunters—Walter E. Sturgeon—comes a long-overdue field guide to finding and identifying the mushrooms and fleshy fungi found in the Appalachian mountains from Canada to Georgia. Edibility and toxicity, habitat, ecology, and detailed diagnostic features of the disparate forms they take throughout their life cycles are all included, enabling the reader to identify species without the use of a microscope or chemicals.

Appalachian Mushrooms is unparalleled in its accuracy and currency, from its detailed photographs to descriptions based on the most advanced classification information available, including recent DNA studies that have upended some mushrooms’ previously accepted taxonomies. Sturgeon celebrates more than 400 species in all their diversity, beauty, and scientific interest, going beyond the expected specimens to include uncommon ones and those that are indigenous to the Appalachian region.

This guide is destined to be an indispensable authority on the subject for everyone from beginning hobbyists to trained experts, throughout Appalachia and beyond.

Prairie spaces and abundant wildflowers make Illinois an amateur lepidopterist's delight. Butterflies of Illinois offers a portable, easy-to-use guide rich with descriptions, field photography, and life-sized specimen photos of all the state's native species. It also includes:• identification quick guides depicting the tops and undersides of all butterfly species• scientific information and photos that explain life cycles, habitats, and ecology• range maps• flight period charts• key characteristics relevant to field identification• descriptions of rarely seen butterflies and irregular visitors from nearby states• supplemental information on various species, including collection records and unusual sightings Geared toward enthusiasts and experts alike, Butterflies of Illinois is a must-have companion for any nature hike or garden walk.

Warblers, wolves, and whirligig beetles—the creatures of the canoe countrywilderness come alive in Canoe Country Wildlife. In this read-aloud treasure, “Sparky” Stensaas, naturalist and storyteller, intrigues you with his tales of encounters with the forest inhabitants—from tiny toads to majestic moose.

Canoe Country Wildlife, a friendly field guide, introduces you to the wildlife you are most likely to see as you travel in the North Woods. It describes these creatures and their habits accurately so you’ll know where and when to look for them. Detailed line drawings illustrate each animal clearly so you’ll recognize what you’re seeing.

The book is filled with fascinating little-known facts: Did you know that wood frogs can freeze solid, only to live again? That loons can fly a hundred miles an hour? That chipmunks can carry seventy sunflower seeds in their cheeks?

Canoe Country Wildlife includes handy checklists to help you keep track of the critters you encounter, a calendar for you to record the natural events you witness, and activities—one for each animal—that will help both adults and children learn by discovery.

Carry Canoe Country Wildlife in your pack. Your trip will be more enjoyable and your memories will last forever. It’s a great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors.

Illinois is home to cemeteries and burial grounds dating back to the Native American era. Whether sprawling over thousands of acres or dotting remote woodlands, these treasure troves of local and state history reflect two centuries of social, economic, and technological change. This easy-to-use guidebook invites amateur genealogists, historians, and cemetery buffs to decipher the symbols and uncover the fascinating past awaiting them in Illinois 's resting places. Hal Hassen and Dawn Cobb have combined almost three hundred photographs with expert detail to showcase how cemeteries and burial grounds can teach us about archaeology, folklore, art, geology, and social behavior. Features include

• the ways different materials used as gravestones and markers reflect historical trends;
• how to understanding the changes in the use of iconographic images;
• the story behind architectural features like fencing, roads, and gates;
• what enthusiasts can do to preserve local cemeteries for future generations.

Captivating and informed, Cemeteries of Illinois is the only guide you need to unlock the mysteries of our state 's final resting places.

Colorado Flora: Eastern Slope describes the remarkable flora of the state, distinctive in its altitudinal range, numerous microhabitats, and ancient and rare plants. Together with Colorado Flora: Western Slope, Fourth Edition, these volumes are designed to educate local amateurs and professionals in the recognition of vascular plant species and encourage informed stewardship of our biological heritage.

These thoroughly revised and updated editions reflect current taxonomic knowledge. The authors describe botanical features of this unparalleled biohistorical region and its mountain ranges, basins, and plains and discuss plant geography, giving detailed notes on habitat, ecology, and range. The keys recount interesting anecdotes and introductions for each plant family. The book is rounded out with historical background of botanical work in the state, suggested readings, glossary, index to scientific and common names, references, and hundreds of illustrations. The books also contain a new contribution from Donald R. Farrar and Steve J. Popovich on moonworts. The fourth editions of Colorado Flora: Eastern Slope and Colorado Flora: Western Slope are ideal for both student and scientist and essential for readers interested in Colorado's plant life.

Colorado Flora: Western Slope describes the remarkable flora of the state, distinctive in its altitudinal range, numerous microhabitats, and ancient and rare plants. Together with Colorado Flora: Eastern Slope, Fourth Edition, these volumes are designed to educate local amateurs and professionals in the recognition of vascular plant species and encourage informed stewardship of our biological heritage.

These thoroughly revised and updated editions reflect current taxonomic knowledge. The authors describe botanical features of this unparalleled biohistorical region and its mountain ranges, basins, and plains and discuss plant geography, giving detailed notes on habitat, ecology, and range. The keys contain interesting anecdotes and introductions for each plant family. The book is rounded out with historical background of botanical work in the state, suggested readings, glossary, index to scientific and common names, references, and hundreds of illustrations. The books also contain a new contribution from Donald R. Farrar and Steve J. Popovich on moonworts. The fourth editions of Colorado Flora: Eastern Slope and Colorado Flora: Western Slope are ideal for both student and scientist and essential for readers interested in Colorado's plant life.

Loaded with full color photographs and evocative descriptions, Exploring Nature in Illinois provides a panorama of the state's overlooked natural diversity. Naturalists Michael Jeffords and Susan Post explore fifty preserves, forests, restoration areas, and parks, bringing an expert view to wildlife and landscapes and looking beyond the obvious to uncover the unexpected beauty of Illinois's wild places.
 
From the colorful variety of birds at War Bluff Valley Audubon Sanctuary to the exposed bedrock and cliff faces of Apple River Canyon, Exploring Nature in Illinois will inspire readers to explore wonders hidden from urban sprawl and cultivated farmland. Maps and descriptions help travelers access even hard-to-find sites while a wealth of detail and photography offers nature-lovers insights into the flora, fauna, and other aspects of vibrant settings and ecosystems. The authors also include diary entries describing their own impressions of and engagement with the sites.
 
A unique and much-needed reference, Exploring Nature in Illinois will entertain and enlighten hikers, cyclers, students and scouts, morning walkers, weekend drivers, and anyone else seeking to get back to nature in the Prairie State.

Finally, a comprehensive book on land conservation financing for community and regional conservation leaders. A Field Guide to Conservation Finance provides essential advice on how to tackle the universal obstacle to protecting private land in America: lack of money.

 

Story Clark dispels the myths that conservationists can access only private funds controlled by individuals or that only large conservation organizations have clout with big capital markets. She shows how small land conservation organizations can achieve conservation goals using both traditional and cutting-edge financial strategies. Clark outlines essential tools for raising money, borrowing money, and reducing the cost of transactions. She covers a range of subjects including transfer fees, voluntary surcharges, seller financing, revolving funds, and Project Related Investment programs (PRIs). A clear, well-written overview of the basics of conservation finance with useful insights and real stories combine to create a book that is an invaluable and accessible guide for land trusts seeking to protect more land.

The quintessential New England barn–photogenic, full of character, and framed by flaming autumn foliage–is an endangered species. Of some 30,000 barns in Vermont alone, nearly a thousand a year are lost to fire, collapse, or bulldozers. Thomas Durant Visser’s field guide to the barns, silos, sugar houses, granaries, tobacco barns, and potato houses of New England is an attempt to document not just their structure but their traditions and innovations before the surviving architectural evidence of this rich rural heritage is lost forever. A recognized authority on historic barn preservation, Visser has combed the six-state region for representative barns and outbuildings, and 200 of his photographs are reproduced here. The text, which includes accounts from 18th– and 19th–century observers, describes key architectural characteristics, historic uses, and geographic distribution as well as specific features like timbers and frames, sheathings, doors, and cupolas. From English barns to bank barns, from ice houses to outhouses, these irreplaceable assets, Visser writes, “linger as vulnerable survivors of the past. Yet before these buildings vanish, each has a story to tell.” Travelers, residents, and scholars alike will find Visser’s text invaluable in uncovering, understanding, and appreciating the stories inherent in these dwindling cultural artifacts.

Designed both to encourage beginning naturalists and to challenge more experienced observers to look at the familiar in new ways, A Field Guide to the Familiar offers an introduction to common plants, animals, and natural phenomena. Beautiful drawings add to the book's refreshing approach to nature study. Organized by the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on one subject and one learning objective. From fall’s first frost to the field crickets of high summer, this innovative guide explores in depth such familiar sights as bumblebees, rainbows, acorns, blueberries, and shooting stars. Each chapter includes descriptive information to help readers identify each subject, as well as life cycle information that shows how a subject functions within a grander scheme. Readers learn that every plant and animal – even the atmosphere – has its own story, and they begin to perceive the natural world as whole, interconnected, and continuous. Whether read sequentially or used as a field companion or handy desk reference, A Field Guide to the Familiar gives every reader a sense of the natural world as an accessible – and endlessly fascinating – place.

To understand almost any part of the tropical rain forest's fabulously complex web of life, one must first learn to identify a bewildering array of plants. Alwyn Gentry's landmark book, completed just before his tragic death in 1993, is the only field guide to the nearly 250 families of woody plants in the most species-rich region of South America.

As a consummate field researcher, Gentry designed this guide to be not just comprehensive, but also easy to use in rigorous field conditions. Unlike many field guides, which rely for their identifications on flowers and fruits that are only present during certain seasons, Gentry's book focuses on characters such as bark, leaves, and odor that are present year-round. His guide is filled with clear illustrations, step-by-step keys to identification, and a wealth of previously unpublished data.

All biologists, wildlife managers, conservationists, and government officials concerned with the tropical rain forests will need and use this field guide.

Alwyn Gentry was one of the world's foremost experts on the biology of tropical plants. He was senior curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and was a member of Conservation International's interdisciplinary Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) team, which inventories the biodiversity of the most threatened tropical areas. From 1967 to 1993 he collected more than 80,000 plant specimens, many of them new to science.

In the late eighteenth century, the first sealing ships from England arrived in South Georgia. With them came a host of invasive plants, which set to work upending the island ecosystem. Today, forty-one non-native plant species are established in the region and, even a century later, they continue to threaten the native species and habitats of South Georgia.
This is the first field guide to comprehensively cover these species, providing full-color photographs, distribution maps, and species descriptions, plus keys to the grasses and sedges of the area. This guide is accessible even to non-botanists and also provides an opportunity for visitors to be part of a citizen science program contributing sightings and improving our knowledge of the introduced flora of South Georgia.

Field Guide to the Lichens of White Rocks is a careful examination of the lichens that occur at the ecologically important and lichenologically rich urban outcropping of Fox Hills sandstone known as White Rocks Nature Preserve, located in Boulder County, Colorado.
 
This extensively illustrated field guide presents detailed information on the macroscopic and microscopic features needed to identify species, as well as extensive notes on how to differentiate closely related lichens—both those present at White Rocks and those likely to be found elsewhere in western North America. This guide is one of the only complete lichen inventories of a sandstone formation in North America and covers all constituents including the crustose microlichen biota, traditionally excluded from other inventories. A short introduction and glossary equip the reader with basic information on lichen morphology, reproduction, and ecology.
 
Visitors to White Rocks Nature Preserve must schedule staff-led public tours or set up sponsored research projects through the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, and there are many other outcroppings of Fox Hills sandstone across the West, making Field Guide to the Lichens of White Rocks a significant resource for anyone interested in this unique environment. This accessible, user-friendly guide will also be valuable to naturalists and lichenologists around the world as well as educators, conservationists, and land managers concerned with the growing significance of open spaces and other protected urban areas throughout North America.
 
 
The University Press of Colorado gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the University of Colorado Natural History Museum, City of Boulder Parks & Open Spaces, and the Colorado Native Plant Society board and members toward the publication of this book.
 

The culmination of three decades of work by Michigan Natural Features Inventory ecologists, this essential guidebook to the natural communities of Michigan introduces the diverse terrain of a unique state. Small enough to carry in a backpack, this field guide provides a system for dividing the complex natural landscape of Michigan into easily understood and describable components called natural communities. Providing a new way to explore Michigan’s many environments, this book details natural communities ranging from patterned fen to volcanic bedrock glade and beyond. The descriptions are supplemented with distribution maps, vibrant photographs, and comprehensive lists of characteristic plant species. The authors suggest places to visit to further study each type of natural community and provide a comprehensive glossary of ecological terms, as well as a dichotomous key for aiding field identification. An invaluable resource, this book is meant to serve as a tool for those seeking to understand, describe, document, conserve, and restore the diversity of natural communities native to Michigan.

Field Guide to the Orchids of Europe and the Mediterranean is a comprehensive manual that pairs thousands of color photographs with expert guidance, making it easy for readers to identify the varied orchid species of this region. The authors bring decades of field and research experience to this project and combine their first-hand knowledge with the latest scientific research, making this the most thorough and up-to-date book available.

The book covers orchids from Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as areas in Turkey and the immediate near east of North Africa and Macaronesia. It includes thirty genera and their species including Ophrys, Cypripedium, Orchis, Dactylorhiza, Epipactis, and Serapias, as well as seventy natural hybrids. The authors emphasize the natural variability that exists in many wild species and work to eliminate the confusion that can arise due to the morphological variation. Each species includes multiple images to illustrate this diversity as well as notes on distinguishing features and distribution maps. Common names and important synonyms accompany each species alongside notes on habitat, flowering times, and distinguishing features.

A constellation of essays that reanimates the work of this pivotal twentieth-century American poet for a new century.

This volume is the first to reconsider Roethke’s work in terms of the expanded critical approaches to literature that have emerged since his death in 1963. Editor William Barillas and over forty contributors, including highly respected literary scholars, critics, and writers such as Peter Balakian, Camille Paglia, Jay Parini, and David Wojahn, collectively make a case for Roethke’s poetry as a complete, unified, and evolving body of work. The accessible essays employ a number of approaches, including formalism, ecocriticism, reader-response, and feminist critique to explicate the poetics, themes, and the biographical, historical, cultural, and literary contexts of Roethke’s work.

The Algarve region is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Europe—more than seven million tourists enjoy the beaches and culture of southern Portugal each year. While its mild climate entices human visitors, it also encourages natives of the floral variety. Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of the Algarve is the first comprehensive guide to these flowers. It covers more than one thousand of the species found in the area, which includes the remarkable Cape St. Vincent Peninsula National Park.

With the Field Guide, visitors can find the best places and times to see the plants. The Guide also explains their habitats and vegetation types. Richly illustrated, it includes hundreds of color photos and line drawings to aid identification, plus distribution maps that make it easy to plan trips and find nearby species.

Introductory passages give environmental context and cover climate, geology, agriculture, wildflower classification, and flower morphology. Written to appeal to both amateur naturalists and professional botanists alike, this is the essential companion for anyone drawn to the rich beauty of the Algarve.

This compact volume is a handy, thorough guide to the wild plants found in the small Middle Eastern nation of Oman. A short introduction provides an overview of Oman’s geography and remarkable environmental diversity, followed by catalog of more than 250 common species of plants, enhanced by color photographs designed to assist with quick identification in the field. Descriptive accounts—including details of habitat, uses, and worldwide distribution—round out the individual entries, while a glossary of botanical terms, a bibliography, and an index of scientific and vernacular names combine to make this an invaluable reference.

The Western Mediterranean is home to more than 10,000 plant species, which makes it one of the most important regions in the world for biodiversity. This book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to Western Mediterranean wildflowers, covering southern Europe from the Portuguese Algarve to Italy, and Morocco to Tunisia in North Africa, along with all the islands in between. It features 2,500 plants, and its more than 800 line drawings and color photographs make it the ideal companion for field identification.
 

First published in 1987, Ralph W. Tiner's A Field Guide to Coastal Wetland Plants of the Northeastern United States soon established itself as the definitive work on its subject. Now Tiner has prepared a revised and expanded edition, broadening the coverage both botanically and geographically. It emphasizes plant identification and includes descriptions of over 700 species and illustrations of approximately 550 species. More tidal wetland types are covered (beaches, rocky shores, and tidal swamps) and the geographic scope extends as far north as Canada's Maritime Provinces.

From the mixed-grass prairies of the Panhandle in the west, to the Sandhills prairie and mixed-grass prairies in central Nebraska, to the tallgrass prairies in the east, the state is home to hundreds of wildflower species, yet the primary guide to these flowers has been out of print for almost two decades. Now back in a second edition with updated nomenclature, refined plant descriptions, better photographs where improvements were called for, and a new design, Jon Farrar’s Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska and the Great Plains, originally published by NEBRASKAland magazine and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, is a visual treat and educational guide to some of the region’s showiest and most interesting wildflowers.

 

Organizing species by color, Farrar provides scientific, common, and family names; time of flowering; distribution both for Nebraska specifically and for the Great Plains in general; and preferred habitat including soil type and plant community from roadsides to woodlands to grasslands. Descriptions of each species are succinct and accessible; Farrar packs a surprising amount of information into a compact space. For many species, he includes intriguing notes about edibility, medicinal uses by Native Americans and early pioneers, similar species and varieties, hybridization, and changes in status as plants become uncommon or endangered. Superb color photographs allow each of the 274 wildflowers to be easily identified and pen-and-ink illustrations provide additional details for many species.

 

It is a joy to have this new edition riding along on car seats and in backpacks helping naturalists at all levels of expertise explore prairies, woodlands, and wetlands in search of those ever-changing splashes of color we call wildflowers.

Grasses are the foremost plant family of prairies, savannas, barrens, many agricultural landscapes, lawns, and successional habitats throughout Wisconsin, yet they are notoriously difficult to identify. This field guide to 232 species of Wisconsin grasses includes more than 1,100 illustrations. Setting a new standard as the first new, illustrated midwestern grass identification manual to appear since the 1960s, it provides up-to-date, comprehensive information for naturalists, gardeners, landscapers, nursery horticulturalists, community restoration professionals, agronomists and biologists, and any outdoors lover.

The book includes:

• species descriptions and distribution maps for all 232 species

• more than 700 color photographs accompanying species descriptions
• drawings of most species
• chapters on grass morphology and grasses in natural communities
• keys to all species, including an illustrated key to genera
• a glossary of grass terminology.

Sedges are among the world’s most diverse and ecologically important plant families, with almost two hundred species in Wisconsin alone. These grass-like plants, found mostly in wetlands, are increasingly popular with landscapers and home gardeners. Learning to identify sedges is challenging, however, and the available technical guides to the sedge family can be overwhelming to a nonspecialist. Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges is a beautifully illustrated introduction to the largest sedge genus, Carex, which alone makes up about 7 percent of the flora of the upper Midwest.

            Written primarily for naturalists, wild plant enthusiasts, and native landscapers, this book is unique in its accessible format and illustrations. With this book, readers can learn to recognize key structures needed to identify approximately 150 Carex species found in Wisconsin. Author Andrew Hipp shows how to identify many of the major groupings of sedges that are used in guides to the genus throughout the world.

           Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges includes information on habitat and range drawn from Hipp’s extensive field experience and inspection of thousands of herbarium sheets. Primarily an identification guide, the book is also a valuable source of habitat information for landscapers, gardeners, and restorationists.

From bubbling spring-fed headwaters to quiet, marshy creeks and tannin-stained northern reaches, Wisconsin is home to 84,000 miles of streams. This guide is the ultimate companion for learning about the animals and plants in Wisconsin streams. A collaborative effort by dozens of biologists and ecologists, Field Guide toWisconsin Streams is accessible to anglers, teachers and students, amateur naturalists, and experienced scientists alike.
            More than 1,000 images illustrate the species in this field guide. These images are augmented by detailed ecological and taxonomic notes, descriptions of look-alike species, and distribution maps. The guide identifies:
• more than 130 common plants
• all 120 fishes known to inhabit Wisconsin streams
• 8 crayfishes
• 50 mussels
• 10 amphibians
• 17 reptiles
• 70 families of insects
• other commonly found invertebrates.

Best Regional General Interest Books, selected by the American Association of School Librarians

Best Regional General Interest Books, selected by the Public Library Reviewers

In the revised and expanded edition of this classic guide, Ralph W. Tiner introduces readers to the ecology and beauty of the wetlands in eastern North America. Topics include their formation and functions, wetland types, causes of loss and degradation, and recent efforts to protect them. The discussion now includes many examples from the Great Lakes region and information on best management practices for working in and around wetlands including vernal pools. A new chapter on classification and assessment further clarifies how the unique characteristics of these important natural resources serve specific functions.In Search of Swampland alsoprovides a field guide to wetland plants, soils, and animals. It includes detailed descriptions and illustrations—many of which are new to this edition—of more than 300 plants and 200 animals. Clear identification keys, information on how to distinguish typical hydric or “wet” soils from dryland soils, and general procedures for identifying wetlands in the field make this book an indispensable resource for readers with little or no training in wetland science, as well as for the scientist or amateur naturalist.

"The authors restore metaphor to our lives by showing us that it's never gone away. We've merely been taught to talk as if it had: as though weather maps were more 'real' than the breath of autumn; as though, for that matter, Reason was really 'cool.' What we're saying whenever we say is a theme this book illumines for anyone attentive." — Hugh Kenner, Johns Hopkins University

"In this bold and powerful book, Lakoff and Turner continue their use of metaphor to show how our minds get hold of the world. They have achieved nothing less than a postmodern Understanding Poetry, a new way of reading and teaching that makes poetry again important." — Norman Holland, University of Florida

Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, the first color-illustrated field guide to these marvelously diverse and elusive creatures, has enjoyed tremendous success since its initial publication in 1990. Ecotourists and field researchers alike have applauded this guide's compact size, light weight, and durability. More important, they have appreciated its clear and concise accounts of the mammals of this broad region. Each species account includes information on identifying characteristics, similar species, vocalizations, behavior and natural history, geographic range, conservation status, local names, and references to the scientific literature.

In this completely revised and updated second edition:

A total of 226 species are treated in full (206 were included in the first edition).

All species accounts retained from the first edition have been updated to include the most recent research.

All 195 maps showing the distribution and geographic range of each species have been revised to reflect the most current information.

Twenty-nine beautiful color plates illustrate more than 220 species (including significant color variants between males and females or adults and young). Seven black-and-white plates contain more than 60 images of individual species, mainly bats.

A compact disc of mammal vocalizations—crucial to identifying nocturnal and otherwise cryptic animals that sometimes may be heard rather than seen—will be available for purchase separately.

Praise for the first edition:

"If you can't go to the Central and South American rain forests to see firsthand their threatened ecosystems, here is the next best thing."—Washington Post Book World

"A large amount of information is presented concisely and in a way that is easy to use."—Choice

"The presentation and wealth of information contained in this field guide is outstanding and will satisfy the needs of both the 'tourist' and 'researcher' traveling to the Neotropics."—Canadian Field-Naturalist

Barns give character to the countryside. Their structures reflect the ethnic heritage of a region's settlers and the nature of the land itself. With The Old Barn Book, you'll be able to spot the difference between a Dutch barn and a Swedish barn, a barn for cows and a barn for tobacco. You'll find out why some barns have hipped roofs and others gables, why some have doors at the end and others have them on the side, why some are wood and some are stone, why some are round. Whether you are nostalgic for farm life or like to drive out in the country or want to join in the barn preservation movement, you will find this book an indispensable guide.

A visual guide to the wildflowers that inhabit the mountains and valleys of northern and central Utah every spring and summer. A must for the hiker, biker, or lover of the outdoors. Includes over 100 full-color photographs.

This latest edition of Vascular Flora of Illinois includes over thirty-four hundred species of flora from Illinois, adding more than 250 newly-recognized plants to this definitive collection. Because cataloguing our heritage is foremost in importance among naturalists, this book compiles essential information about plants in Illinois. Mohlenbrock includes all known taxa native to Illinois either at present or in the past and all non-native vascular plants that grow spontaneously and appear able to maintain themselves year after year without cultivation. The sequence of groups in the guide is ferns, coni­fers, and flowering plants, with cotyledons given before monocotyledons. Within each group, the fami­lies are arranged alphabetically, as are the genera within each family and the species within each genus. For each taxon recognized in this book, Mohlenbrock gives us a common name if one is generally used in Illinois. He follows this with an indication of flowering time for flowering plants, and of spore-production time in the case of ferns and their relatives. He also provides a habitat statement and a general comment on distribution in Illinois for each taxon.

Containing information on Illinois flora not available anywhere else, this fourth edition of Vascular Flora of Illinois is essential for ecologists, environmentalists, and land developers. Those interested in wildflower identification will also find this guide helpful.

As interest in environmental issues grows, many writers of fiction have embraced themes that explore the connections between humans and the natural world. Ecologically themed fiction ranges from profound philosophical meditations to action-packed entertainments. Where the Wild Books Are offers an overview of nearly 2,000 works of nature-oriented fiction. The author includes a discussion of the precursors and history of the genre, and of its expansion since the 1970s. He also considers its forms and themes, as well as the subgenres into which it has evolved, such as speculative fiction, ecodefense, animal stories, mysteries, ecofeminist novels, cautionary tales, and others. A brief summary and critical commentary of each title is included. Dwyer’s scope is broad and covers fiction by Native American writers as well as ecofiction from writers around the world. Far more than a mere listing of books, Where the Wild Books Are is a lively introduction to a vast universe of engaging, provocative writing. It can be used to develop book collections or curricula. It also serves as an introduction to one of the most fertile areas of contemporary fiction, presenting books that will offer enjoyable reading and new insights into the vexing environmental questions of our time.

A comprehensive guide that includes a vast range of species and plant communities and employs thorough, original keys. Based primarily on vegetative characteristics, the keys don't require that flowers or other reproductive features be present, like many plant guides. And this guide's attention to woody plants as a whole allows one to identify a much greater variety of plants. That especially suits an arid region such as Utah with less diverse native trees. Woody plants are those that have stems that persist above ground even through seasons that don't favor growth, due to low precipitation or temperatures.

Woody Plants of Utah employs dichotomous identification keys that are comparable to a game of twenty questions. They work through a process of elimination by choosing sequential alternatives.

Detailed, illustrated plant descriptions complement the keys and provide additional botanical and environmental information in relation to a useful introductory categorization of Utah plant communities. Supplementary tools include photos, distribution maps, and an illustrated glossary.