Temperate Garden Plant Families The Essential Guide to Identification & Classification

About this book

Determining which family a plant belongs to is a crucial horticultural skill. Organizing plants by family provides a framework for thinking about plant characteristics and for arranging thousands of plant names in a coherent and predictive pattern. This is especially important now, as advances in DNA analysis have recently altered much of the world of botanical taxonomy. In Temperate Garden Plant Families, Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning teach readers how to identify the most horticulturally important temperate plant families. Introductory information includes an overview of family classification, plant nomenclature, and plant morphology. The comprehensive A-Z of plants includes profiles that include information on the number of species and genera, plant form, flowers, fruit, and a short description. Each profile is illustrated with colour photographs and botanical illustrations. This comprehensive identification guide is for botany and horticultural professionals, nurserymen, advanced gardeners, and students of botany and horticulture.

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Biography

Peter Goldblatt is a leading expert on the iris family, having spent his life studying its taxonomy and evolution. He is now retired from the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Author of many scientific papers and books, he is coauthor with John Manning of The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs and The Iris Family: Natural History and Classification.

John C. Manning is senior specialist scientist at the South African National Biodiversity Institute. Although he has studied diverse plant families, his research more recently focuses on the Iridaceae, collaborating with Peter Goldblatt, investigating the biology of the African genus Lapeirousia and the systematics of Gladiolus.

John and Peter have coauthored several books, including Gladiolus in Southern Africa and wildflower guides to the southern African flora.