Milton Public Library

Wildflowers of Texas, Michael Eason

eng

no index present

non fiction

Wildflowers of Texas

electronic resource

dictionaries

Michael Eason

Timber Press field guide

A comprehensive field guide to the wildflowers of the Lone Star State In Wildflowers of Texas, Michael Eason describes and illustrates more than 1,100 commonly encountered species, both native and introduced. The book is organized by flower color, with helpful color coding along the page edges making it easy to navigate. - Covers all ecoregions of Texas - Describes and illustrates more than 1200 species - Includes perennials, annuals, and subshrubs, both native and nonnative - 1230 beautiful color photographs - User-friendly organization by flower color - Authoritative trailside reference A must-have guide for hikers, naturalists, gardeners, and anyone wishing to learn more about the diverse wildflowers of Texas. Michael Eason is the head of the San Antonio Botanical Garden rare plant conservation department. He is also a conservation botanist for Texas Flora, a botanical consulting company. Eason has previously worked with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the Millennium Seed Bank Project. He volunteers his time for organizations like the Wildflower Center, the Native Plant Society of Texas, and the Nature Conservancy. Texas is a vast state. At nearly 269,000 square miles, it is second only to Alaska in size and comparable to Florida in plant diversity. With nearly 6000 taxa in the state's flora, you could spend a lifetime exploring and learning about the plants within its borders. Coastal Texas offers dune species; South Texas has sabal palm groves and night-blooming cereus cactus that can be several meters tall. Pine woodlands, orchids, and pitcher plants are found in East Texas, while extensive stands of yucca and ocotillo dominate in the arid lands of West Texas. Oak-juniper-pine woodlands characterize the upper elevations of the sky islands. Grasslands and canyon lands sweep through the Panhandle, and, of course, wildflowers line the country roads in Central Texas. Texas is fortunate to have such floral diversity. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it also offers a wide range of habitats for fauna. The scope of this book primarily covers herbaceous flowering angiosperms. Trees, shrubs, cacti, grasses, sedges, rushes, and nonflowering plants (ferns and fern allies) are not covered. Occasionally, a few woody vines are included as well as semiwoody species, such as plumed tiquilia (Tiquilia greggii), as they fall into a gray area called subshrubs. Because Texas covers a large area and consists of such a variety of habitats, every effort has been made to ensure equal representation throughout the ecoregions and geographic areas of Texas. Of course, some locales have more plant diversity, and thus have more species represented here. I have also endeavored to include a wide range of plant families, and within larger families, examples of each genus. For the sake of space, many species had to be omitted; just a quarter of the state's herbaceous and semiwoody angiosperms are included. Nonetheless, a conscious effort was made to incorporate species that have not been included in other field guides. Both native and introduced species are described, as all of these are now part of the region's flora. When Europeans arrived in the area now known as Texas, they brought plants for medicinal, aesthetic, and agricultural uses. Over time, these plants have escaped and naturalized. Other species were accidental introductions-unintentionally spread via seed mixes or other sources of contamination. New species continue to arrive, whether as garden escapees or seeds inadvertently spread through human activity. The majority of species included in this book are common plants that can be found throughout Texas-roadside wildflowers, if you will. Uncommon species, such as Echeveria strictiflora, are also included, as well as rare plants. Some less-showy species have a..

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