Common Families of Flowering Plants by M. Hickey, C. King

2 Pages·1997·0.79 MB·English

by  Review By: Donald J Padgett

RHODORA,
Vol. 99, No. 900, 380-381, 1997
pp.
BOOK
REVIEW
mon
Families of Flowering Plants by M. Hickey and
+
King. 1997. 212 ISBN
0-521-57281-9
xii $64
pp. illus.
0-521-57609-1
(cloth), $22.95 Cambridge
(paper). Univ
New
sity Press, York, NY.
This
100
Flowering down
Plants. Scaled to concentrate on 25
>f
common
families
iosperm
families
among
ships them.
The
section represents an expansion from
the previous
offers
title. It
botany
amateur
refresher course
to professional
botanists. Included a short ac-
is
Kingdom
and diagram
a
manzing
monocots,
followed by
a comprehensive
treatment
<
The
lorphology.
structures
and
fruitin
drawings
stem and
foliar features, and
inflorescence,
perianth, androecium,
gynoecium,
seed, seedling,
fruit
throughout
The
second
section of book
the on
concentrates detailed de-
common
scriptions of 25
angiosperm
chosen
families, for their
economic,
ornamental, and
ecological com-
importance. This part
prises the majority of book
the and covers 19 dicot and 6 monocot
families, taxonomically
arranged. Each
family treatment includes
overall
distribution, general
economic
features, and ornamental
and
aspects,
intrafamilial
Every
classification. family account
is
followed by
a
detailed
description of one
at least (up to four)
representative The
species.
species accounts include information
on
distribution, vegetative and
floral characteristics (including
flo-
I i \. f * -* • *
alternate
draw
internal or
external
floral details and/or
full
useful feature a composed
section
is of comparativ
four
380
Book Review
381
1997]
Each which have
tables. table contains three families superficially
similar characters. The table compares features of flowers and
An
some
and
fruits and, in instances, leaves inflorescence types.
example of compared families includes Ranunculaceae-Saxifra-
A
gaceae-Rosaceae and Liliaceae-Amaryllidaceae-Iridaceae.
se-
complement
lected bibliography and comprehensive glossary also
the treatments in the book.
The most pleasing attribute of the book prolific use of
is its
Both detailed and diagrammatic illustrations are well
illustrations.
One
prepared and usually dedicated to a full page. feature that
may
be North American users the authors' adop-
distressing to is
Most book
tion of unfamiliar representative species. species in the
common
Old World, and merely introduced into parts
are in the
Common
of North America. Families of Flowering Plants offers
fundamental knowledge of flowering plant form and terminology.
many
taxonomic of im-
descriptions
presents concise, useful
It
portant plant families and would be a welcome addition to any
need understand
botanist's references, as well as to those with a to
flower gardeners,
structure (illustrators, etc.).
—
Donald Padgett, Department of Biology, Southwest Mis-
J.
MO
65804.
souri State University, Springfield,