This is a concise and comprehensive review of the biology, ecology, and management of Norway spruce. Written by 25 experts in the field, and richly illustrated, it integrates classic and contemporary literature. More than 2000 works are cited in the text, which highlights basic research and forestry practices in central and Eastern Europe. The huge range of topics covered includes the species’ morphology, its physiology and nutrition, and its ecology.

A 2017 Choice Magazine "Outstanding Academic Title" Conifers are known to everyone as a conspicuous kind of evergreen trees or shrubs that feature prominently in gardens and parks as well as in many managed forests in the cool to cold temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Numerous books have been written about them and continue to appear, mostly with a bias towards these uses in Europe and North America. This second edition, revised and updated, of A Handbook of the World's Conifers is departing from this traditional approach in that it includes all the world's 615 species of conifers, of which some 200 occur in the tropics. It gives as much information about these and the Southern Hemisphere conifers as about the better known species, drawing on research into the taxonomy, biology, ecology, distribution and uses by the author over nearly 35 years. The result is a truly encyclopedic work, a true handbook of all the world's conifers, richly illustrated by the author with his line drawings and photographs taken from the natural habitats of the species.

This book offers a global synthesis of gymnosperm families, fossil and extant, providing a new and distinctive perspective on the macroevolutionary biodiversity trends within this group through their 375 million-year history. The stratigraphic ranges of the 84 gymnosperm families are plotted according to their first and last appearances in the fossil record. Also included is a systematic coverage of floral kingdoms, biodiversity patterns, insect associations and other fields, traced period by period from the Devonian to Quaternary.