Excerpt from Botanical Features of North American Deserts Botanical science in its technical and applied branches has reached a stage of development in which it has become plainly evident that adequate progress in research in physiology, in comprehensions of life histories, and in formulating the general principles governing the origin, environic relations and distributional movements of plants may be expected only by experimental methods in the field or in actual contact with the types of plants under consideration under normal environmental conditions. In no part of the subject is this so imperative as in the study of the xerophytic and highly specialized forms characteristic of the desert regions of the world, which comprise a total area equal to that of a large continent. The aridity, widely ranging temperatures of soil and air, physical and chemical properties of the soils, conditions of insolation and radio-activity, together with the special forces modifying distribution, furnish a set of conditions not easily duplicated by the regulation of the artificial climates of glass-houses and not adequately represented by preserved material in herbaria and other collections. A European botanist of ability scarcely lays down his work at the end of a life of zeal and industry devoted to the study of the cacti under cultivation in a climate entirely foreign to them, when an examination of these peculiar forms in their native habitats reveals the necessity for a complete repetition of the entire investigation. When the Carnegie Institution of Washington was established, Mr. Frederick V. Coville determined to present to it a plan for a Desert Botanical Laboratory. This long-cherishcd project was an outcome of his work in the Death Valley Expedition, in 1891. A plan was accordingly drawn up by him and presented to the Institution's Advisory Committee in Botany. This committee considered and approved it because it promised results concerning the fundamental processes of protoplasm as important as any in the whole realm of botany. The Board of Trustees of the Institution also gave their approval to it, and appropriated $8,000 for the establishment of such a laboratory and its maintenance for one year. Messrs. Coville and MacDougal were appointed by the Institution as an Advisory Board in relation to the matter. This Board decided to place the Laboratory under the immediate charge of a resident investigator, who should carry on researches under its guidance, and should be responsible to it in his relations to the Institution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Did you know that the smell of sassafras blowing offshore convinced Columbus he was near land? Or that the American sycamore, which has the largest tree trunk in the eastern forest, can live for 500 to 600 years? Or that in the period before the American Revolution, patriots designated a sycamore tree in each colony as a "Liberty Tree" -- a meeting place for plotting against the British? These facts are just a few of thousands you'll find inBotanica North America, an encyclopedia of the wonderfully diverse North American native plants by noted Canadian garden writer Marjorie Harris. This charming compendium is filled with more than 420 entries that provide essential information on each plant's physical attributes, natural history, common uses, and ethnobotany. There are also fascinating, often surprising anecdotes about plants you won't find anywhere else. From the Eastern forest to the desert, this beautifully written volume roves across the continent exploring how climate and plant life have affected, aided, and inspired us, from the first Native Americans to North Americans living in the twenty-first century: "The lonely majesty of a wind-swept jack pine has inspired generations of poets and painters," Harris writes. "These trees endure in spite of terrible weather . . . a jack pine forest has a dense, closed canopy with an understory of cherry, blueberry, hazels, bracken, and sweet fern along with trailing arbutus." Comprehensive and engaging, Botanica North America is also filled with lush photographs of plants in their natural habitat and insightful quotes from a variety of gardening experts and amateurs, from naturalist Rachel Carson to famed conservationist John Muir. Here is a reference no gardener or environmentalist should be without.