"Field guide to grasses of the South Texas Plains and adjacent Gulf prairies and marshes; includes detailed keys, descriptions, and color photographs. A reference for grass identification in Texas, the southwestern United States, and northern Mexico"--Provided by publisher.

Profiles 185 broad-leaved herbaceous plants in Texas, focusing on southern Texas, that are useful to landowners, providing color photos, comments, and details on their stems, leaves, and other anatomical parts, inflorescence, and fruit. Includes a bibliography and a glossary.

The South Texas Sand Sheet, also known as the Coastal Sand Plains and the Llano Meste o, is a vast region covering more than two million acres at the southern tip of the state, just north of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The landscape's distinctive feature is the dunes created from sheets of sand blown inland from the shoreline of an ancient sea. Highly diverse native plant communities help make it one of the state's most cherished ecological regions as well as the premier hunting region in the world for northern bobwhites. The Sand Sheet is a constantly shifting semi-arid landscape, shaped by wind, ranching, energy production, and, increasingly, by growing urban populations surrounding the region. Organized with the nonbotanist or beginning-level botanist in mind, A Photographic Guide to the Vegetation of the South Texas Sand Sheet includes 200 of the most common grasses, flowering plants, vines, cacti, and woody plants of the South Texas Sand Sheet, 56 of which are species endemic to Texas and 15 of which can only be found in this region. Species are grouped by physical appearance, allowing budding naturalists, landowners, and students to find a specific plant without needing to first understand how families and species are grouped scientifically. Each plant entry includes a representative sampling of photos for that species, showing how it might look from a distance, up close, and at different stages of its life cycle. This handy snapshot of plant life in the South Texas Sand Sheet will enable anyone to easily identify Sand Sheet plants, learn more about their uses, and understand their value to the region.

A Field Guide to the Woody and Flowering Species Covering the almost three million acres of southernmost Texas known as the Lower Rio Grande Valley, this user-friendly guide is an essential reference for nature enthusiasts, farmers and ranchers, professional botanists, and anyone interested in the plant life of Texas. Alfred Richardson and Ken King offer abundant photographs and short descriptions of more than eight hundred species of ferns, algae, and woody and herbaceous plants--two-thirds of the species that occur in this region. "Plants of Deep South Texas" opens with a brief introduction to the region and an illustrated guide to leaf shapes and flower parts. The book's individual species accounts cover: Leaves Flowers Fruit Blooming period Distribution Habits Common and scientific names In addition, the authors' comments include indispensible information that cannot be seen in a photograph, such as the etymology of the scientific name, the plant's use by caterpillars and its value from the human perspective. The authors also provide a glossary of terms, as well as an appendix of butterfly and moth species mentioned in the text.

In this new, complete Guide to Texas Grasses, Robert B. Shaw and the team at the Texas A&M University Institute of Renewable Natural Resources provide an indispensable reference to the world’s most economically important plant family. After discussing the impact of grass on our everyday lives as food, biofuels, land restoration, erosion control, and water become ever more urgent issues worldwide—the book then provides:a description of the structure of the grass plant;details of the classification and distribution of Texas grasses;brief species accounts;distributional maps;color photographs;plus black-and-white drawings of 670 grass species—native, introduced, and ornamental. Scientific keys help identify the grasses to group, genera, and species, and an alphabetized checklist includes information on: origin (native or introduced); longevity (annual or perennial);growth season (cool or warm season); endangered status;and occurrence (by ecological zone). A glossary, literature citations, and a quick index to genera round out the book. Guide to Texas Grasses is a comprehensive treatment of Texas grasses meant to assist students, botanists, ecologists, agronomists, range scientists, naturalists, researchers, extension agents, and others who work with or are interested in these important plants.

There are over 281 species of woody plants and 32 species of cacti in the South Texas ecological region. The vast majority of these are found in the lower Rio Grande Valley, which is part of the subtropical Tamaulipan biotic province. Many of the plant species in this area reach their northernmost boundary here. The 44 plants described in this guide represent an estimated 75% of the overall brush biomass of the South Texas ecological region, excluding the lower Rio Grande Valley. The plants are grouped into thorned and thornless categories and alphabetized by family. Distinguishing characteristics have been italicized for easy reference. Similar species are also noted. In this guide, plants are not ranked by importance because their value to animals can differ from ranch to ranch, depending on the plant's availability and the ranch's location, soil type, and land management practices. In case a plant is not found in this guide or more information is desired, a list of additional references is included.

With 523 species of native, introduced, and adventive grasses, Texas has by far the most diverse grass flora of any of the fifty states. Gould's full and systematic treatment of Texas grasses is the definitive guide to this vast and complex subject. Over the past few decades, research in grass anatomy, cytology, reproduction, distribution, and ecological relationships, together with better international communication among the grassland-oriented nations, has brought many changes in the accepted names of U.S. grass species. Dr. Gould's classification of Texas grasses reflects both modern advances in the understanding of phylogenetic relationships and the current decline of provincialism in the selection of grass names. Presented here are keys to and botanical descriptions of all grasses in Texas that grow regularly or occasionally out of cultivation. Supplementing the botanical descriptions are 328 line drawings, including a map of Texas' ten vegetational areas, and three photographs. Also included are a listing of the subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species of Texas grasses, an introductory review of the parts of the grass plant, a glossary of botanical terms, a listing of references cited, and an index to both scientific and common plant names. The book is intended to serve both the professional botanist and researcher and the rancher or naturalist with little or no special training in plant classification.