Learn how to identify the most important temperate plant families Based on the most up-to-date research, Temperate Garden Plant Families spans the spectrum from Acanthaceae (the acanthus family) to Zingiberaceae (the ginger family), and reflects the current scientific consensus about the family status of the most popular garden genera. Introductory information includes an overview of family classification, plant nomenclature, and plant morphology. The comprehensive A–Z of plants includes profiles that include information on the number of species and genera, plant form, flowers, fruit, and a short description. Each profile is illustrated with color photographs and botanical illustrations. Botanists, horticulturists, gardeners, and students will all welcome this authoritative yet accessible reference.

Plant Families is an easy-to-use, beautifully illustrated guide to the more than seventy core plant families every horticulturist, gardener, or budding botanist needs to know. It introduces the basics of plant genealogy and teaches readers how to identify and understand the different structures of flowers, trees, herbs, shrubs, and bulbs. It then walks through each family, explaining its origins and range and describing characteristics such as size, flowers, and seeds. Each family is accompanied by full-color botanical illustrations and diagrams. "Uses For" boxes planted throughout the book provide practical gardening tips related to each family. By understanding how botanists create these groupings, we can become more apt at spotting the unique characteristics of a plant and identifying it faster and more accurately. Understanding plant families also helps us to make sense of- and better appreciate- the enormous biological diversity of the plant kingdom.

Includes mainly plant families found in current horticultural literature. Includes key to some flowering plant families and color photographs.

Introduction. Choice of classification. Choice of families and family list. Family treatments. Dicotyledons and monocotyledons: an example of paraphyly. Observing, dissecting, and drawing flowering plants. Plant families.

Passionate gardeners in cooler climates struggle year after year to overwinter their gorgeous tropical plants. Our new paperback edition is the answer to their problem — practical advice for achieving the tropical look in a temperate garden. The authors, who both live and garden on Long Island, New York, reveal the secrets to creating a lush, flamboyant landscape. Separate chapters cover such topics as principles of design and maintenance, proper plant selection, container gardening, and overwintering. Fantastic color photography throughout will inspire gardeners in even the hardiest zones. With the help of this book, an impressive tropical garden is within any gardener's reach.

This guide to over 1000 of the most attractive and interesting plants that can be grown in the world's temperate gardens, features summaries of cultivation, aftercare details, and concise descriptions of the plant's main features. Plants are arranged by season of interest.

The tropics with their lush rainforests are extremely rich in plant life but are still comparatively unknown. Botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have a long tradition of exploring and plant collecting in the tropics, accumulating an unsurpassed practical knowledge of the tropical plants they encounter.This second edition of The Kew Tropical Plant Families Identification Handbook brings together this knowledge in a guide to the commonly encountered and ecologically important plants of the tropics. Written by Kew's experts, this handbook is based on Kew's Tropical Plant Identification course, which uses classical morphology, as well as more simple 'spot' characters, to teach plant identification.