"A total of 475 wild flowers from the area of Texas' Big Thicket are described and spectacularly pictured in true-to-life, full-color photographs in this field guide to one of the United States' most diverse, complex, and biologically lavish wild-flower regions"--Inside flap.

Originally published in 1979, Geraldine Ellis Watson's Big Thicket Plant Ecology is now back in print. This updated edition explores the plant biology, ecology, geology, and environmental regions of the Big Thicket National Preserve. After decades of research on the Big Thicket, Watson concluded that the Big Thicket was unique for its biological diversity, due mainly to interactions of geology and climate. A visitor in the Big Thicket could look in four different directions from one spot and view scenes typical of the Appalachians, the Florida Everglades, a southwestern desert, or the pine barrens of the Carolinas. Watson covers the ecological and geological history of the Big Thicket and introduces its plant life, from longleaf pines and tupelo swamps to savannah wetlands and hardwood flats. "This is the work on the plant biology of the Big Thicket."--Pete A.Y. Gunter, author of The Big Thicket (UNT Press) GERALDINE ELLIS WATSON was a native of Tyler County and lived on her private nature preserve in East Texas. She was a plant ecologist and park ranger for the National Park Service for fifteen years. She authored Reflections on the Neches, also published by the University of North Texas Press.

Information on the range, size, identification, and scientific name of 100 flowers native to Texas.

The recently updated field guide designed to help easily identify wildflowers native to Texas. Many color photographs help make identification easy and foolproof.

You'll find them throughout the year in Houston—lyre-leaf sage, Drummond skullcap, silver-leaf nightshade, snow-on-the-prairie, lemon beebalm, scarlet pimpernel, plains wild indigo, spring ladies'-tresses, deer pea vetch. These wildflowers and hundreds of other species flourish in this part of Texas, but until this book was published in 1993 no guide had focused exclusively on the Houston area. John and Gloria Tveten spent years seeking out both the common and the rare flowers. They describe here more than 200 plants. A color photograph of each one will make identification easy. The guide is arranged by color, with each entry tracing the history and lore of a species. Many plants—for example, prairie Indian plantain and self-heal—were used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes. Others, like poke-weed and wapato, are edible. Southern dewberry and giant ragweed are used as natural dyes. And some, like rattlebush and milkweed, are poisonous. At the end of each species account is a list of key identifying characteristics for quick reference in the field. Summaries of plant families are also included, as well as tips on where and when to look for wildflowers.