Identifies over five hundred species.

The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.

Discover the world of mosses, liverworts, lichens and ferns. Contains descriptions of the major vegetation zones and species distribution maps. Habitats are described in detail and each plant group is keyed.

Presents a comprehensive field guide to the ferns of northeastern and central North America, and contains color photographs and full-page line drawings.

This second volume of the magnificent compendium exhaustively describes and classifys the ferns, fern allies, and gymnosperms of North America. Covering over two dozen fern and half a dozen gymnosperm families, they survey fern species of both ecological and horticultural importance and review such gymnosperm taxa as the conifers (the dominant trees in many forests as well as important timber plants) and cycads, which display significant evolutionary features. In all, the volume assembles 509 species of ferns and fern allies and infraspecific taxa in 70 genera.

This systematic treatment of the ferns and allied plants provides a modern classification of the Pteridophyta based on an assess ment of the wealth of new data published during the last few decades as well as on our own research. The accounts of the gen era include systematics, ecology, geography, spores and cytology and often other aspects of their biology. The scope of the work has involved all genera and the Old World species of those gen era represented in America. For a few American genera, that are especially complex in the Old World, it has been necessary to limit their treatment to the American representatives and this is specifically indicated in those cases. The eight American genera that do not occur in the tropics are treated in less detail. They are Camptosorus, Gymnocarpium, Matteuccia and Onoclea of North America, Arthropteris and Thyrsopteris of the Juan Fernandez Islands, Pleurosorus of southern South America, and the amphi tropical Cryptogramma. The complete generic nomenclature is included, except in a few specified cases where taxonomic complexities of the Old World elements have not been resolved. The synonyms and ac cepted names of subgeneric and sectional taxa are included only when pertinent to the generic nomenclature or to an infrageneric classification. Only the name of a publishing author is cited. There is no bibliographic purpose served by including the name of a person who was the source of, but did not validly publish, a name or epithet.