"This impressive, streamlined new field guide to plants of California deserts is based on The Jepson Manual and is truly a handbook to be carried in the field. It offers new introductory discussions, many new illustrations, revised user-friendly keys, updated distribution information, flowering times. . . and handsome color photos of many species. This marvelous book demonstrates that our deserts are not barren wastes but treasure houses filled with an abundance of floristic riches."—Robert Ornduff, author of Introduction to California Plant Life "This is a marvelously useful guide to the plants of California’s deserts, clearly-written and well-organized. An invaluable companion to those who delight in the unusual and beautiful plants of these scenic areas."—Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden "This much-needed volume incorporates new information about the status and range of many California desert plants. This book will facilitate access to information about our deserts, and will lead to increased respect and attention to them. We warmly welcome it."—Jake Sigg, President, California Native Plant Society

"More information is packed into one volume that will be useful to a wider audience than any other manual of this kind yet published in the history of botany."--David L. Magney, The California Native Plant Society "A single work . . . simultaneously accessible to dedicated beginners and indispensable to professional botanists. . . . For the first time in one volume a user-friendly flora of the exceedingly diverse higher plants of California."--Mildred E. Mathias, editor of Flowering Plants in the Landscape "Allows amateurs and professionals alike to easily and accurately identify plant species. . . . A product that will contribute in a major way to the preservation of California's unique floral resource. Our gratitude and congratulations for a job well done."--Phyllis Faber, Editor, Fremontia "Sets new standards for excellence . . . and picks up beautifully on the contemporary idea that botanical work should be fully accessible to the general public as well as to scientists."--Peter H. Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden "Precise and accurate, a masterpiece of clarity and succinctness."--G. Ledyard Stebbins, University of California, Davis

This highly readable, spectacularly illustrated compendium is an ecological journey into a wondrous land of extremes. The California Deserts explores the remarkable diversity of life in this harsh yet fragile quarter of the Golden State. In a rich narrative, it illuminates how that diversity, created by drought and heat, has evolved with climate change since the Ice Ages. Along the way, we find there is much to learn from each desert species-- whether it is a cactus, pupfish, tortoise, or bighorn sheep--about adaptation to a warming, arid world. The book tells of human adaptation as well, and is underscored by a deep appreciation for the intimate knowledge acquired by native people during their 12,000-year desert experience. In this sense, the book is a journey of rediscovery, as it reflects on the ways that knowledge has been reclaimed and amplified by new discoveries. The book also takes the measure of the ecological condition of these deserts today, presenting issues of conservation, management, and restoration. With its many sidebars, photographs, and featured topics, The California Deserts provides a unique introduction to places of remarkable and often unexpected beauty.

Publisher Description

With this handy, easy-to-use book, you'll be able to identify a wide variety of trees along the Pacific Coast in no time.

"Finally a guide to the woody plants of wildland California! The easy-to-follow vegetative keys, revealing drawings, crisp color photos, and handy range maps combine to make this a beautiful, reader-friendly resource to the novice and the expert alike. Each species has a page of text, including notes on habitat, morphology, and economic importance."--Michael Barbour, editor of California's Changing Landscapes "I love this book. It is warmly welcome as a guide for California's avid public, a public that includes natural history lovers, conservationists, consultants, agencies, and public and private land managers. It is useful, useable, packed with accurate information, and cannot help but assist us in the difficult job of preserving our natural heritage."--Jake Sigg, President, California Native Plant Society