Field Guide To The Palms Of Madagascar Malagasy Version

Madagascar's native palms are of enormous economic and biological importance. Not only are they used for food, house building, crafts and medicines, most are found in no other part of the world, they are a part of Madagascar's great natural heritage and many are becoming increasingly rare. Simple keys and lavishly illustrated pictorial descriptions, distribution maps and diagrams of leaf, fruit and flower arrangement enable quick and easy identification. Notes on local uses, rarity and in what type of vegetation each grows in follows. This is not just a field guide, it is a book that shows why palms are so important to the culture, economy and the natural heritage of Madagascans.

Features over 700 species of Madagascar's amphibians and reptiles plus coverage of the island's flora, invertebrates, freshwater fishes, and birds. Individual species accounts provide the biology and description of all Malagasy amphibians and reptiles. Illustrated with over 1500 color photographs, range maps, illustrated ID keys, and extensive bibliography.

This new, fifth edition of Bradt’s Madagascar Wildlife, first published over 25 years ago, celebrates the unique fauna of this remarkable Indian Ocean island. Written by naturalist tour-leaders and Madagascar experts, and aimed at visitors and natural-history enthusiasts alike, this guide has been thoroughly updated to reflect both the latest discoveries – on an island where new species for science are continuously discovered – and the latest developments at the country’s top wildlife-tourism locations. Wildlife is the key draw for English-speaking visitors to Madagascar. Enjoying nature couldn’t be more different to continental Africa. Rather than going out on safari to see the Big Five from the safety of a jeep, in Madagascar you approach wildlife on rainforest strolls, without fear of encountering dangerous snakes or angry elephants. From its endearing lemurs and comical chameleons to the endemic birds and bizarre insects, this is the only guide to showcase the whole range of Madagascar’s captivating wildlife. It features lively descriptions of animals and their behaviour – perfect for the interested layman – complemented by 280 sumptuous colour photographs. A 'Habitats and Hotspots' chapter details the island’s various ecosystems and presents concise information on where best to see fascinating species, helping readers choose which parks and reserves to visit – from Masoala and Ranomafana to Ifaty and Berenty. An incredible 90% of Madagascar’s plants and animals are unique to the world’s oldest island. Accordingly, this guide also tells the story of how Madagascar came to be so different from the rest of the world, and why evolution took a different tangent to create such an extraordinary and unparalleled array of creatures. Read about Madagascar’s remarkable chameleon diversity: half the world’s species occur here, including the smallest and largest. And prepare to be astonished by an orchid with a ridiculously long nectary tube that prompted Charles Darwin to correctly predict that there would be a moth that had evolved an equally absurd 30-cm-long tongue to reach it. As a practical guide to help you plan your dream wildlife trip to this special destination, Bradt’s Madagascar Wildlife is readable, user-friendly and inspiring; as a souvenir, it’s unbeatable.

'Madagascar' addresses the challenges and rewards of travel on this unique island, with coverage of natural history and local customs, and up-to-date information on the country's improving infrastructure

A new, thoroughly updated 12th edition of Bradt's Madagascar, the leading and most comprehensive guide to this unique island nation, written by Hilary Bradt, who first visited in 1976 and has returned roughly 35 times, and Daniel Austin, who has visited 12 times and continues to travel there annually. Bradt's Madagascar is by far the most thorough guide to the country in English and is written and updated by established experts whose unparalleled knowledge of Madagascar combines with contributions from over 50 experts in a book which has been the most authoritative guide to the country for three decades. It covers national parks and protected areas and includes itineraries to suit all interests and budgets, plus details of around 1,000 hotels and restaurants. Madagascar is like nowhere else on earth. It is fascinating not only zoologically and botanically, but culturally, linguistically, historically and geologically. This vast island is the fourth largest in the world and also the oldest. This is part of the reason why it has evolved into an incredible hotspot for biodiversity, with a truly unique flora and fauna that is more than 80% endemic to the island, and with new species being described virtually on a daily basis. Madagascar is also the only place where you can see wild lemurs. Almost a quarter of the world's 450-or-so primates exist only here. With Bradt's Madagascar you can visit tropical rainforest and seek out its incredible flora and fauna; explore the otherworldly eroded limestone spires, most famously at Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park - Madagascar's most striking landscape; discover the beach-fringed islands around Nosy Be with their fabulous scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking, whale-watching and fishing opportunities; and make the most of a host of adventuring and sporting possibilities, including surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, rock climbing, tree climbing, caving, river trips, mountain biking, distance running, quad biking, trekking and hiking. Also covered are the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ambohimanga; the renowned Avenue des Baobabs, one of the country's most photographed scenes, and information on the best birdwatching spots: Madagascar has almost 300 avian species, with a high proportion of endemics, including five whole endemic families.

Madagascar is a world hot-spot for orchids. The largest family of flowering plants on the island, almost 1000 species make up some 10% of Madagascar's flora; 90% of them are endemic. They occur in almost every habitat, from coastal and montane forests to cold mountain tops and dry spiny forest. This field guide, the first of its kind for Madagascan orchids, will enable you to identify these showy, and often spectacular plants.

From the Foreword Umberto Quattrocchi has brought us some amazing and useful works through the various dictionaries that he has compiled. This time it is for two very important plant families the palms and the cycads that are synthesized here in these two volumes. Each entry is fascinating not just for the botany and full nomenclature of the plant species but for all the associated uses, folklore and interactions with other organisms. ...These entries are fascinating glimpses of natural history. ... Botanists, conservationists, ethnobotanists, anthropologists, geographers, bird watchers, naturalists, historians and those of many other disciplines will find these volumes a most valuable and useful resource. It is the sort of book that will be in frequent use in my library. ----- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH, Former Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Following the same format as Umberto Quattrocchi’s highly praised and well-used previous works, The CRC World Dictionary of Palms: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology brings together the vast and scattered literature on palms and cycads to provide better access to information on these economically important plants. Each genus and species has a detailed morphological description and includes a list of synonyms and vernacular names in many languages. Bibliographies accompany each entry which are comprehensive, up-to-date and multi-lingual. The detailed information for every entry on habitats, economic uses, historical and biographical data, botanical exploration, and linguistics will be useful for any library involved with botany, herbal medicine, pharmacognosy, medicinal and natural product chemistry, ecology, ethnobotany, systematics, general plant science, agriculture or horticulture. Umberto Quattrocchi is the author of the bestselling CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, winner of the prestigious Hanbury Botanical Garden Award. His most recent multi-volume work, CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants, received strong praise as being "... an unparalleled starting place—a tool of first resort for any thoughtful researcher. Quattrocchi and CRC have delivered a dictionary like no other, a learned finger pointing in the right direction." —John de la Parra, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, from Economic Botany, Vol. 68, 2014