Vascular Plants Of Kentucky

Kentucky has been a place of great botanical interest for many years. This comprehensive volume lists more than 3,000 plant species and varieties, with complete information on distribution in the state, and reveals the current condition of botanical knowledge on Kentucky flora.

Plant Life of Kentucky is the first comprehensive guide to all the ferns, flowering herbs, and woody plants of the state. This long-awaited work provides identification keys for Kentucky’s 2,600 native and naturalized vascular plants, with notes on wildlife/human uses, poisonous plants, and medicinal herbs. The common name, flowering period, habitat, distribution, rarity, and wetland status are given for each species, and about 80 percent are illustrated with line drawings. The inclusion of 250 additional species from outside the state (these species are “to be expected” in Kentucky) broadens the regional coverage, and most plants occurring from northern Alabama to southern Ohio to the Mississippi River (an area of wide similarity in flora) are examined, including nearly all the plants of western and central Tennessee. The author also describes prehistoric and historical changes in the flora, natural regions and plant communities, significant botanists, current threats to plant life, and a plan for future studies. Plant Life of Kentucky is intended as a research tool for professionals in biology and related fields, and as a resource for students, amateur naturalists, and others interested in understanding and preserving our rich botanical heritage.

The product of twenty-five years of planning, research, and writing, Guide to the Vascular Plants of Tennessee is the most comprehensive, detailed, and up-to-date resource of its kind for the flora of the Volunteer State, home to nearly 2,900 documented taxa. Not since Augustin Gattinger’s 1901 Flora of Tennessee and a Philosophy of Botany has a work of this scope been attempted. The team of editors, authors, and contributors not only provide keys for identifying the major groups, families, genera, species, and lesser taxa known to be native or naturalized within the state—with supporting information about distribution, frequency of occurrence, conservation status, and more—but they also offer a plethora of descriptive information about the state’s physical environment and vegetation, along with a summary of its rich botanical history, dating back to the earliest Native American inhabitants. Other features of the book include a comprehensive glossary of botanical terms and an array of line drawings that illustrate the identifying characteristics of vascular plants, from leaf shape and surface features to floral morphology and fruit types. Finally, the book’s extensive keys are indexed by families, scientific names, and common names. The result is a user-friendly work that researchers, students, environmentalists, foresters, conservationists, and indeed anyone interested in Tennessee and its botanical legacy and resources will value for years to come.

Compiles detailed identification keys to families, genera, and species of plant life found in Kentucky, and contains information on wildlife and human uses, important weeds, poisonous plants, and medicinal herbs, as well as scientific and common names, flowering periods, habitat, physiographic distribution, state and federal designations, and wetland ranking.

For centuries people have used trees, shrubs, and woody vines for food, clothing, ritual, construction, scientific study, and more. However, these important plants are easy to overlook during the winter months, when the absence of leaves, fruit, and other distinguishing characteristics makes them difficult to recognize. This comprehensive volume is the essential guide to woody plants in Kentucky, Tennessee, and surrounding states during the winter season. Featuring color images of more than four hundred species, this detailed botanical resource provides keys to the genera and species, as well as descriptions of the genera. The species accounts include useful information on Latin meanings, common names, habitats and distributions, and notes on toxicity, nativity, rarity, and wetland status. In addition, authors Ronald L. Jones and B. Eugene Wofford provide notes on practical uses for the plants, including food, medicine, fiber, and weapons. Winter identification of woody plants can be a daunting exercise, but Jones and Wofford present clear and authoritative information that can help anyone spot these species in the wild. Whether taken into the field or enjoyed at home, Woody Plants of Kentucky and Tennessee: The Complete Winter Guide to Their Identification and Use is a comprehensive and accessible resource for professional and amateur botanists, students, commercial landscapers, homeowners, and outdoor enthusiasts.