Product Description

Nearly every life form found among North American flowering plants is represented in Arizona. This amazing diversity is partly explained by the fact that the altitudinal range extends from a few feet above sea level to approximately 12,000 feet at the summit of the San Francisco Peaks. The life zone range from Arctic-Alpine on these peaks to Lower Sonoran in the southwest and Subtropical in the extreme south.
The main objective of this book is to provide means for identifying the approximately 3438 species of flowering plants, ferns, and fern-allies growing without cultivation in Arizona.
Keys for identification of the families, genera, and species are provided. Under each species the authors give the geographical distribution within and outside Arizona, and usually the altitudinal range and time of flowering. They describe economic uses, toxic or other properties, and ornamental value of many plants, giving particular attention to the utilization of native plants by the large Indian population of the state.
Introductory chapters describe the topography, geology, soils, and climate of Arizona, the several types of vegetation in relation to the physical conditions, and the proportional representation of the larger plant families. There is also a brief account of botanical explorations in Arizona since 1832.
This is the only available work on the flora of Arizona that includes the results of intensive, botanical research in the state during the past twenty years. It is based on an earlier publication, Flowering Plants and Ferns of Arizona, issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1942 and now out of print. For the present revision, a supplementary section of more than fifty pages has been prepared under the direction of John Thomas Howell and Elizabeth McClintock of the California Academy of Sciences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #321731 in Books
• Published on: 1960-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

Dated, but still the best flora key for AZ. Not for amateur
This is the classic work on Arizona Flora identification. Revised in 1970, it covers nearly 4000 species of higher plants native to Arizona. This is a highly technical work of based on descriptive taxonomy. I expect that recent advances in genetic typing will soon make works of this sort obsolete, but until such advanced techniques are widely available, this remains an invaluable handbook for the specialist working with Arizona flora. This book is difficult for the amateur to use for two reasons. First, there are essentialy no illustrations, relying instead on subtle distinctions of scientific descriptions. Lacking the necessary technical vocabulary, most amateurs will be quickly frustrated. However, the book does contain an excellent glossary (excepting the lack of illustrations) so with patience, advanced amateurs can make use of the keys. The second problem is less easily solved. Many of the key distinctions are made from plant characteristics observed at widely different times of the plant's life cycle. For example, reference to the petioles or lack thereof of the seedling's cotyledons may be made followed by references to the shape or character of the seeds or seed pods. This limits the usefulness of the key in many cases where the plant is only observed at a single point in time, generally while flowering. As an amateur wildflower observer, I generally use this as a reference to confirm or refine an identification made in the field or from photographs. My initial identification, usually to at least the family and usually the genus, is generally made with the aid of other works, such as the Peterson Field Guides, various other works specializing in desert or Arizona flowers and Ricketts 3 volumes covering the Southwest. But for all that, if you're serious about wildflower identification, then this is a book that must be part of your reference library. The included ranges and flowering times will often be enough to distinguish two similar appearing species.

Botanist's treasure
Arizona Flora is an essential resource for Arizona botanists who want to identify anything beyond what color guides can offer. A more up-to-date AZ Flora is in production, but will be awhile before available as one volume, although parts can be accessed on line via the ASU Herbarium website.

Actually there is a partial alternative
One has to expect that if one uses a technical key one has to learn the technical vocabulary, so that really is not a negative. In addition, many excellent keys have no illustrations (see Munz, Flora of California) so that really isn't a negative either.

However I have to agree with mhuth that the keys are terrible. Compared to Munz or Hitchcock, they are VERY difficult to use. In addition, there are no detailed descriptions of the species!!! Munz had a third more species in California and he managed to include a fine description for each species. This makes it difficult to run all the lines when the key doesn't work which is often.

Finally as mhuth says, it is quite dated. Much has happened since this flora came out.

There is a partial alternative. The professionals are feeling the pain too and are writing a flora complete with species descriptions, range maps and illustrations. Some of the families are already available. Look up Vascular Plants of Arizona Project on the web for more information.

Hopefully this future book will someday be available on Amazon. In the mean time, buy your copy of K & R and supplement it with the above.