Author
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Pemberton, Robert |
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Submitted to: Economic Botany
Publication Type: Other Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2006 Publication Date: 12/1/2006 Citation: Pemberton, R.W. 2006. A tropical garden flora, plants cultivated in the hawaiian islands and other tropical areas. Economic Botany 60: 193-193. . Economic Botany. Interpretive Summary: Pemberton, R.W. A Tropical Garden Flora, Plants Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and Other Tropical Areas. Economic Botany This is an invited book review of an important new reference book on plants cultivated in the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. This is the long awaited update of Marie Neal’s 1965 “In Gardens of Hawaii”, an important resource on Hawaiian plants and tropical ornamentals worldwide. The scope of the present volume is a somewhat narrower, being limited to 2,172 of the more common cultivated plants in Hawaii, compared to Neal’s 3,000 species (which included many natives and weeds). The present book is authoritative, having in addition to two well-known Hawaiian botanists as primary authors, 33 other specialists who wrote specific family chapters. The authors indicate that every species covered is represented by a vouchered specimen and a photographic slide placed in the herbarium at the Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Traditional instead of modern family classifications are used and this seems like a missed opportunity to communicate more natural plant affinities. About 500 species are illustrated by good line drawings, and 55 cultivated Hawaiian natives by fair color photos. To identify most plants using A Tropical Garden Flora, readers need to use keys and study technical botanical descriptions. The keys that I tried worked well and the descriptions are clearly written. This scholarly volume contains 1600 plus cited references, a glossary accompanied by 20 pages of illustrations, and a dictionary of deviations of species names. Rather than being an encyclopedia of tropical plants, this book covers fewer plants in greater depth and in a single volume. This means that many less frequently cultivated plants are absent, but the most commonly cultivated plants are exceptionally well covered. The accounts of the genera and particularly of the species are the strongest aspects of the book, and the main reason why you may want to acquire it. Text details include: additional descriptions of the morphology, identification problems if any, native areas and habitats, ethnobotany, history in Hawaii, cultivation- including propagation and contemporary usage, invasiveness, ecology and interesting trivia. I recommend this book to those interested in subtropical and tropical plants and think that this book should be acquired by institutional libraries. Technical Abstract: Pemberton, R.W. A Tropical Garden Flora, Plants Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and Other Tropical Areas. Economic Botany This is an invited book review of an important new reference book on plants cultivated in the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. This is the long awaited update of Marie Neal’s 1965 “In Gardens of Hawaii”, an important resource on Hawaiian plants and tropical ornamentals worldwide. The scope of the present volume is a somewhat narrower, being limited to 2,172 of the more common cultivated plants in Hawaii, compared to Neal’s 3,000 species (which included many natives and weeds). The present book is authoritative, having in addition to two well-known Hawaiian botanists as primary authors, 33 other specialists who wrote specific family chapters. The authors indicate that every species covered is represented by a vouchered specimen and a photographic slide placed in the herbarium at the Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Traditional instead of modern family classifications are used and this seems like a missed opportunity to communicate more natural plant affinities. About 500 species are illustrated by good line drawings, and 55 cultivated Hawaiian natives by fair color photos. To identify most plants using A Tropical Garden Flora, readers need to use keys and study technical botanical descriptions. The keys that I tried worked well and the descriptions are clearly written. This scholarly volume contains 1600 plus cited references, a glossary accompanied by 20 pages of illustrations, and a dictionary of deviations of species names. Rather than being an encyclopedia of tropical plants, this book covers fewer plants in greater depth and in a single volume. This means that many less frequently cultivated plants are absent, but the most commonly cultivated plants are exceptionally well covered. The accounts of the genera and particularly of the species are the strongest aspects of the book, and the main reason why you may want to acquire it. Text details include: additional descriptions of the morphology, identification problems if any, native areas and habitats, ethnobotany, history in Hawaii, cultivation- including propagation and contemporary usage, invasiveness, ecology and interesting trivia. I recommend this book to those interested in subtropical and tropical plants and think that this book should be acquired by institutional libraries. |
