The catalogue enumerates all taxa of Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons, and Monocotyledons occurring in the West Indies archipelago excluding the islands off the coast of Venezuela (Netherlands Antilles, Venezuelan Antilles, Tobago, and Trinidad). For each accepted taxon, nomenclature (including synonyms described from the West Indies and their references to publication), distribution in the West Indies (including endemic, native, or exotic status), common names, and a numerical listing of literature records are given. Type specimen citations are provided for accepted names and synonyms of Cyperaceae, Sapindaceae, and some selected genera in several families including the Apocynaceae (Plumeria), Aquifoliaceae (Ilex), and Santalaceae (Dendrophthora). More than 30,000 names were treated comprising 208 families, 2,033 genera, and 12,279 taxa, which includes exotic and commonly cultivated plants. The total number of indigenous taxa was approximately 10,470 of which 71% (7,446 taxa) are endemic to the archipelago or part of it. Fifteen new names, 37 combinations, and 7 lectotypifications are validated. A searchable website of this catalogue, maintained and continuously updated at the Smithsonian Institution, is available at http://botany.si.edu/antilles/WestIndies/.

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

Acevedo-Rodriguez provides a thorough flora of this geologically distinct island. Included are treatments of indigenous pteridophytes, dicotyledons, & monocotyledons. It is fully illustrated with black-&-white drawings.

This book has a broad scope and provides a comprehensive overview of the most up-to-date knowledge of the plant genus Baccharis. The book is organized into four major topics encompassing the evolution, ecology, chemistry, as well as environmental and medical applications of the genus. This publication is a major reference for an audience of practising researchers, academics, PhD students, and other scientists in a wide-ranging collection of fields, from Sociology to Medicine to bioeconomy.

This volume, the tenth in the series, comprises modern treatments for the families and genera of the eudicot orders Sapindales and Cucurbitales. The circumscription of the orders, families and genera conforms to the most recent systematic studies. The family treatments include descriptions of the families and the genera, genera classification keys, discussions of relationships and data on their morphology, reproductive biology, distribution, ecology and economic importance. Sapindales and Cucurbitales, as understood in this volume, comprise 16 families with 637 genera and roughly 9,240 species. Sapindales include large tropical and southern temperate tree families such as the Anacardiaceae, Sapindaceae (these in the modern circumscription, which includes Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae), Meliaceae and Rutaceae, which have long been considered to be closely related. Cucurbitales represent a relatively new ordinal concept; apart from some small woody groups, the order contains two large families, Cucurbitaceae and Begoniaceae, which are predominantly, and likely basically, herbaceous. A detailed treatment of the tropical and southern temperate woody family Myrtaceae (itself comprising 142 genera and 6,700 species) is an addendum to the treatment of the Myrtales in Vol. IX of this series.

Serpentine soils have long fascinated biologists for the specialized floras they support and the challenges they pose to plant survival and growth. This volume focuses on what scientists have learned about major questions in earth history, evolution, ecology, conservation, and restoration from the study of serpentine areas, especially in California. Results from molecular studies offer insight into evolutionary patterns, while new ecological research examines both species and communities. Serpentine highlights research whose breadth provides context and fresh insights into the evolution and ecology of stressful environments.

Polysaccharide gums have a wide range of applications due to their hydrophilic properties. They have been used as a gelling agent, encapsulating agent, thickener, emulsifier, and stabilizer. Sourcing natural gums from botanical and plant sources has become an important focus in producing acceptable food ingredients in liquids and semi-solid forms. This is mainly because of the positive attitude of consumers toward plant-based gums rather than other gums from animal and microbial sources. Gum karaya, also known as Indian tragacanth, is a vegetable gum produced as an exudate by trees of the genus Sterculia. Gum karaya has very strong swelling properties, high viscosity, and very poor solubility because of its acetyl groups. Therefore, it is mainly used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Gum karaya is one of the least-soluble gums used for many industries, such as petroleum and gas, textile, paper and pulp, leather and allied products, ammunition and explosives, electrical appliances, adhesives, confectionery, medicine, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Because of the crude tapping method and overexploitation, the population of karaya trees has markedly declined. In the absence of cultivation of this tree on the regular plantation, there is grave concern about the loss of wild germplasm of S. aurens. As gum karaya is vital for the tribal economy and its trade value is substantial, there is a pressing need to develop a scientific and sustainable tapping method to increase the yield and ensure the survival of the tapped trees. There is also a need for a large-scale plantation of gum karaya. People are becoming health-conscious and are taking natural products as food ingredients. This book will be useful to all the people interested in natural food additives. This book gives the details of gum karaya–yielding species and their distribution. Scientific methods of gum tapping are given for sustainable gum production. Propagation methods, both field and in vitro, are given. Uses of gum karaya, in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food, are given. Genetic diversity and biotechnological intervention for the improvement of gum karaya–yielding species are included. Threats and conservation of gum karaya–yielding species are given.

Sea and Land provides an in-depth environmental history of the Caribbean to ca 1850, with a coda that takes the story into the modern era. It explores the mixing, movement, and displacement of peoples and the parallel ecological mixing of animals, plants, microbes from Africa, Europe, elsewhere in the Americas, and as far away as Asia. It examines first the arrival of Native American to the region and the environmental transformations that followed. It then turns to the even more dramatic changes that accompanied the arrival of Europeans and Africans in the fifteenth century. Throughout it argues that the constant arrival, dispersal, and mingling of new plants and animals gave rise to a creole ecology. Particular attention is given to the emergence of Black slavery, sugarcane, and the plantation system, an unholy trinity that thoroughly transformed the region's demographic and physical landscapes and made the Caribbean a vital site in the creation of the modern western world. Increased attention to issues concerning natural resources, conservation, epidemiology, and climate have now made the environment and ecology of the Caribbean a central historical concern. Sea and Land is an effort to integrate that research in a new general environmental history of the region. Intended for scholars and students alike, it aims to foster both a fuller appreciation of the extent to which environmental factors shaped historical developments in the Caribbean, and the extent to which human actions have transformed the biophysical environment of the region over time. The combined work of eminent authors of environment and Latin American and Caribbean history, Sea and Land offers a unique approach to a region characterized by Edenic nature and paradisiacal qualities, as well as dangers, diseases, and disasters.